It's really interesting to hear about the downtown commutes from outside of the GTA. I know of a few people who do it too and they appreciate the time on the GO to do productive things as opposed to sitting in traffic, stuck and not being able to read, write emails, etc.
You are definitely not alone! Ditto the other comments here, I would choose living where I want to live over living where I work...without a doubt.
About my 1.5h commute:
For a long time, I struggled about whether I would move to a place that forced me to have hourlong-or-longer daily commutes. (~1.5h house-to-cubicle, via GO). Originally, I set a very hard limit of a 30 minute commute, but for a number of years, I took long distance contracts (see above) which got me used to longer commutes. For literally a decade I have no longer been single, so that aspect of my life has diminished, so that has long de-prioritized, with less need to live in the core of a bustling metropolis.
Instead, we found a neighborhood -- the type whose next-door neighbour actually gave us apple pie when we moved there; and the intersection nearby had a neighbourhood fireworks party this last Victoria's Day weekend, and our new best friends are neighbours half a block away. Their kids love our swimming pool and we have made 10x more friends here in the last year than we did living 3 years in Toronto (downtown and Riverdale). Where we live, is very neighbourly in the old-fashioned walkable urban-suburban style (far more walkable than modern suburbs), yet we actually are only a 10 minute bike ride from Hamilton downtown, and within walking distance of lots of shopping and high-rated inexpensive restaurants. No wonder a portion of our neighbours are Torontoians, and a great place to also raise kids as it's affordable here. It is not as fancy or gentrified as many areas of Toronto is, but it is a lovely 1920s style brick-house neighborhood, and the support networks we now have, actually makes my 3 hours of daily roundtrip commute worth it. If necessary, we can afford the house on one income instead of two like normally in Toronto. Where in Toronto does your next door neighbour surprise you with apple pie when you move next door? And where in Toronto can you buy a 4-bedroom detached house with backyard swimming pool -- for a mortgage payment AND cost of utilities totalling less than what I paid for 2-bedroom rent in Toronto? It is a situation like this that I decided the 1-to-1.5 hour commute was tolerable, especially since I can relax, read, and surf in a seat on a GOtrain. And eventually, perhaps five or ten years from now I'll be working locally, maybe even my existing job. I have space for a large home office too. Back in Toronto I was not saving a penny for retirement because Toronto was extremely expensive for us, and lost the housing-market bandwagon everywhere else except lower-priced markets such as Hamilton. So it was kind of a mid-life crisis to decide to buy our first house (and also hopefully, last house) in Hamilton. It had to be a really good house and really good walkable score, to compensate for the long commute. The city may not be the town of the best reputation but it is apparently a surprisingly good city to raise kids in; from what we're seeing of the numerous babies, toddlers, and kids on our streets. We live in the middle of a mixed neighbourhood where two blocks south is a million-dollar house, and two blocks north is a couple of shuttered storefronts (with one new store opening up, street showing promise over the next 15 years) and a few few fix-me-uppers that actually have people working on them to improve their decripit shape (probably because they noticed the strength of the house market). Homeowners mingle more friendly and freely with renters here. Air here in our neighbourhood in Hamilton is much cleaner than Toronto (surprisingly, given the industrial areas a few kilometers north). And anecdotes from old residents tells us there used to be prostitutes on our street, but that families have invaded the whole ward territory now. The stories abound when my spouse surveyed neighbours around prospecting houses all over the place. Nowadays, it apparently appears to be a better childhood climate for middle class than 416 Toronto currently is where parents have to overwork themselves to death to pay for their near-million-dollar house, rather than a modest rent-like mortgage. Being middle class is much less of a struggle. It seems that there is a mini baby boom going on in our ward, with more newborns in this specific area of city per capita, than a typical Toronto street, probably because it is so much more affordable to raise a family here. Plus, I was already priced out of many major cities since the 1990s.
Ironically, the former owners of this house were Torontoians that decided to move to Liberty Village, because they couldn't handle the long commute. So I realize it is not for everyone. Some don't come, some leave, and some stay. Very tough decisions were made in the commute-versus-quality-of-life balance, but it worked out okay at the end.
I read a recent newspaper article here in Hamilton that a $199,000 detached got bidded up to $300,000 unconditional (no, that's not my house) -- 50% premium, and that was, I think, a 3-bedroom. This housing market is scary for those who don't own, but want to own. When I started house hunting, there was a small 1-bedroom bungalow (detached) within 15 minute walk of gentrified Locke, for just a mere 3-figure mortgage monthly payment! That was a mere 1.5 years ago. I think those days are now gone. But then again, in year 2015, where do you even *find* a $300K fully detached house in Toronto that's not in a rural area, and still only 10 minute drive from a downtown core (Hamilton)? Even that can be a mortgage for less rent the price of a downtown 1-bedroom at current interest rates. The market may be ready to crash but some of us have been waiting 10 years for the market to crash -- and look at how permanently 'overpriced' places like New York City and Tokyo are for the last 30 years. We considered capitulating buying an ~800qft two bed condo, and that may now be the New Generation of house ownership in the 21st century with more sustainable densification, but at the time we were hunting for a house, we were not yet priced out of Hamilton.... Yet.
So, that's the story I offer for being one of the rare people on UrbanToronto who voted as having "1-1.5h of commute", even though I used to have a rule of being no more than 30 minute commute from work.
