Nice house, terrible quality of life.

From the Herald News:

Dream house, commute disaster
By HEATHER HADDON

It was the four-bedroom, picket fence dream that became a three-hour commute nightmare.

Luis Delgado moved to the northern fringes of Morris County in 2003, snapping up a whole lot of house for little money compared with Paterson prices. He thought the daily drive back to John F. Kennedy High School, where he teaches, couldn’t be that bad.

It wasn’t bad — it was horrendous. And in the end, Delgado felt there was little use for a big, beautiful yard when he was never around to enjoy it. So he moved — again.

“We thought we could handle it,” said Delgado, 34, who is married with two young children. “But it was disastrous. It was very poor quality of life.”

State residents have streamed out of the cities and inner suburbs during the past several years, opting to buy bigger houses for less money farther out in New Jersey or down in Pennsylvania. In exchange, they were dealt the daily slog across Interstate 80, stuck in traffic with all the others commuting to their jobs.

Many buyers didn’t factor in transportation costs or the stress associated with it, when making their move. A report issued earlier this week found that those costs, combined with mortgage payments, eat up any potential savings.

James Hughes, dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University, thought that cost might slow the migratory patterns. Still, he predicted that middle-income people would buy more fuel-efficient cars before moving back.

Advocates argue that there is a clear need for more affordable housing within and around cities to cut down on commutes. “In every way, sprawl is not sustainable,” said Jeremy Soffin of the Regional Plan Association, a group that advocates for more development near job centers.

“You’re lured by the fact that you could buy a home that you otherwise couldn’t afford,” said Delgado, who still speaks wistfully of his former home. “It just didn’t turn out to this way.”

This entry was posted in New Jersey Real Estate. Bookmark the permalink.

16 Responses to Nice house, terrible quality of life.

  1. UnRealtor says:

    My commute by train is actually slower than driving, but there’s zero stress, and I can read a book or newspaper. Not much time to read when driving to and from work each day.

    Quality of life has a value too, you only get one life to live.

    It’s a shame people are having to make such sacrifices as Delgado to buy a decent house for their family.

  2. dee says:

    I know plenty of people who bought in PA, I my opinion its not worth it. The always say “its not bad the commute about 90 minutes” You have to factor in buying a new car every 3 years. and remember that car will depreciate to zero cause it has 160000 miles on it. you are never home to enjoy your home or family. gas prices and to me its kinda depressing out there(no real economy, alot of low wage workers). Id rather live closer to city in a so so neighborhood than PA. Plus it aint that cheap no more.

  3. SAS says:

    If you continue to live in NJ and not make at least 200,000 a year, you will always have a poor quality of life.

    Better off, moving to places were your salary will go further, because it ain’t going to happen here. Sorry.

    SAS

  4. Dee says:

    You will never see family in PA. And its just as expensive as nj or pic your poison

  5. MS says:

    I know lots of people – in fact most of the NJ population, have annual household incomes of under $100,000. You only need $200,000, as SAS says, if your whole life revolves around conspicuous consumption and a materialistic lifestyle. It is a different value system that equates money with happiness. Guess what? – bedrooms can be shared by children (and studies show that it promotes sharing). I agree 100% that homes are tremendously overpriced in most of NJ, but one does NOT need $200,000 to live a decent life. One does not need $300 jeans (back to those)to have a good life. NJ will always be expensive to live in compared to other states (which has always meant affording smaller homes than elsewhere), but that does not mean one needs $200,000 to live here or that having a smaller home means a poor quality of life.

  6. Spelunker says:

    i drove 140 miles every day for over two years to have my slice of home life. a 3/2 in toms river while working up in jersey city. The house was sweet but the commute really does wear on you after a while. Now i rent in jersey city and i walk to work. i miss being able to play with the kids in the yard however now i can spend time with the kids every morning and night. besides the kids seem to like the local park even more than the yard because there are other kids!

    To SAS’s point if you want to buy anything decent near the business hubs in NJ AND have a meet all of your financial goals it would almost seem that you would need to make 200K. How else would you pay 600K for a house (even if kids are sharing a room in a 3 bedroom) and 10k in taxes, send the kids to college and save for retirement?

  7. Pingback: Anonymous

  8. Pingback: Anonymous

Comments are closed.