Have high fuel prices made you re-think your home location yet?
06-20-2008, 05:22 PM
#1
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Join Date: 05-26-2007
Location: ...
Posts: 1,554
Have high fuel prices made you re-think your home location yet?
We live in the burbs of our small to mid size midwestern city. My work commute is 12 miles each way, hers about half. Our son is 18 and starting college soon. She is looking at a job downtown, which is also where my job is. If this job she is looking at pans out, we could sell our house in the burbs and buy a downtown condo and literally each be a few blocks from work, i.e. we could walk. Plus we could probably sell either her Volkswagen New Beetle TDI or the Chevrolet HHR and be a one car couple.
Probably wouldn't have considered possibility of such a move but for the high gasoline and natural gas/electric costs. We would save on gasoline big time, and also the heating/cooling on one of the city condos would be less than the house.
We've only been in this house 2 yrs but have a ton of equity as we put down a huge down payment.
Funny how times change.
Probably wouldn't have considered possibility of such a move but for the high gasoline and natural gas/electric costs. We would save on gasoline big time, and also the heating/cooling on one of the city condos would be less than the house.
We've only been in this house 2 yrs but have a ton of equity as we put down a huge down payment.
Funny how times change.
06-20-2008, 05:43 PM
#2
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Join Date: 10-24-2006
Location: The Show-Me State
Posts: 1,761
That's nowhere near enough of a distance to ever make me consider moving closer to work. I'd have to be at least 60 miles each way with the HHR. Granted, now I live a mile and a half from work, but 24 miles a day is a gallon of gas.
06-20-2008, 05:46 PM
#3
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Join Date: 06-21-2006
Location: Calgary
Posts: 939
My family made a move from the suburbs closer to the city core about 3 years ago. I had just graduated university and my brother had started university. He and I lived within 5 minutes of the university and about a 20 minute train ride to the downtown core. My mom bought a condo in a trendy area about 5 minutes from the core and my dad got a condo right in the core. I can usually ride my bike to work and do so about 3 days a week on average. My ride to work is quicker than driving.
I grew up in the suburbs and do like it out there but there is something very attractive about being in the inner city.
I grew up in the suburbs and do like it out there but there is something very attractive about being in the inner city.
06-20-2008, 06:07 PM
#4
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Join Date: 05-26-2007
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Posts: 1,554
Valid point, crafty. Her car is a VW TDI that although diesel fuel is high right now, it averages 43mpg in town. Its not so much diesel and gasoline expense as it is convenience, in a way. Walking three or four blocks to work and then back home at the end of the day, well what could be more convenient than that? No more lawn to have to maintain, savings on car insurance only insuring one instead of two.
I'm far from the greenie car hater type though. I'm a car enthusiast, and in that sense I don't mind the drive in to work and actually almost look forward to it, but that's mainly because of the car, which right now is the HHR.
The whole concept is just food for thought right now.
I'm far from the greenie car hater type though. I'm a car enthusiast, and in that sense I don't mind the drive in to work and actually almost look forward to it, but that's mainly because of the car, which right now is the HHR.
The whole concept is just food for thought right now.
06-20-2008, 08:39 PM
#8
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Join Date: 04-12-2008
Location: Cedarburg, WI
Posts: 527
Well, I thought about it... But I love our small-town community too much to leave it. Been here for 25 years now, and that makes it tougher for sure!
I took my current job 3 years ago now and it is a 60 mile commute one way. It is almost all freeway though. The first 9 miles are country roads, and that is the most fun!
That was one of the primary reasons I bought this SS as I wanted something that got good mileage. My other two primary vehicles are at or near the 200K mark also! I do currently car-pool with 3 others fairly regular, so that helps a lot! 
I like it the most when it is my turn to drive the HHR. To tell you the truth, I think they all do too as they love to listen to the XM radio and it is very comfortable even in the back.
We may be getting a van this fall (subsidized by our company) for our group and that is fantastic of course. It will only cost us $45 per person per month. They pay for the gas, maintenence and insurance. You can't beat that!
I took my current job 3 years ago now and it is a 60 mile commute one way. It is almost all freeway though. The first 9 miles are country roads, and that is the most fun!
That was one of the primary reasons I bought this SS as I wanted something that got good mileage. My other two primary vehicles are at or near the 200K mark also! I do currently car-pool with 3 others fairly regular, so that helps a lot! I like it the most when it is my turn to drive the HHR. To tell you the truth, I think they all do too as they love to listen to the XM radio and it is very comfortable even in the back. We may be getting a van this fall (subsidized by our company) for our group and that is fantastic of course. It will only cost us $45 per person per month. They pay for the gas, maintenence and insurance. You can't beat that!
06-20-2008, 09:45 PM
#9
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Join Date: 10-24-2006
Location: The Show-Me State
Posts: 1,761
Don't forget groceries and other shopping. Most downtown condos and lofts I've seen are pretty far away from anything other than a Walgreens or some type of bodega and those will cut into your food budget pretty fast with high prices. It's also tougher to unload those properties when it comes time to move.
