Apart from other important aspects you should look for in a new rental or a new house you intend to buy, you need to consider the commute time factor also.
It is true that the prices of houses drops dramatically the farther you go, but there are still some other aspects you need to take into account.
First of all, a two hours' drive to work every day can really affect your monthly budget.
You need to buy extra gas, oil, your car might break down faster, you need to regularly go to the car service and make sure everything is okay.
You can also consider all the time spent driving to work as unpaid work time.
Doing some simple math, you can see how using that time to improve your work performances, impressing your boss or even starting your own business.
You should also think about your own health and state of mind.
Imagine how tires and stressed out you would feel to drive two hours in traffic on a daily basis Moreover, the quality of your work might suffer a lot, and your cooking or cleaning-up -the-house time will sure be gone.
You'll need to order a lot of take-out and, thus, spend more money.
Also, you'll barely have time to exercise or relax, for that matter.
So probably a great solution you should start considering is public transportation.
Even though you might not be very fond of the idea, if you think in terms of smaller costs, less fatigue and stress and more time to do what you please, buses don't sound such a bad idea after all.
All in all, you can see why it is important to have a short commute time.
If you are searching for a house, you just definitely take give this aspect a lot of your consideration.