Would you drive 15-25 mins more for a much bigger house?
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Anonymous
+1- No way. We live in close-in Chevy Chase, MD and spent some time looking at houses in Bethesda and Potomac that are 15 min farther out. The houses were much bigger, and in some instances, nicer, but we decided quality of life was more important to us. |
Anonymous
| No. Firstly, we are five people and don't need more than 1600 feet. Secondly, there's no guarantee you'll have your job forever. How will you feel if you move into the nicer house and the next month get fired? |
Anonymous
| In a different city, I would take the shorter commute. In DC, the size of home that is affordable is so limited, that I moevd farther out in order to buy larger. I hate feeling cramped and on top of my neighbors. |
Anonymous
15 minutes is not going to get you into 'nature'; you moving to the endless sprawl outside DC, not the country. On top of that, with longer commute, you'll have less time before sun goes down to enjoy whatever green you can scrap together between sprawl.. |
Anonymous
| We did both but have a small yard so I guess that was the trade off. Unless you buy 2 lots you aren't going to get a very large yard. But hey I can run laps inside. |
Anonymous
The difference between inside the beltway and outside 15 minutes will get you lots of wooded areas. We can actually feel comfortable being outside after dark so it is really not limiting. Companies are moving out of the city so finding jobs out of the city is much easier. So the commute in the future may be less. |
Anonymous
sounds terrible |
Anonymous
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OP it depends. We did this to an extent but chose a 30 minute difference. I love our neighborhood, huge lot, nice house and neighborhood but the commute I could deal without on a daily basis. In the summer my kids go to the camp near where we were originally looking and its much less stressful being able to get to them 30 minutes earlier.
You should make sure you know whether its really 15-25 minutes or more variable. Mileage can also make a difference. 15 minutes close in isn't far distance wise. If you are talking about already being farther out 15-25 minutes @50 mph is much farther. This makes a difference on your mileage, gas and can be a PITA in bad weather. |
Anonymous
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Ok here is some math
Average size of a house 2,306 SQRFT The average population per household now stands at 2.55 So to feel comfortable you need 2306/2.55 = 904 SQRFT per person. So for a family of 4, ~3600 SQRFT etc... That's the formula for most of America, maybe around here it's too expensive but it will be uncomfortable. http://money.cnn.com/2013/06/04/real_estate/home-size/index.html |
Anonymous
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Ok here is some math
Average size of a house 2,306 SQRFT The average population per household now stands at 2.55 http://www.marketingcharts.com/wp/topics/demographics/american-households-are-getting-smaller-and-headed-by-older-adults-24981/ So to feel comfortable you need 2306/2.55 = 904 SQRFT per person. So for a family of 4, ~3600 SQRFT etc... That's the formula for most of America, maybe around here it's too expensive but it will be uncomfortable. http://money.cnn.com/2013/06/04/real_estate/home-size/index.html |
Anonymous
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Yes, I would. That's why we live in the suburbs -- space to breathe, yard, nice neighborhood, safety.
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Anonymous
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I did the opposite. Bought a place a mile from Vienna metro and lived there 12 years. Daycare was 3 miles from home and metro. But increased traffic and construction meant that the commute got longer and longer and longer so that by the end, I was spending over 3 hours a day driving or metro-ing. I was only 15 miles from my DC job.
I considered buying something near Woodson HS and could have bought a 2,000 SF SFH on a 0.25 acre lot. Instead I moved to North Arlington and bought a 1,500 SF SFH on a 0.12 acre lot for about the same price. So, so worth it. I cut my commute by half - 8-12 minutes of driving, maybe 20 minutes of metro, plus some walking. |
Anonymous
| OP, I recently moved from silver spring to potomac and it has turned my commute from about 35/40 minutes to 50 minutes each way. I'm still adjusting (it's only been 2 weeks) but I think it was worth it. We went from a 1200 sq foot house that felt cramped ever since our second child was born 5 years ago, to a 2200 sq foot house with a great layout that will be very conducive to having friends over which is something we've missed being able to do. We used to just invite maybe one family over at a time and even then, it was like the walls were closing in on us. We've changed our commute from driving down 16th street to driving to the metro and taking the red line downtown. Even with the public transportation option, the commute is a little longer but I think I'm actually enjoying it more (granted, there haven't been any significant delays and i'm sure on days when there are, I'll be furious). Driving down 16th street used to drive me insane in the mornings b/c we'd fly down to the bridge in about 10-15 minutes, but then spend another 25 minutes crawling from columbia heights to florida avenue. So while the distance was shorter, it was still a PITA. And overall, I am thrilled with our new house (still getting used to the neighborhood though... very very different to say the least). So for us, it was worth it. But there's always trade-offs. If we could've had this house in silver spring, that would've been preferable but we spent years and years looking for something in our price range that gave us more space, laid out in a way that made sense and when we finally found it, it required this move. |
Anonymous
WHAT??? OMG. 3600 sq feet for four people sounds insane to me. I wouldn't even know what to do with that much space. I'm the PP who went from 1200 sq ft to 2200 sq ft recently, and at that much square footage I feel like we are in a palace. If every family of 4 felt they required 3600 sq feet that would be insane. |
Anonymous
Oh, it's YOU again. If you need 900 square feet PER PERSON, something is wrong with you and your family. |