willingness to commute

Its funny to me how everyone else has different tolerances for commuting.. or what people are willing to sacrifice for what they consider a "good commute."
It just goes to show everyone is different.

DH and I both work in NYC, but bought a house in suffolk because for our price range in nassau we have been able to afford barely anything on a postage stamp land. We were willing to make the sacrafice to have a longer commute and have more land. To us the commute is not that big of a deal.

But for others it is the other way around.

I have no real question here, its was just a general observation.

Re: willingness to commute

Great topic

For us--it is definately the other way around. We live and work in NYC and while many of are friends have homes/looking for homes, we love our apartment and love the fact that our commute is 6 minutes. I love waking up at 8am for work that starts at 9am.

I think someday our priorities will switch, but for now I love my easy commute.

Re: willingness to commute

I think it depends on the commute. If you live close by the train station and have a direct commute, I don't think it's as bad as driving 20-25 minutes to a train station, taking the train and having multiple connections.

DH works in the City and we live close to the Hicksville train station. He mentioned the possibility to go out East. I told him NO. We are in a great area, great train station. That would add so much more time to his commute and it's not worth it to me to not be able to enjoy my time with him.

BUT I understand people who want to live out East either due to financial aspect or just because they like it.

Re: willingness to commute

my commute is nothing, i make it to work in about 15 minutes, by car. i think if i had to take a train to work, i don't think i'd like it.

dh works for the lirr, so he operates the trains everyday.

Re: willingness to commute

I will sacrifice a long commute for a nice neighborhood. I live in the land of Suburbia (staten island). I work in the heart of NYC, so with all the hustle & commotion I deal with every day, I love coming home to a nice tree lined quiet neighborhood, where the only sounds I hear is the ice cream truck, an occassional dog bark & kids playing in the street. I live in a nice safe (& quite beautiful) neighborhood. I will sacrifice the 1 1/2 hour commute because you couldn't pay me enough to live in the city.


ETA: I hope I didn't offend anyone who lives in the city. Its a great lifestyle to be in the heart of just about everything you could ever want or need. I just dont feel that living in the city is for everyone.


I also want to add: I take an express bus to work... very different than taking the LIRR. I dont have to deal with half the stuff that you ladies deal with on that train. Maybe thats why even though my commute can be a nightmare- the worst thing Im doing is sitting in traffic.

Message edited 5/11/2007 1:06:45 PM.

Re: willingness to commute

I live and work in NYC and love that I can walk to work It fits our lifestyle considering we both work very long hours. Who knows what will happen in the future, but I don't think either of us could tolerate a long commute. I always see commuters when I take the LIRR to visit my parents in Smithtown and I don't know how they do it

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DH commutes to the city every day. We live in eastern suffolk...but would not have considered looking elsewhere. He hates the commute, but he deals.

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Message edited 5/11/2007 1:06:55 PM.

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Lauren I'm with you.
DH travels all over LI for work, so we needed to be somewhere in the middle. We agreed on North Shore Suffolk because we loved the property sizes, the smal town feel and the commute for me wasn't all that bad.

I HATE when I tell people where I bought a home and they are like "Oh my GOD how can you stand that commute".

I've been doing it for 8 years and I don't mind it. I read, sleep catch up on my "list making". It's a perfect way to unwind after work also. No bumper to bumper traffic to deal with. I even enjoy a cocktail or 2 or 3

PS. While most hate the LIRR, I honestly (minus all of the grossness I've observed) don't think it's that bad.

Message edited 5/11/2007 1:09:36 PM.

Re: willingness to commute

I always wanted to live in the city but now that I've been commuting here every day, that desire has definitely gone away.

Before I commuted into the city I thought the people who did it were lunatics, but now that I'm one of them I dont' think it's too bad. That being said, I'm lucky enough to live 5 minutes from the Babylon station and catch an express home every day... I will say that I don't know how people do this for 20+ years.

Re: willingness to commute

Message edited 6/12/2009 3:43:22 PM.

Re: willingness to commute

DH commutes an hour to the city and complains that he has to wake up at 5 to catch his train.
However he wants to move to Suffolk for more property

I work on LI so it's not a big deal for me.

I'm a snob when it comes to commuting, I like the comfort of my car and I run errands every morning on my way to work.

Re: willingness to commute

You are totally right. I live in SI and commute to the city, I take train, ferry and bus. None of my walk is more than 5 blocks, so this doesn't bother me. I actually like the walk in the morning.

I don't think if I had to drive to a bus/train whatever I would like the commute as much.

For me it's a little more than an hour, but I wouldn't want to go much further than that. I love having a quiet neighborhood and a little piece of land, I couldn't live in the city, just not me.

Re: willingness to commute

Posted by KvsGrl

I live and work in NYC and love that I can walk to work It fits our lifestyle considering we both work very long hours. Who knows what will happen in the future, but I don't think either of us could tolerate a long commute. I always see commuters when I take the LIRR to visit my parents in Smithtown and I don't know how they do it

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Message edited 7/7/2007 10:54:28 AM.

Re: willingness to commute

We live where we do based on proximity to the city. We love living in Astoria, and I would never in a million years move any further than 45 minutes to the city.

Re: willingness to commute

we definitely have lived in every type of scenario - in the city - working in the city; in the city - working in the burbs; in the burbs - working in the city; and in the burbs working in the city.

They were just different parts of our lives. There are so many pros and cons to each situation.

Re: willingness to commute

I honestly think it depends on the type of work you're in as well. I'm in high finance, and while I'd love to live out East, I wouldn't want the commute and having lived through 9-11, the Blackout, the Transit Strike, I love being able to get home thorugh some means w/out relying on PT.

I wouldn't find a job that's similar to what I do here in NYC far out on Long Island. The same applies to DH.

That being said, my commute is about a 45 minute bus or train ride and I love it b/c I can sleep/read/chat on the phone. There are times where I drive in and it takes about 20 mins.

If DH and I had different careers, we would definitely choose to live closer to our jobs.

Re: willingness to commute

I am just curious if this was in my response to freckles post on the home board where I mention that I thought the commute from syosset was miserable? I was actually going to edit the post and clarify what I meant. For people who work regular hours, I dont think the commute from syosset to penn is that bad (55 minutes).

However, unless you work right outside penn station and live across the street from the train, the 55 minute train ride easily turns into 1.5+ hours door to door each way. Now, I still think that is a managable commute IF you work decent hours. But, if you are like me in previous jobs or my husband and you are working 11+ hours per day, adding 3 hours to that gets crazy. Not to mention trying to get to the office on a weekend if you just need to work an extra half day. In freckles post she mentioned that both she and her husband worked long hours and therefore the commute was important.

All of that being said, I do think spending more than an hour each way commuting, while certainly doable, is somewhat crazy. But, I would rather live in the burbs in a nice house than in the city so I guess that is the price you pay....

Re: willingness to commute

I was just wondering the same thing...lululu, I have the same situation as you and your DH. We're in a business that doesn't get out at the same time on ANY given day. When I first started working, I commuted from Ronkonkoma and didn't get home to eat dinner till 10:30 at night. I personally hated that lifestyle so I decided, for me, I was going to relocate further west permanently and always try to keep my commute at a minimum of 45min -1 hour.

But I think it definitely varies for each person and their circumstances.

Re: willingness to commute

Re: willingness to commute

For a few months I commuted to NYC from Babylon. Even though we are a main stop, I found the trains to be infrequent & inconveniently scheduled. They got me into work too early, and took forever for me to get home. PLUS good luck finding a seat on the evening rush hour trains.....you literally have to push, shove & go for broke just to get a single seat.

Now I drive about 1 hour each way every day, and for some reason it does not bother me as much. I suppose it is because I am a control freak & at least I feel like my immediate environment is under my control.

Had I been given the opportunity I would have moved further east, but with DH & I both working west we decided it would be too rough.

Re: willingness to commute

Posted by SweetTooth

Posted by lululu

I am just curious if this was in my response to freckles post on the home board where I mention that I thought the commute from syosset was miserable? I was actually going to edit the post and clarify what I meant. For people who work regular hours, I dont think the commute from syosset to penn is that bad (55 minutes).

It did spark the thought in my head, but I do not mind at all you said the commute was miserable. For some that kind of commute is misserable. For others it isn't bad. Its just found it interesting how everyone is different.

We used to live in Astoria, which was a 45 minute commute, and I probably lived about 5 miles from my office. We lived in a small 2-bedroom apt.. so to double that commute to a house with a yard didn't seem like a big deal to me.
But thats me

Re: willingness to commute

Message edited 5/11/2007 1:53:08 PM.