One thing that I do for clients is fuel/cost of travel analysis. For those who might choose to live in say, Buckingham and commute to Charlottesville, they may be better suited living closer and paying a bit more for a house rather than paying less for a house and paying much more for fuel.
This site (via Digg) is going to make that analysis a touch easier.
Even Marketwatch thinks the recent drop in fuel costs will lead to a “soft landing.”
Technorati Tags: affordable housing, real-estate
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That analysis is far too simple. CNW marketing and some other auto related sites provide a full dust to dust analysis of car cost including capital costs, depreciation, insurnace costs, repairs and maitenance, and of course fuel.
CNW says the Scion is the most energy efficient model on the market costing $.54 cents per mile as compared to a Prius at $3.24.
See Autotrader.com, intellicoice, or the auto channel for more information.
The difference in average home costs betweeen Stafford and Arlington is over $250,000. The question you hve to ask, (assuming you can get the extra $250,000, up front) is how far are you willing to drive for that amount. Even at$12,000 a year, that works out to ten years of driving, not counting the time value of money.
I don’t disagree that this is an over-simplified tool, but if it gets people thinking, then it will have done the job. The analysis I do for my clients is more detailed and customized for them but it serves the purpose quite well.