DOUBLE INCOMES AND DOUBLE COMMUTES: WHERE TO BUY A HOME?

: "He's a doctor; she's a health care administrator. Two years ago, the couple finally "settled down" -- or so they thought. They purchased a sparkling new white stucco house and laid plans for their two kids to enter the highly touted elementary school nearby.

But as real estate specialists realize, housing plans often change more swiftly than homeowners expect. Indeed, the couple is already considering another move. Why? Because the doctor recently took an alluring position offered by a entrepreneurial venture. He loves the new company, but his commute is torture. In contemplating another move, the pair are puzzled. Should they search for a home near his job, near her job or somewhere in between?

The problem is becoming increasingly common for double-income couples where the spouses work in widely separated areas. It's exacerbated by increasing traffic and public-works projects that lead to nerve-racking roadway bottlenecks.

"Ideally, you want a 'commuter neutral' location -- one that lets each party get to work with the least amount of frazzle," says Peter G. Miller, the author of several books on real estate. Unless it's the deliberate choice of both members of the partnership, a very unequal commute can add stress to a marriage. Resentment on the part of the longer-commuting spouse could eventually build to the boiling point.

"Sure, people use their cell phones and polish their nails in the car. But for most people, a vehicle is not the optimal place to do creative thinking -- with stop-and-start traffic and someone behind you flashing their headlights," Miller says.

Given that a majority of workers are unhappy with a long car commute, it's generally advisable for the husband and wife to strike a compromise that seems reasonable to both. "Splitting the distance is the ideal solution," says Kenneth W. Edwards, also a real estate author.

Of course, simply selecting a place halfway between your two offices may not work in your case. Looking at a local map, you may discover that the midway point is in an industrial zone, a high-crime area or perhaps even the middle of a river. Sometimes geography is less of a guide than time or stress. "A 10-mile commute against traffic might be equal in time to a five-mile commute in bumper-to-bumper traffic," Miller says.

Here are four other thoughts on commuting and neighborhood selection:

No. 1: Don't look to a soon-to-be-widened highway as a panacea.

Perhaps you're considering a brand-new home in a distant suburb on the basis that both you and your spouse will take advantage of a key artery now under expansion. You imagine that the road will provide free sailing to and from work. Home builders in the new subdivision may be speaking of the highway project in glowing terms.

But if homes in the distant suburb and close-by communities are sprouting quickly, many others moving to the newly developed area may also be counting on the highway-widening project for relief from traffic congestion. Even a wholly new roadway may become excessively popular in a short time, as suburban sprawl advances. "There's always a contest between more traffic and wider highways. By the time the highway is built, it's often already overused," Miller says.

No. 2: Factor child care into your equation.

Some couples with children deliberately select a community closer to the wife's job, assuming she is bearing more of the child-care responsibilities. But the reverse could also be the case if the father happens to be the primary care giver.

"Trip-chaining" is the term developed to describe what a lot of working parents are now doing. Perhaps the mother (or father) rises early and takes the children to a day-care center or school, then stops off at the pharmacy to fill a prescription for one of the kids and then heads off to work. It may not only be more equitable, but also more practical for the parent who does more trip-chaining to live closer to the office. This is especially true if several kids are involved and one parent needs to be close, should a child become ill or have special after-school events that require extra chauffeuring. "It may sound trite, but those kids come first," Edwards says.

Working parents should expect their commuting time to worsen in the future, especially if they're counting on heavily traveled roads. As Edwards points out, "a 20-minute commute that you have now could easily bloom into a 30- or 40-minute commute in a few years."

No. 3: Consider your lifestyle preferences relative to commuting distances.

Do you have your heart set on a little country haven where the mailboxes are hand-painted and the birds awaken you in the morning? Yet are your offices in two widely separated urban centers more than an hour away? Then maybe you and your better half would rather rise at 5 a.m. and do the lengthy commute than submit to city living. The same could hold true if you yearn to own horses or have an urge to be near the water because you're boating enthusiasts.

"Lifestyle choices are keenly important to some people," says Miller, noting that child-free couples may have greater latitude in where they chose to live relative to their work.

No. 4: Recognize the possibility of a miracle commuting solution.

If your wife is a window designer at a downtown department store and you build cars in a factory, you can't expect your bosses to put you on a long leash, letting you work at home. After all, your physical presence at the work site is necessary to perform your duties. "I wouldn't want a heart transplant performed in someone's spare bedroom," Miller quips.

Still, if you're part of the growing legion of information workers (those who work mainly with computers, phones and faxes) more employers than ever are now willing to let you work at home. Is your current boss needlessly resistant to the notion of allowing you to telecommute all or at least part of the time? Then perhaps now is the time to take your valued skills elsewhere -- even before you commit to your next housing purchase, Miller advises.

"Good businesses are more and more alert to the need to acquire and keep human capital. In an information society, it's human capital -- not big machines -- that create value," he says.

COPYRIGHT 1999 ELLEN JAMES MARTIN
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