Home Buyers and Sellers Rethink Their Suburbia Strategy

The gas prices has gone up very significantly over the past year (now around $4.00 per gallon here in North Texas) and consumers are also a severe hit on grocery costs. The rising costs of living are definitely making consumers change their lifestyles  and change their ways of running errands. Let's not even discuss vacation and other non-important luxuries in this picture.

Here in Texas, we stand proud with our gas guzzles. In the past, it is rather more common to see the Ford and Chevy trucks, the Ford Expeditions and other giant SUVs and large cars instead of the tiny Chevy Aveos, Toyota Yaris(es) and Ford Focuses. But our highway landscape has changed in the past year due to the rise of energy costs.

It is very common for residents in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex to drive over 30 minutes to get from one place to another. Many homeowners choose to live in one city and drive over many more only to work in the city at the other end of the metroplex. It takes over 1 hour to commute each way and many have chosen to do that. I have many friends and clients that drive from Frisco to their places of work in Irving, Hurst and Fort Worth.

However, buyers (and sellers) are rethinking their suburbia strategy these days. They are choosing to find houses closer to work to save on gas. In the past, buyers choose a house because of the features it offers, but today, location, location and location becomes a very hot topic. Gas and grocery prices will probably hover around the $4-5 per gallon price range for a while and there's not much possibility for it going back down to the levels we are used to.