Two years ago we lived 27 miles from our work, and our one-way commuting time was 1.5 hours. We did that for a few years and decided our quality of life sucked. So, we sold the house in suburbia and moved into a mid-town condo. We sacrificed the size of our home for an easy walk to the office. Being empty-nesters, downsizing wasn't a big deal for us.

I wish I could live so close to work, but the wife's work and my work are 40 miles apart.

See, that's my problem. The new job will be in one of the worst parts of the city with a lot of aircraft noise in the area. The other half though, she'll be at the university and I'll be there at night for a while for the MBA program. So the house I'm buying is closer to the university... nice neighborhoods, she knows people around there, and it's a shorter drive for her if she drives at all at least.