Time is precious.

If you have a long commute, you run the risk of being so tired from commuting than you may not enjoy the home when you get there.

45 minutes tops. I’d say if it’s not close to work, then it’s not really the perfect home. Life is short!

I think 30 -45 mins. max after that it just isn’t worth it. I am sure there is more than one perfect house closer to work.

Hubby's commute is about 45 minutes, but he leaves pretty early in the morning so he can get off early and miss rush hour traffic. If he hits that rush hour traffic it's over an hour, needless to say, he hates when someone calls a late meeting and he hits rush hour traffic.
I take my son to practice with an Olympic coach six days a week. It's a 45-50 min drive one way and I tend to make two round trips per day (only once in Saturday) so I spend about 3 hours per day in my vehicle. The alternative would be that he live at the camp house away from his family and we didn't think that was an acceptable alternative for a teenaged boy.
I actually enjoy the commute. I listen to enjoyable music and have some alone time, or time to talk with my son when I'm dropping off or picking up. Hubby likes to spend his commute time listening to talk radio, or just having some silence. Having a comfortable vehicle is pretty important though.
And we love our house and neighborhood. We had originally wanted less than a 30 minute commute, but we really couldn't find anything acceptable in our price range within that distance to his work, plus my son's activity is in the opposite direction anyways. (Even though that wasn't a factor yet when we bought the house.) It's nice though when hubby is able to work from home, we wish he was able to do that more regularly.

Numerous studies have documented the detrimental effects of long commutes to one’s heath ( e. g., high blood pressure, elevated glucose levels, cardiovascular problems, musculoskeletal issues ), in addition to these, there is the time lost from enjoying ones family and friends. Anything longer that 30 minutes each way is too long IMO, not worth it even for the “perfect “ home, however that is defined. My idea of a perfect home is much different than many ....I like an “interesting “ home in a location I love, , size isn’t that important to me , & the last thing I’d want is a McMansion on a large piece of land. Different strokes...

Hi Emily,

Great question!

Here in NYC, our commute is based on trains/bus far more than cars. The quality of the commute (transfers, is the station outdoors, crowded platforms, etc) is equally considered.

I have a girlfriend who lives in Mineola, NY (Long Island) and takes the LIRR into Penn Station M-F and she HATES it! Although her door to door commute is approx 45 minutes, the quality of her commute is dreadful.

She is a single mom and has to live out there per court order due to her Ex, otherwise she'd be long gone.

She once spent the night with us taking the subway only, door to door it was approx 30 minutes for her and she was overjoyed.

When I pointed out that her daily commute was only 15 minutes more, she looked at me like I was crazy...

I've voted an hour, but that would have to be an over the top perfect home. Time is everything, it's what our lives are made of. My heart breaks for people who have no choice but to spend three or four hours of their day travelling. But I must say, Auntthelma makes a compelling case. Perhaps it depends on how user-friendly your transport is for you?

And I'm not the only one. My train has probably 50 people on it at the end of the day. And we are the end of the line.

We drew a 40 mile diameter circle around DH's workplace and worked from that. Happened to be many nice communities inside the circle and we were able to find a nice home in an area with good outdoor recreation, great schools and so on inside that limit.

Over the top perfect was and is way outside our budget. Could get a nicer home but then would sacrifice good schools, low crime rate and such. The house itself is only part of what makes a place home.

Driving: no more than half an hour.

If mass transit is available and convenient: up to or just a little over an hour. If it's something like a smooth comfortable train ride where I can do other things during than the commute than I can tolerate longer.

Where I live right now, the commute to the office is a 10 minute drive to the station, 10 minutes of fudge time in case there is a freight train crossing or something else that slows up the drive, 35-40 minutes on the train and 5 minutes walking to my desk. Altogether that is roughly an hour commute. I wouldn't really want to do much more than that even if the house were more perfect than what we have right now.

We found our "perfect home" 30 years ago, at a 45 minute commute. We drove together; I had free parking at my work. Then quickly the route to and from the central city where we both worked became overbuilt and congested. Within 3 years it was an hour, then an hour 15, etc.

It stressed my husband out and he found a job with a 10 minute commute. We did not want to move because one factor we'd chosen the house for was the terrific school district. That left me making the drive on my own plus picking up our son at the wonderful day care we had found near the highway. I was listening to audiobooks in the car to take my mind off it. Then I lost my job and became self-employed.

My husband later got 3 other jobs downtown. But by then a train branch line had been built and commuting downtown became a viable option again.

I would own in the city where I worked. Not an inexpensive choice for a great property, but taking public transportation to work, or maybe close enough to walk, would be a dream.

So we did it, but after the kids had left for college. I worked in Cambridge and my husband in Somerville, so we bought in Harvard Sq. Lots of fun for 12 years and wished we had done it sooner. Lots of good schools in the area.

In our neck of the woods, young families are opting out of the big house in the 'burbs and buying in town. There is so much for children to do on weekends, it is pretty amazing.

JudyG,

Very similar to you. We walk to the subway, (6 blocks), not having to take a bus/drive to a train station is a huge game changer.

Our subway stop is underground which is also a plus.

We see countless young couples doing anything they can to be in this situation.

My niece and nephew live a few blocks from you! They love taking the Acela to NYC.

My husband and I both work downtown but live about 25 minutes away in the suburbs, which means about a 45 minute commute. It's either live close to downtown, with no backyard for our dogs, and far away from the country, where we board our horses and I ride every night, or live in between. With the population growth in our area, there's no way around a long commute, and I'm not willing to live that far away from my horses. It's why we're planning a move to the Midwest, where the horses wouldn't be that far away from downtown. Animals take precedence over my convenience. If I don't have my horses, there's no point in whatever less stress I would have from a shorter commute.

I already commented, but we also live on the edge of a sizable city and we knew that we didn't want to live inside of the interstate traffic circle even though my hubby works downtown, so that meant a 45 minute commute no matter WHICH direction we chose from his work. Then I looked at a satellite image of the city and chose the greenest area with the most trees. That's where we concentrated our housing search. We did end up looking at a few homes inside of the traffic circle, but we just couldn't get past the idea that it was so close to the city and we just plain old prefer the suburbs and couldn't get past that desire. If we had decided to live more rurally than that then it would've been a 75+ minute commute.

No more than 30 minutes! My husband and I have never lived any further away than a 30 minute drive to work since we got married over 42 years ago. When we do have bad weather, that of course changes.

Driving 40 minutes. Train one hour. I must admit my very first home required a train / walk time of almost 2 hours but, it was a beginning.

I suppose it depends on your interpretation of the question.What is the alternative? Living in a not so nice home or living in an almost perfect home? If the question is,How far would you commute to live in the perfect home as compare to where you live now,than the answer is different.If the question is to be interpreted as,would you commute 1-2 hours for the perfect home or prefer to have an almost perfect dream home but have a shorter commute than that poses a different response.

30-35 min tops.

It's hard for me to say. I have worked from my home office for over 10 years and I live in my dream home. I suppose anything over 5 minutes at this point (which is about how long it takes to drive to my mailbox) would be my max commute.

I voted 30 mins or less. Current drive is 17 mins/8 miles one way. I wouldn't mind a nicer home with a 30 min drive on a 25+ mph pace. But anything longer than 30 mins and it's not really the "dream home" anymore.

Driverless cars are less than 10 years away. It will be interesting how that changes the response to this poll

I used to have a 6 minute walk to work in NYC but after I got married we moved 11 miles away to NJ & that commute door-to-door was 1 hr 20, it was via 2 trains & it was always the hurry up & wait for them. We bought a house 62 miles from the city and now it takes me 2 hrs each way (door-to-door); but we do drive half-way together & then I hop on an express train to NY. Not ideal but frankly we have 3 acres & chickens & beautiful view's to contend with so we're both happy. Also there is no way that I would be making my salary if I tried to get a job where I live.

Some people have more stress with a commute while others find it more stressful to live in the city.

After my husband passed away in 2000, I started looking for a place closer to my family again (we were 4 1/2 hours away). My mom was pushing me to move into a subdivision closer to them, but I wanted to be out... more rural... I had 2 boys with dirt bikes and two big dogs... I wanted land. I found 5 acres just outside of a small town, not 25 minutes from my parent's house... It was perfect for me and the boys. When I remarried, my husband did have to drive a bit for work, anywhere from 30-60 minutes, and when he got sick, we were sometimes an hour to doctor appointments and the hospital... but we always felt like when we came home, we had our own little piece of heaven. He passed away in 2011, and it was just me for a short time, but I totally enjoyed the solitude of having nobody right up on me... Fast forward, a new relationship, and while he has to drive a bit for work, usually, it's still a good thing. We love being where we are, at the end of the day. Sweet serenity...

45 minutes for the perfect home to the perfect job. Other than that, something has to change (lol).

I would never allow work to dictate where I may live, esp if they dont pay me enough to live close by in anything but a shoe box. Walking distance might be the only thing worth living anywhere near where most ppl work, at least you would get some health out of it, and a walkable neighborhood with shops I like is a pretty nice bonus.

Though we're retired now, we lived 30-60 minutes away from work, depending on the time of day we commuted. We live on a cliff overlooking a river, and it has always been wonderful to escape here. We have 22 acres of mostly hillside land, and have lived here since 1976. Old age is creeping up on us now, but I would not trade our country experience for anything! Personal space is THE last great luxury.

I live 1 hour 50 minutes from work. I drive 20 minutes, take Metro North train and then the subway. I would prefer to avoid the NYC subway because it's the worst part of the commute. But as someone else said, I sleep, read, and relax on the train. And at the end of the day when I get home and see grass and trees, I breathe and relax and I know my kids go to a great public school. If I lived closer, I would get no land and my taxes would be even more ridiculous than they are. I choose to have that commute but unless I leave the NYC area, there isn't much choice so I just try not to think about it!

I wouldn't do more than 20 for house, but for school district different story. So we are 40 min away from work...

i dont work... (i'm a retired at home mom). my husband does a 10 min bike ride to work on a rail trail bike path, so no cars except for crossing one intersection. the town plows the bike path in the winter so you dont lose too many days from biking. otherwise its an 8 min drive or a 15-20 min bus ride. life is very very good.

I consider my community part of the equation for the perfect home. I fell in love with that community and my beautiful antique house 10 years ago. I commuted to NYC by train for 2 hours during a 6 month time period. I now commute a little over an hour by car to a different job. I decided years ago to love where I live and to make the work piece fit around that. No regrets.

great!

The house wouldn't be perfect if the commute were too long.

I have a 30-minute walk to work. That's perfect. I would never want to sit in traffic for 30 minutes, though. No house is worth that (and I grew up in the suburbs of big cities).

My husband has a 10 min bike ride.I stay at home with the kids so we only have one car. Most people at his work commute atleast 45 minutes each way to get a bigger house. Not worth it in my opinion.

I already drive 45 miles (90 round trip) 3 days a week for work and that's just for an apartment. I'd add an extra 5-10 miles for the perfect home.

The perfect home... has no commute.

Lack of nice local food markets make our lives difficult and exhausting. Commuting is time consuming and tiring.