Know The Cost Of Your Commute

As we face the prospect of $4.00/gallon gas, and the likelihood that we will soon be paying tolls to drive around King County, take the time to calculate what your commute actually costs, relative to your home’s value and location. This nifty tool will answer questions that perhaps you hadn’t thought of asking before. While we have historically sought to reduce commutes to save TIME, it is going to become just as important, if not more so, to consider the hard costs associated with commutes.

This calculator is a little bit tricky to use at first, but patience will provide excellent information. You may input as many “commuters” from your family as you like, each with its own vehicle value and average miles-per-gallon, as well as distance, number of commutes per month, estimated vehicle maintenance costs, and toll costs. This information is combined with the size of respective mortgages, interest rate, and location. The results can be a bit startling, especially when you move farther out and spend MORE rather than less as we did a few years ago.

While it was understood that our mortgage would more than double in size, I never could have anticipated that the extra 10 mile commute expense would add another $1400/month.

Location. Location. Location……………

The City, The Burbs, or The Sticks: What Are the Real Costs?

Location, Location, Location. The oldest cliche in real estate. How does one determine the real costs associated with the location of a home purchase? It is one of the most common, and challenging, aspects of satisfying home buying needs.

She wants new. He wants close in. To get new means living farther from work. To get close to work means buying a house which may need repairs, or is smaller. But there is more to this decision process than how many minutes a day are spent on the road commuting and whether the house has a 2 or 3 car garage. With the increased cost of fuel, it is now imperative to consider what the commute costs in real dollars.

We have found a pretty handy commuter’s calculator that we have integrated into the PenguinHomes.com website. [Remember, if the music bothers you, click the "Off" button above our photo on the right.] The link was sent to me, unsolicited, by a very creative real estate agent located in Boulder CO. He and some talented programmers cooked up this elegant bit of software to help home buyers answer one of the most difficult decisions in real estate: what is the true cost of location?

This calculator is a little tricky to use at first. After entering the loan amounts for “House A” and “House B”, the current fuel price and your interest rate, click the ”add” button.  The next screen allows you to input your commuter details. Then click “add/edit” and you will return to the first screen where you will see that “Commuter 1″ has been added. You may add additional commuters in the same way. After entering the required information, click “calculate” to see the results.

Please let me know what you think of this utility by adding your comment(s) to this post.