How Your Daily Drive Time Can Factor into Your Mortgage

It’s easy to overlook some of the things that can affect your budget and purchasing power when you’re considering a home, and one of the biggest factors that buyers overlook is the cost of their daily commute.

We’ve all heard that real estate is all about “location, location, location,” and properties in more desirable locations typically come with a higher price tag than similar properties that aren’t in a hot neighborhood.

Yet the overall cost of living for choosing one location over another might be negligible when you factor in the commuting costs that are required—gas, vehicle maintenance, insurance—if you purchase a home that is significantly further from your workplace. If your mortgage is $200 less per month, but you’re spending an extra $200 in commuting costs, are you really saving money?

Commuting costs aren’t just about the disposable income left in your bank account, either. It can even affect how much money you can borrow. If you’re a long-distance commuter, a loan officer may factor your travel costs into your debt-to-income ratio.

Aside from how commuting affects your purchasing power or disposable income, there’s also the question of how it affects your quality of life—no one wants to spend hours a week just getting to and from work.

The real estate market varies greatly from location to location, so the best way to get a complete picture of your purchasing power—and all the factors that go into your home budget—is to speak to a trusted real estate professional. 

Five Things That Make Us Happy With Our Homes

According to a survey conducted by houzz.com, here are five things that consistently make people happy with their homes.

1. Big windows and comfortable furniture: Nearly 75 percent of respondents listed these two items as major difference-makers. It’s a no-brainer—people like lots of light and a good place to relax.

2. A big-screen TV: This is more likely to be a key feature for men than women. 40 percent of men said having a big-screen TV makes them happy with their homes, compared to just 17 percent of women.

3. Overall design and layout: 87 percent of the 6,000 people surveyed said the design of the home is a major contributor to overall happiness. If you’re unhappy with your home and there’s a project you’ve been wanting to tackle, get to it!

4. Home cookin’: 39 percent of respondents said the scent of good cooking or baking made them happiest. Clearly, it helps to have a capable chef around the house!

5. Keep it tidy: 72 percent of homeowners said they’re happiest when their houses are clean and well-organized. If you want to be happier with your home, try having a place for everything, and put everything in its place.

 

Once a Bookworm, Always a Bookworm

Reading has always been one of my favorite hobbies. Since childhood, I have been in love with books. I was that kid who would stay up late in bed with a flashlight reading. When I was home sick from school, I didn't want a stack of my favorite movies to watch. I wanted a stack of books from the library to lay in bed and read. 

As the years passed, my love of books never changed. To this day, if you leave me in a bookstore unsupervised, I could get lost in there for hours. The only thing that has changed is time. Often demanding school schedules and work schedules would make it difficult to find time to read, and even those nights spent reading before bed were short lived as I would soon crash from a long day. 

Although many of us, myself included, have had a lot to complain about this year, there are still so many things for which I am grateful. One of those things is having an abundance of time to read and read and read some more. Since mid-March, I have been able to read 30 books. Some were new, some had been on my to-read list for years, and some were old favorites when I was needing an escape back to a world I already knew and loved. 

Most recently, I finished reading The Guest List by Lucy Foley. It's a book that hit my radar after seeing it mentioned on Reese's Book Club's Instagram. I'll admit that, for me, it started out slow and took a while to get into it. I think this was mostly due to it being a book with multiple POVs making it difficult to follow exactly who is who and keep track of the progressing storyline. However, as I started to get a handle on each character, the pace picked up along with the intensity. Although I found some elements of the book predictable, it still hit me with some unexpected twists and turns. Overall, The Guest List is a fun, quick read that is perfect for a relaxing weekend at the beach.

As for the rest of the books I have read over the last few months, I actually keep track of everything I read on Goodreads because I am that nerdy, and I also think it's a wonderful place to keep track of books I want to read and what my friends are reading. Everything I have read since mid-March:

Failure is Not an Option by Gene Kranz

The Justice Game by Randy Singer

The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher

Year Zero by Rob Reid

Seriously...I'm Kidding by Ellen DeGeneres

The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith

The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith

The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino

Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Lethal White by Robert Galbraith

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Five Presidents: My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford by Clint Hill

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

The Boyfriend Project by Farrah Rochon

Girl, Stop Apologizing by Rachel Hollis

Lifeguard by James Patterson

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Home Before Dark by Riley Sager

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson

In Five Years by Rebecca Serle

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

Yes, the last few months have been rough and stressful, but I am grateful for the silver linings during this time such as reenergizing my reading time to full power. I have finally started to make a dent in my To Read List (although it has grown too) and for that I am thankful. When things start to return more to normal, whenever that may be, it is my goal to stay on top of reading and not letting it fall to the wayside like it has in the past.

What about you? Do you enjoy reading as much as I do? What's your favorite book you've read so far this year? If not, what is your silver lining during this global pandemic? Comment below, and as always, thanks for reading!