Purchasing
- Your first home
- Your next home and move
- An investment property
- A vacation home
Refinancing
- To tap your home equity
- To save money
- To avoid rate increases
- To lower monthly payments
Home Equity
- Loans and lines of credit
- Finance major expenses
- Consolidate Debt
- Invest
Gas prices affecting where we live
It seems as though gas prices are affecting just about every sector of America’s economy. Not only do they regulate how often and how far we drive, these escalating prices are also shaping where we live.
As gas prices continue to rise, people are realizing that it may be smarter and more money-wise to move from their home in the suburbs, to one in the city, where they work.
This makes a lot of sense, because it shortens the daily commute, thus reducing the money you spend on gas every month.
An article from MSN Real Estate by Marilyn Lewis, “Could rising gas prices kill the suburbs?” looks at the effects of gas prices on the real estate world.
“When a high-cost commute reaches the point of no-return, home buyers will start finding houses closer to work. In fact, some already are. Rising fuel costs are being blamed for everything from soaring utility costs to lower retail sales and higher airline tickets. And now, experts say high gas prices could reshape U.S. cities.”
From the looks of things, it looks like high gas prices are here to stay. Many analysts think that they could get a lot worse before they even dream about getting any lower.
People are going to start to realize that these high-gas prices and long commutes are wrecking havoc on their budgets.
“High gas prices are reinforcing the changes already begun by homebuyers reacting to congested freeways, long commute hours and the desire for a different kind of life. In San Jose, Calif., builders have clustered attractive condominium developments at and around light-rail stations as the system was built and expanded. An example of transit-oriented development, planners have expected for some time that high commute costs would create a market for such homes.”
In a survey conducted by Homepages.com, many people said that gas prices were their second most important concern they thought about when deciding where to live. The most important thing was a safe neighborhood. So, obviously this is very important issue for many homeowners.
The only draw-back with moving to the city is that homes in the city are usually a lot more expensive than those of suburbia. But you may be able to offset the cost of a bigger mortgage because you are saving so much on gas.
“Assuming a full-time job, $3 gas, 26 mpg and 50 cents a mile for maintenance and no parking fees, a 50-mile roundtrip commute costs $646.15 a month, or $7,753.80 a year, according to the City of Bellevue, Wash.'s, Commute Cost Calculator.”
“Moving closer to work boosts your house-buying power. Everything else being equal, a 10-mile, roundtrip commute costs just $1,550.76 yearly -- saving about $6,200 per year, or $517 monthly. That can add about $80,000 to the total amount of a mortgage loan, says one Chicago lender. The rule of thumb: Each $250 a month you can free up for mortgage payments equals roughly $40,000 more you can borrow at current rates (using the recent national average of 6.5%), says David Kasprisin, district sales manager for National City Mortgage Co. in Chicago.”