I think its really dependent on where you live. For instance here in the DC area, housing costs rise quite sharply the closer in to DC you go. When we first moved to this area we looked at townhouses that were fairly close to the DC area to right on the edge of the region. Prices for rentin a 3br townhouse in a decent area went from 900/month to over 1800/month depending on how close to DC you were.
On Thu, Mar 1, 2012 at 10:25 AM, Cameron Childress <[email protected]> wrote: > > I often talk about living in the city and how I choose to live close to my > work. Some people just don't want to live intown, and that's > understandable. But frequently I hear someone say that it's unaffordable. > Thing is, I think the living expenses intown are offset (to some extent) > by fuel savings. I wonder how this math actually works for those on this > email list? > > According to this article, the average American spends $4,155 on gas last > year. > > http://bit.ly/zi0RFi > > I use the same Credit Card card for gas 100% of the time, so it's fairly > accurate when I say I spent about $1,400 on gas in 2011. That's $2,755 a > year less than the average American. I'll assume that represents the > average suburban commuter. So - breaking this math down differently, > that's about $230 a month savings - and that's just gas. Factor in the > rest of auto maintenance and it's probably about half again as much. Maybe > $350/month savings because I have such a short commute. > > So really, all else being held equal, I can afford to buy $350 a month more > house/condo/apartment than my counterparts in the burbs. This means I'm > probably renting or owning a place about the same size as they are, only > it's intown, I can walk alot of places they have to drive, and I don't live > in my car. > > But, snide self-justifications aside... > > I wonder - what did you pay for gas last year? Anyone looked? I'm > curious... > > 1) How much did you pay in gas in 2011? > 2) How far is your commute? > > -Cameron > > ... > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:347734 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
