There was an interesting article today in Realty Times discussing the currently escalating energy costs, and the implications for home sizes and housing decisions. One might think that with gas prices rising so quickly, the average consumer might alter their behavior reflecting sensitivity to these costs.
The author makes the case that it would take a true energy crisis to change the current course of larger average home sizes (20% are 4 or more bedrooms, nationwide!). One interesting detail is the fact that garage doors are being built with larger dimensions to accommodate the larger, gas-guzzling SUV cars that so many Americans love to drive.
I don't think the average home builder can respond to the weekly changes in gas prices, and expect to see some of the energy-conscious construction trends become more wide-spread. There has been a lot of buzz for months about "green construction" in my area (San Francisco Bay Area), but the building industry has to deliver based on some amount of lag time.
A little over a year ago, the Brookings Institute issued an insightful report about "The Housing Affordability Index, A New Tool for Measuring the True Affordability of a Housing Choice". One of the key issues that hit home for me was the discussion on a consumers tendency to mis-appropriate values of things like commuting, environment, time, road-rage, etc.
We have seen a huge growth of housing in the areas to the East of the Bay Area over the last several years. As a result, tons of homes have been built in towns like Tracy, Stockton and Modesto. There have also been entire up-start communities built at former cattle ranches like Mountain House. Most of this growth has been by people who work in the Bay Area, but cannot afford - or do not want to pay for - the houses. If you doubt this, try driving east on Interstate 580 during afternoon commute hours.
Reading the Brookings paper, you might gain a sense of how to evaluate things like:
- -gas costs, auto wear and tear costs
- -time spent commuting measured against time spent with spouse, kids, etc.
- -psychological costs of road-rage
- -physical health costs of traffic stress, sitting in smog and exhaust fumes
- -health care costs related to the above
- -living away from urban cultural centers, food choices, arts, etc.
Everyone will have a different set of priorities of course. But you need to know how to measure the cost of missed opportunity, and other things that cannot be easily defined in dollar amounts.
If you need help figuring out how your mortgage plan can be molded to accommodate your life's priorities rather than restrict you from them, its time to talk.
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