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This Homeowner Loves Her Long Commute—Is She Nuts?

I despise my commute: Twice each a day, I squeeze into a sweaty, standing-room-only subway car in New York City for 40 minutes to and from work. Commuting hell comes in many forms: If you drive, you get stuck in rage-inducing traffic; if you’re on a commuter rail, you’re always sprinting to catch the last train lest you get stuck sleeping like a vagrant on a platform bench. Doesn’t everyone hate their commute?

Apparently not: In a post on Business Insider titled “My commute time to work recently tripled—here’s why I’m excited about it,” Jacquelyn Smith tells a tale of how she bought a home in the burbs that lengthened her commute to an hour each way. And guess what? She loves it!

“Sure, my adoration for the longer commute will likely wear off as time goes on (or after we experience our first major train delay),” she admits in her post. “But for now, the longer commute is something I actually look forward to.”

So is this woman a masochist, a martyr, or just plain insane? Well, here are her main revelations, so judge for yourself:

• Her commute gives her quiet “me time” to read, listen to podcasts, or even take a nap—all things she probably wouldn’t do at home since she’d feel pressure to run errands, hit the gym, or fix something in her huge new home.
• Since she and her husband commute together, they get some quality time together, too. Even if it just means basking in silence. Together.
• She’s forced into a routine—to catch her commuter train, she leaves her home at 8:15 a.m. and then leaves the office by 5:40 p.m. Clockwork!  And she finds this oddly comforting.
• She also has the perfect excuse to bail on social obligations she doesn’t really want to do, like networking events, by saying, “I’ve got a long commute so I can’t make it. Sooooorrrry!”

As a city dweller, I’ve watched wave after wave of my friends migrate to the suburbs just like Jacquelyn did. When I check in with them, they nearly always say they love their new (larger) homes, and hate their (now longer) commutes.

But clearly, Jacquelyn is one of those “glass half-full” types.  And as much as I don’t want her commute, I admire her upbeat take on her hourlong slog; it’s a refreshing change from all the kvetching I almost always hear about commutes.

Because like it or not, long commutes are just a reality: Although the average American’s commute time is only 25.4 minutes, commutes are getting longer, according to a Brookings Institution study, with the number of jobs within typical commute distance dipping by 7% since 2000.

So given that longer commutes are just a fact of life, why not grab a book for the road (or book on tape for your drivers), and enjoy the “me time”? Or shall we call it “C-time”?

The post This Homeowner Loves Her Long Commute—Is She Nuts? appeared first on Real Estate News and Advice – realtor.com.

Source: Real Estate News and Advice – realtor.com » Real Estate News