What's better for happiness - bigger house or shorter commute? (Harvard: real estate, apartments)

[konfetka]

"The daily activity most injurious to happiness is commuting. According to one study, being married produces a psychic gain equivalent to more than $100,000 a year.

In other words, the best way to make yourself happy is to have a short commute and get married. I'm afraid science can't tell us very much about marriage so let's talk about commuting. A few years ago, the Swiss economists Bruno Frey and Alois Stutzer announced the discovery of a new human foible, which they called "the commuters paradox". They found that, when people are choosing where to live, they consistently underestimate the pain of a long commute. This leads people to mistakenly believe that the big house in the exurbs will make them happier, even though it might force them to drive an additional hour to work.


Of course, as Brooks notes, that time in traffic is torture, and the big house isn't worth it. According to the calculations of Frey and Stutzer, a person with a one-hour commute has to earn 40 percent more money to be as satisfied with life as someone who walks to the office. Another study, led by Daniel Kahneman and the economist Alan Krueger, surveyed nine hundred working women in Texas and found that commuting was, by far, the least pleasurable part of their day.

Why is traffic so unpleasant? One reason is that it's a painful ritual we never get used to - the flow of traffic is inherently unpredictable. As a result, we don't habituate to the suffering of rush hour. (Ironically, if traffic was always bad, and not just usually bad, it would be easier to deal with. So the commutes that really kill us are those rare days when the highways are clear.) As the Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert notes, "Driving in traffic is a different kind of hell every day."

But if commuting is so awful, then why are our commutes getting so much longer? (More than 3.5 million Americans spend more than three hours each day traveling to and from work.) In my book, I cite the speculative hypothesis of Ap Dijksterhuis, a psychologist at Radboud University in the Netherlands, who argues that long-distance commuters are victims of a "weighting mistake," a classic decision-making error in which we lose sight of the important variables:

Consider two housing options: a three bedroom apartment that is located in the middle of a city, with a ten minute commute time, or a five bedroom McMansion on the urban outskirts, with a forty-five minute commute. "People will think about this trade-off for a long time," Dijksterhuis says. "And most them will eventually choose the large house. After all, a third bathroom or extra bedroom is very important for when grandma and grandpa come over for Christmas, whereas driving two hours each day is really not that bad." What's interesting, Dijksterhuis says, is that the more time people spend deliberating, the more important that extra space becomes. They'll imagine all sorts of scenarios (a big birthday party, Thanksgiving dinner, another child) that will turn the suburban house into an absolute necessity. The pain of a lengthy commute, meanwhile, will seem less and less significant, at least when compared to the allure of an extra bathroom. But, as Dijksterhuis points out, that reasoning process is exactly backwards: "The additional bathroom is a completely superfluous asset for at least 362 or 363 days each year, whereas a long commute does become a burden after a while."

Commuting : The Frontal Cortex

[tikaram]

Interesting article that raises good points. Thing is, there is at times more in play than size of the house vs length of commute. Honestly, I didn't encounter buyers who would choose between a 3br 1 ba apartment and 6 br 3 ba house, it is too much of a difference even if both were same price. Perhaps at the very early stages of house hunting process, when the person doesn't really know what s'he wants to buy.

Aside from commute and square footage, there are personal preferences for city living and suburban living. Some people have very strong preferences about that, and while a bit annoyed, they are willing to drive 45 minutes instead of 7. There's also commuter rail, that can take you from the 'burbs to work, in similar amount of time it would take you on a subway going from one part of town to the opposite one, with both places being in the city. Many people enjoy train rides as time for themselves. Of course there are others who don't.

One can also buy a house in the burbs, and find a new job closer to that house. And, funny enough, even in the burbs there are apartment buildings.

I wouldn't underestimate second bathroom. Even if it's just a half bath, it helps a lot with morning frustration and hectic that many families with children might experience. It's not just for aunt Dottie visiting during Xmas. In fact, modern apartments try to built in at least a second half bath. In some older apartments a second bath can be installed next to existing one (if you take out a closet for example, or do some other clever rearranging). It seems to be a very coveted feature by new buyers.

This is not to say that there is no buyers remorse after the fact. . And you can't really "try on" a house until you buy it and move in. So unless you know the neighborhood really well and have done an immense amount of research, some areas and preferences might get overlooked when house shopping. Though I find most people are very cautious and smart. If you check threads here in city forum where people are for advice "where to buy", they immediately are asked where they need to commute to work. And there are other threads, that start with "I need to commute to X", asking for suggestions. Location comes first, and then depending on budget and other factors people decide on the size of the house or apartment.

Plus don't forget the upkeep. There is minimal work required with an apartment, you just pay a condo fee, there's some more stuff to do with a town house, and much more with a single family house. However, there are people who do enjoy yard work very much, they find it therapeutic and relaxing, as well as very gratifying, for them having an own house with own yard is a blessing, even if the commute is longer. You can also have a pet of your choice if you buy a single family. Some people are waiting to buy their house in order to get a big dog (or two!) - try that in an apartment building!
There are artists who need more space for their studio, and musicians are at a noise disadvantage. Some condominium complexes have it in their rules and regulations that you can't practice musical instruments - not only after 5 pm, but at all! Practicing is crucial to a musicians' career, so if they buy property, it's a town home or a single family home, not a condo. And based on the budget, only a house in the burbs fits the bill.
So, there's more to the equation.

[massnative71]

A good many of us have no choice.

[gf2020]

I wouldn't consider 45 minutes to be a long commute. When you start getting past 1 hour each way, I would consider that to be long.

[IDASpaceman]

Anything more than 30 mins on the road is like a prison sentence...anything less than 2,000sq ft for me is like a prison cell.

[tikaram]

I would also be very interested to know where these scientists and article author live themselves...

And I agree with massnative 71, many people don't have the luxury of choice.

[beth98]

Very interesting. I would have to say in my own personal experience, commute time plays a huge role in happiness. When my office closed down a number of years ago, I began commuting 45 minutes to the next closest office because I loved my job. I figured it wouldn't be that bad, I could get books on cd or listen to music. It didn't take long for me to begin to hate it. 45 minutes each way is 7.5 hours a week. Throw in one bad traffic jam a day and I'm sitting in my car 8 hours a week. Not to mention the costs involved.

I've been working for home for the past 4 years (sans one 4 month contract job) and don't think I could ever go back to a long commute. Of course, I don't like mcmansions and would prefer a smaller space so I may not be the best example.

[Beachcomber4]

Interesting...article. My first thought was "this is totally irrelevant and what kind of a moron would sanction a study and simplify such a complex decision into simply buying a house because it was huge vs convenience of commute with no consideration for other important factors?"

Then I remembered the 90's. Very interesting article.

[konfetka]

IDASpaceman, very funny!

Tikaram, I agree there are so many other factors.

I would add another factor - peer pressure. When your friends live in a 5 bedroom house with 1 acre of land, for some people it might be detrimental to happiness, unless you get a 6 bedroom house on 2 acres.

Good example, the country I came from, everyone used to live in apartments, and people thought they made it (and achieved happiness) if they had nicer furniture, than their neighbors.

[tikaram]

Originally Posted by konfetka

I would add another factor - peer pressure. When your friends live in a 5 bedroom house with 1 acre of land, for some people it might be detrimental to happiness, unless you get a 6 bedroom house on 2 acres.

It might have been that way, "keep up with the Jones's" it's called here. But these kinds of people will be unhappy no matter what they have and where they live. If they buy a 6br mansion, there will be another one down the street with 10 br and 4 bathrooms and so forth.

Besides, just as an example, I would not envy someone with 1 acre of land and a huge house. I hate yardwork, and I evaluate the space in the house by amount of time spent on cleaning and maintaining it. Do I want this headache and expense? No. (I do own a house, by the way, so it's not like I'm renting a room with 5 roommates pretending to know what it's like to own a property) At the same time, it just MY opinion, I happen to like smaller spaces with less upkeep. It's me. I know what I need, and am happy with what I have. I see mansions every week (since I'm in real estate), but my only thought is "I'd like to SELL a place liek that", it would be fun to market, and commission would be great", I never feel an urge to own this.

As for country, I'm from similar background. I read you come from Latvia, I am from St Pb, practically a neighbor. I know exactly what you mean, when you talk about our small apartment (by USA standards) but even in this case I would not look up to these people's definition of "who made it". What makes YOU happy, personally, what do YOU need that will make it or break it for you - that's what people should concentrate on.

I work with buyers, and sometimes they come with friends or relatives to check out the property they intend to make an offer on. Usually all goes well, and they receive great constructive feedback, but other times, friends and family who will NOT be living there, maybe visiting once a year if at all, offer such strong opinions, and too eagerly share their likes and dislikes, that it throws the buyers off course. And if they decide to search for more houses I'm fine with that, it's their right, I'm there to help them find the best solution, but I have to make sure they stay true to themselves, to THEIR needs and preferences, turns out it's not always easy.