Test-Drive Your New Home!
When someone considers purchasing a new home, there are several factors that weigh into their decision and choice of property, such as price, affordability, location, convenience, proximity to work, community advantages, and future home values in the area. Most of these things, if they’re on the prospective buyer’s wish list, are going to get a thorough examination if the buyer is conscientious and deliberate. One thing we notice consistently neglected – even though it’s a common criterion for most buyers – is the distance involved for common trips in relation to the new home’s location.
If this sounds like making a mountain out of a molehill, that’s because most real estate blogs and even agents tend to gloss right over the subject of how a new home may change your commute (for better or worse, mind you) and how those changes can either save or cost money over the long term. Remember, your home is an investment, and chances are you’re purchasing it with the intent of staying there for quite some time. After all, most buyers try to set up their mortgages to something they can feasibly pay for the next several years at least. Increased – or decreased – mileage adds up in terms of savings or cost, so you need to think of it within the context of a long-term arrangement.
When moving to a new house, convenience is often a huge consideration. Maybe your children are in private school and this house is closer. Maybe you got a great position at a new company and this house will shorten your commute. Maybe you’re willing to take a longer commute to work because this house is in a better school district or has better community amenities. All of these are valid reasons, but did you actually test them under real-world circumstances? Most of the time, we hear buyers say something to the effect of, “Well, it’s a little closer to where the kids go to school,” and leave it at that. We always, always, encourage them to double-check it.
The reasoning behind this is that while mileage is fairly easy to compute, time and fuel aren’t. If your new job, for example, is in a bigger city with a great deal of traffic (we live in Atlanta and could write an entire blog on the subject, but we digress), you might find that a shorter commute in terms of miles may be a little longer in terms of time or fuel spent. Obviously, that means little if you’re talking about a 5-mile commute vs. a 30-mile one, but you’d be surprised at how often homebuyers make large financial commitments over what are middling differences.
The best course of action, then, is to literally test-drive the home you’re seriously considering purchasing. Clearly, doing this for every prospective home you consider isn’t a great idea, but once you’ve narrowed your search you should put some time and energy into doing this. If you’re considering the home because of its proximity to your work office, drive from the house to your job on a day off during normal commute hours. If you’re accepting a longer commute to work but are trading that in return for proximity to better school districts and shopping, then test those drives as well. Remember, the difference may be small, but any extra miles or time will add up over several years.
You’ll also want to weigh the cost of a longer commute against the affordability of your house, including the interest on your mortgage. Most of the time, the money you save on a location will outstrip any additional commuting costs, but you’ll want to be sure. You’ll also want to drive from the home to the closest grocery store, school, community centers, and shopping areas to see if the traffic and mileage make sense within the context of your mortgage, especially if that’s the determining factor.
This is why we always encourage prospective buyers to test-drive their home when they start narrowing down their choices. Before closing a deal, you’ll want to know what your commutes are like on a daily basis and how they affect your finances over the long term. Since most homes are a long-term investment, any associated costs or savings need to be examined within that context.
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– Get It Right Solutions