I commute 40+ miles each way. In traffic that adds up to anywhere from 2 - 3 hours in traffic each day. It aint so bad, I've adjusted and listen to a lot of talk radio now. The extra $300 a month on gas and toll hurt the wallet a bit though. I need to start buying audio books or something. Maybe teach myself Japanese... :P

I like driving too but you're talking 90 miles each way, ouch. I'd test drive the commute for a week or 2 before you make the decision. Your sanity isn't worth a house in the suburbs.

 

If you work in South Bay you can try taking ACE(altamont commuter express) probably take about as long but save some miles, and a lot of stress. I don't think it connects with BART though without taking the bus

Like Andre said, if you can work hours where you aren't in commute traffic it won't be that bad, and you can take some of the back roads out of Livermore into Patterson

 

I could also get a new job or open an ebay business muahahahhahaha

 

COME to modesto its nicer or even check out ceres... its a freeway town PATERSON is to far from freeway access

edgar, <-- lives in ceres

 

modesto is Evil

 

I'd rather be poor in San Francisco, New York or Boston than be rich in Los Banos!

 

http://beginnersinvest.about.com/gi/...of_living.html


You need to calculate everything out and assume everything when moving. Driving 90miles a day x 5days a week x52weeks =23,400.00 miles. Just compare everything! Do you have a mortgage in SF? Are you renting? Can you Refinance for cash out and get a lower rate? Can you rent out your current property? Are the people in San Jose *******s? Are you happy with where you live now? Traffic is going to be a ***** and a half! You'll have to sacrifice a lot of your time too make it work.

I can't understand living in S.F (eventhough i enjoy the city)... the cost of NET living is ~45-60% higher than where i live

In times like these i'd love to have a Life Estate in SF.

 

After thinking about it for 10 minutes, I finally realized where BFE is...

 

Living in BFE rules. I hate big cities.
But the Altamont commute SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKS.
It's impossible to overstate how much it sucks.
And like Sisqo says, make sure you compute the true costs of commuting. Do a rigorous cost-benefit analysis. I am an engineer and can do this for you for a small fee.

 

My uncle lived out in Discovery Bay for many years...and commuted to work every day to Fremont....it would take him way over an hour to get to work every morning because the traffic is soooo bad coming over the altamont....because of the exact reason you just mentioned, cheaper housing....but a commute...everyone has the same idea....so keep that in mind, you like to drive...cool, but its not a fun drive when sitting in rush hour traffic every morning for 2+ hours, then doing it all over on the way home.

-Ted

EDIT: Here, check this out, you can find some nicely done (older) homes for a half way reasonable price, just input your ZIP and you will get all the homes around your area for sale.

www.realtor.com

 

grew up in modesto and just bought a 4000sq.ft. home there. i won't be doing the commute though...just parking that money into something that will appreciate in value.

there are A LOT of people doing that commute. i've been driving the "680-580-205-120-99 corridor" (whew) for years now and have never seen this much traffic. it is stupid slow...i would kill myself if i had to sit through that crap everyday.

when i went shopping for a home, there were lots of people who couldn't afford bay area house prices, so they had to look there. houses in modesto used to cost pennies to the dollar as compared to the bay area and now that folks with bay area salaries are flooding that market, housing prices are being rapidly inflated. 2 years go, you could find a 3000sq.ft. home for $200k...that same home will cost you $350k today. the central valley RE market will only get worse as more people head that way.

bay area housing prices.

db

*edited so that i can state my vote: brucelee's on the line for you. ....you can't go wrong either way: buy a house here to keep a short commute or park your money there to get some nice returns.

 

oops i meant fresno sorry

 

maybe it's time to invest in rental properties? It's a write off and you can eventually payoff a lot of crap in the end. You just have to do your homework on promissing housing areas. You buy 2-3 out of town houses over time at ~180k. Then say the land goes up in value to 220k each. you do a cash out on all 3 and that's ~120k in your pocket! Hell, you could have a mortgage of $1200 and charge a bit extra for renters etc. Then have the equity from the rentals and renters to pay for the cost of living in SF.

The bottom line is you need to get a mortgage sooner or later. Any rental blows unless it's a business. The options are endless and i really don't know your financial situation

 

rental properties are nice, but if this is his first house, he'll get a larger tax break if he lives there vs. renting it out.

rental homes for $180k? where? *looking*

 

in arizona. it was only an example