Shorter commute vs bigger nicer house plus yard

amother

Wine

Sun, Jan 01 2017, 11:24 pm

we currently have three kids in a.two bedroom apartment and its time to take the.next step and buy something. dh and I both work in brooklyn. do we buy a three.bedroom attached house with no yard but have ten minute commutes or do we go to farrockaway area and get a much nicer bigger house with a yard and a community but a have close.to an hour commute....

amother

Peach

Sun, Jan 01 2017, 11:28 pm

I would do bigger house for sure. 40 minute commute is normal part of working and maybe u can get closer jobs once u settle. Btw I dont think far rockaway is any cheaper than flatbush...

amother

Wine

Sun, Jan 01 2017, 11:51 pm

I dont need far rockaway proper. my oldest is three an up and coming area like inwood is fine. farrockaway area is not cheaper than brooklyn but you are getting more for your money. so do I buy a small house no yard close to our jobs or get a bigger place with a yard 45 min away. my budget is 800k

amother

Orange

Sun, Jan 01 2017, 11:58 pm

amother wrote:

It depends on your lifestyle.
Do you anticipate having a large family? Does your life involve being around and getting help from family in brooklyn and could you survive happily without it? Do you have two cars now or will you need that once you move? Do you want your kids to stay at their schools or are you OK with switching to options in far rockaway? Is tuition higher in FR and if so can you afford that?

asp40

Mon, Jan 02 2017, 12:36 am

Well, ideally I'd move somewhere where 800k can buy you whatever you want. But if you need to stay in the city, then I'd take a short commute over a large home. Family time is something you can't get back. And as your kids get older you will see how rushed your mornings and evenings will become with a long commute. Not worth it if it can be avoided.

rachel6543

Mon, Jan 02 2017, 12:47 am

So I would personally prefer a shorter commute and have a smaller house. But that's me. I find having a long commute is draining. I had the 30 + mile commute in my single days and it sucked. I've been spoiled that since I got married I only have a 10 mile commute these days, though the commute can still be long long if there's a traffic accident or I leave too late in the morning. Also, with having kids, a shorter commute is easier if my kid is sick or there's an emergency I can get to them faster.

shabbatiscoming

Mon, Jan 02 2017, 2:07 am

I think it depends on the community you prefer. We moved to a city so that my husband would have a 20 minute commute at one point. But we hated it there. And so we moved back to the community that we liked and my husband had an hour and a half commute, but we loved where we live.
You have to know what is more important to you.

chanchy123

Mon, Jan 02 2017, 2:43 am

In the same situation - but different country Smile

.
We decided to go the commute route with a large house, yard, and community.

But here in Israel, we couldn't possibly afford to buy a three bedroom apartment in Jerusalem, in a central area - ten minute's commute from work.
So our decision was between renting a three bedroom apartment in Jerusalem and building a large house with a yard an hour's commute from work.

shabbatiscoming

Mon, Jan 02 2017, 3:01 am

chanchy123 wrote:

In the same situation - but different country Smile

You live an hour away from jerusalem? I thought you lived near where I live, no? Thats an hour away?

chanchy123

Mon, Jan 02 2017, 4:15 am

shabbatiscoming wrote:

You live an hour away from jerusalem? I thought you lived near where I live, no? Thats an hour away?

It's roughly an hour's commute 55 minutes more or less. Realistically. If I leave early or during school vacation, or Fridays it's between 35 to 45 minutes. When you factor in parking time, traffic, etc.

amother

Coffee

Mon, Jan 02 2017, 3:44 pm

All my life, I always assumed I would choose a house over a commute. But when it came down to it, we chose the better commute and live in a 3 bedroom apartment. But I am so glad - because the hour and a half or two hours total of commuting every day would either cut into my time with my kids or cut into my work day. Those weren't things I was willing to compromise on. So we became city people - we ave good schools and doctors and I walk to work every day. Because we are in the middle of the city, there isn't one community here that we are a part of, but we've made some friends in the neighborhood, so it's ok. I do miss the house and the yard (I grew up in suburbia and loved it), but I think that for me, those 2 extra hours a day that I get to be with my kids are more important to them and me than having grass and some extra rooms.

amother

Babypink

Mon, Jan 02 2017, 4:57 pm

This is really so dependent on the individual personalities involved. Some people don't mind driving and sitting in traffic. Others really suffer from it.

I'll share with you our experience. We moved and our commutes went from 10 minutes to an hour each way. For me I worked p/t, only 2 days, and I really was hating it. I worked out to work from home 1 day per week and then eventually exclusively from home. Obviously not every job is compatible with this arrangement. As for my husband, in the beginning the drive was very hard for him. But he got used to it. He learned the best times to come and go to avoid the worst of the traffic. He's not bothered by it so much anymore. But I am. Even though he tries to arrange things to drive at the lowest traffic times it doesn't always work out. He gets caught up with a client and then he's caught in traffic. And then his 1 hour drive could be 2 hours. He misses dinner with us, misses bedtimes. Kids get really sad. It can be rough some nights. Is it so rough that I think we would be better off not having moved so far away? Not really. But it's good to go in eyes open.

petiteruchy

Mon, Jan 02 2017, 5:47 pm

Shorter commute is always better imo. It's bad for your health to sit in hours of traffic every day. It's bad for kids to miss out on hours of time with their working parent, and I think a normal family life is nearly impossible if both parents work full time and have a long commute. Unless you have a sahm, the kids don't even get the benefit of all that space because they're in daycare until every evening. We chose city life even though in our area we could have bought a huge beautiful house in the suburbs, because both of us really value family time and the flexibility of being walking distance from work. We are an outdoorsy family so we head out of the city every chance we get but our day to day life is improved by living where we do.

33055

Mon, Jan 02 2017, 8:26 pm

It is different when one parent commutes. Would one of you be able to get a job closer?

Having open space and privacy is important to us. That quality of life is not something we would willingly sacrifice. DH commutes. But then he was often out of the house anyway during the morning rush and when the kids come home.