I am pondering whether or not to move closer to work.
Right now I rent a place out in the suburbs, about 6 miles from my workplace. It's quite spacious (3 bedrooms for one person) and for the size, it’s rather inexpensive ($710/mo). The commute is fairly stress-free without any recurring congestion. The downside is it’s kind of old and run down, and the neighborhood isn’t the greatest.
My intent is to stay at my current job for at least another two years, then reassess. Since I might decide to leave after two years, buying a house doesn’t really make sense, but I think it’s long enough to justify the time and trouble involved in a local move. My job is fairly secure and it’s unlikely my work location would change (government job, basically).
One of the things that spurred me to think about this is there’s a large new apartment development going in very near my workplace. It’s close enough that I could not only walk to work, but I could walk home on my lunch break if I wanted. It’s still being built, but according to their website they’re going to start renting in a couple of months. Now, since I haven’t actually seen one of these apartments I might be unrealistically idealizing them (they don’t even have interior pics up yet). However, even if I didn’t end up liking this particular place there are other options slightly further from my workplace in the same price range.
I’ve got quite a bit of crap, so downsizing to a 2-bedroom would require getting rid of some of it. This would be a pain to do, but would probably be a good thing long term. Even after getting rid of stuff I’m willing to part with I would probably need a storage unit.
Rent at one of these closer apartments would be about $1100-1200 per month, so about a $4-500 increase from what I’m paying now. The storage unit would tack on about another $50 per month. One nice perk of the new development is that the rent includes high-speed internet, which would save me about $100 per month. Living close enough to walk to work would cut my driving by about 3000 miles per year (I’d still need a car for other purposes though). That’s probably worth another $100 per month. I’m pretty good at taking my lunch to work, so the ability to walk home for lunch is more of a quality of life bonus than a money-saver. Financially, this move would probably cost me an additional $250-350 per month.
On the other hand, moving would give me easy access to a lot of mustachian amenities. There’s a nice trail system along the river and the new library is being built right across the street from the new apartment complex. Being able to walk to work would be a huge bonus for me (I lived close enough to walk to school/work every day from 2005-2012 and I miss it). I have to admit there would be some less mustachian benefits as well: Any of these potential apartments would be much nicer than the place I’m renting now, in a nicer (urban, hip) neighborhood.
Thoughts? Given the cost am I crazy for even considering this?
