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I recently moved to the Bay Area and have a couple options in terms of housing.
Option one: 30 minute commute to work - 800/month -
Option two: 10 min commute to work - 1300/month - verbally commited to this as it came first
My salary is pretty good, 95K base.
All else is fairly equal. I'd love to save more money, so the 800 is very appealing...but i allready have a large savings rate and could also get a good bonus at the end of the year and this won't be an issue
Given these options, what would you suggest?
And given a few options, what do you normally use to determine which to rent.
I'd choose the one closer to work if it had the same amenities. You'll save money in gas (granted, not $500 worth but still). More time to spend with family and not driving. Plus your chances of a car crash go down the less you have to drive as well If you forget something at home, no big deal, its 10 mins away. You could come home for lunch and save money there too. If you're running late, at least you're only 10 mins away, not 30 mins + whatever traffic is holding up.
If the more expensive place is in the middle of the action, as far as neighborhood amenities/action go, and that is your thing, I'd choose that. I pay more money to live/own in downtown Honolulu, which is about a 30-40 min drive from work. I could pay less to live closer to work, but then I'd be so far removed from the things that I want to do outside of working hours.
In questions like these, I think it's up to the OP to decide what he/she really wants and what they value. With that said, the above poster's mention of things like forgetting things at home, etc. should really be considered based on how often that actually happens to you. You do seem like you'd easily have a pretty high savings rate, so I don't think anyone could fault the $1300 on being above your pay grade. If you're the type who likes to put a $ on your time, that's about 13 hours per month saved on traffic for $500, meaning about $40/hour.
Sure it is IF the Traffic makes it more 90 min drive. That's a lot of gas just sitting still.
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If you forget something at home, no big deal, its 10 mins away. You could come home for lunch and save money there too. If you're running late, at least you're only 10 mins away, not 30 mins + whatever traffic is holding up.
(jk)
