Gas prices and home buying decisions
If you haven’t noticed, gas sure is expensive right now. In fact, we can all agree that’s its been pretty pricey for the last few years, historically speaking. Most of us can live with it around $2.00/gallon, or even a bit more. But $3.50/gallon? Things are getting serious.
The rising price of gas ($.35 in less than two weeks) has prompted us to think about its relationship to home buying decisions.
Naturally, it makes sense to look for a house within a reasonable distance to your place of work. So what’s reasonable? 10 miles? 20 miles? Remember, you’ll need to drive that distance both ways. And if you need to use I-40 or I-540, you can expect the stop and go traffic to contribute to your mileage.
Something we believe really needs pointing out about commuting around Cary and Apex, and the Triangle in general, is the fact that there exists a large number of alternative ways to get to places. Because of our area’s rural history, there are countless “backroads” that aren’t really backroads at all. They’re paved, developed and simple to navigate. Thus, there are plenty of ways to avoid “the commute.” Poke around that GPS of yours and look for an alternative. It may take a few extra minutes but could help reduce your road rage (well, for some readers) and save a bit of fuel.
Many of Cary’s and Apex’s neighborhoods were developed to accommodate many of the main thoroughfares that lead to the work centers, like Research Triangle Park, Perimeter Park, North Raleigh and Downtown Raleigh, for example. Highways 55 and 64 offer easy paths to a number of professional parks and popular office locations. As a result, families are attracted to the communities that reside along those corridors, making it easy to find a home you’ll love that won’t force you to have to fill up three times/week.
What’s challenging about choosing a house based only on where you work is that people change jobs much more often than they change houses, especially today. And, gas prices fluctuate. Who is to say it won’t be back to $1.90/gallon by this time next year? (Well, someone in the Middle East probably.)
You can also consider mass transit options and car pooling. But, they just don’t offer the freedom so much of us need to run errands after work or make appointments during the day.
The best plan is simply make your commute one factor in your decision to buy a house. Try to determine what you feel is a reasonable distance and even consider roughing out an estimate of your monthly gas costs. Just take a stab at what it would cost if you didn’t drive that car for anything other than work and use that number in estimating what it will cost for you to live in the house you’re targeting.