Reply #122: It depends on your job. [View All]

[wickerwoman]

Not everybody can transfer their job skills to any area they want. Only 12 people in Washington State do what I do and I'm not in a position to dictate terms on where I set up office. And a three hour a day commute consumes massive resources. Like $65,000 just in gas over 30 years. Add wear and tear on the car, lost income from three hours a day in the car, extra day-care etc. and it's not that insane to spend more on a modest house closer to your job.

The point is that, as you clearly know, the fact that a house costs more than $300,000 in Seattle doesn't automatically mean that it's an extravagant new-build or that it's in a pristine, snobby neighborhood. I was out house-hunting with my brother this summer and there are still some capital D dumps out there (we're talking chalk outlines, holes in the walls where the goats ate through, huge mold colonies...) going for well over $250,000.

And Seattle is cheap compared with New Jersey and some other places I've lived.