Buying in Davis County and Commuting to Salt Lake: How to Test the Drive Before You Offer

Drive it yourself at the times you would really travel, on at least two weekdays, and record the door-to-door time, not the distance. A map app's estimate for a quiet hour tells you very little about a Tuesday at 7:40 in the morning. A real test, repeated, gives you a range you can plan around.

Commute time is one of the facts that most affects daily life in a home, and one of the easiest to get wrong. The distance from Davis County to downtown Salt Lake City is roughly the same on a map for many cities in the county, but the time it takes depends on where you enter the freeway, the hour, the construction season and the weather.

Charisse Walker is a real estate agent with Chalker Properties Group in Salt Lake and Davis County, Utah, and a licensed mortgage lender. I ask every buyer who works in Salt Lake County to test the route before they write an offer, because it changes which Davis County cities make sense.

Because the first mile or two decides how you reach the main routes. Two homes in the same city can be five minutes apart at the front end, and five minutes can become fifteen once you add on-ramps, traffic lights and school-zone slowdowns near the freeway.

When you test the drive, start from the actual address, not from the city center. Note:

• How long it takes to reach the nearest freeway entrance.
• Whether the route uses a major street with signals or a direct connection.
• How many turns or lights you meet before you are moving at speed.
• Where the slowdowns tend to form, and whether there is a second way around them.

This is a fact about the location, not about the people who live there. It is the kind of detail that makes one house a fit for your schedule and another not, even at the same price.

Drive at the hours you would travel for work, and then once at a different time to see the gap. If your day starts at 8, test at 7:00, 7:30 and 8:00 on separate days if you can. The difference between those three runs is often larger than the difference between two cities.

Do the return trip too. Evening traffic is not a mirror image of the morning, and the choke points can be different. If you have flexible hours, the test shows you what leaving thirty minutes earlier or later is worth.

Include a Monday or a Friday if you can. Some patterns change at the edges of the week. And if you are buying in winter, remember that snow and ice slow everything. A run on a clear day is your best case, not your average.

If you work near a commuter rail station, FrontRunner may be an option worth testing. The line runs through Davis County and into Salt Lake County, with stops in several Davis County cities. Check the current schedule, station locations and parking directly with the transit agency, because service details change.

Test the whole chain, not only the ride: the drive or walk to the station, finding parking, the train time, and how you get from the last station to your office. For some buyers that adds up to less stress than driving. For others, the extra connections make it longer.

If transit matters to your decision, put it in writing when we start your home search. I can then filter homes by distance to stations and you can compare the options with facts instead of guesses.

Commute cost is part of your real housing cost. Fuel, vehicle wear, parking and the value of your time do not show on your mortgage statement, but they come out of the same budget. A home that costs less per month and adds forty minutes a day to your trip may not cost less in practice.

That is not an argument for or against any city. It is a reason to count the full picture when you compare homes. I walk through that in How Much House Can You Actually Afford in Utah?

Also talk with your employer about hybrid or flexible days. If you commute three days a week, not five, the math changes, and so might the list of homes that work for you.

Ask for the practical details, and ask for them for each home, not for the city:

• What are the typical drive times from this address to my workplace at my hours?
• Is there ongoing or planned road construction on the route?
• How far is the nearest freeway entrance and the nearest transit station?
• Is there a reasonable backup route if the main one is blocked?
• What do the tolls or parking cost, if any, at the destination?

I can pull what is available, and I will tell you what I could not confirm. For some questions, such as future road projects, the city or the state transportation department is the right source, and I will point you there.

• Trusting a map estimate from a quiet hour.
• Testing the drive only once.
• Measuring from the city and not from the address.
• Ignoring winter conditions.
• Forgetting the second commuter in the household, who may go in a different direction.
• Deciding on commute alone, then discovering other needs the house does not meet.

Commute is one factor among several. It should help you rank homes that already meet your needs, not replace the rest of the list.

Here is a typical example, not a specific client. A buyer works in downtown Salt Lake City and is comparing a house in one Davis County city with a similar one in another. On the map, the second is only a few miles farther.

The buyer drives both routes on a Tuesday and a Thursday at 7:15. The first route takes a steady half hour. The second varies between thirty-five and fifty minutes because of a signal-heavy approach to the freeway. The buyer also tests the train from a nearby station and finds it fits their schedule with a short drive to the platform.

Now the choice is based on data. The buyer might still pick the house with the longer route, but they know the cost of that choice before they sign.

How long is the commute from Davis County to downtown Salt Lake City?

It varies by city, address, hour and season. That is why the best answer comes from driving it yourself at your own times.

Is FrontRunner a realistic option for a daily commute?

For some buyers, yes. It depends on station locations, schedules and where you work. Check current details with the transit agency.

Should I test the commute before I make an offer?

Yes, if the commute matters to you. It is easier to test before you are under contract, and your due diligence period is short.

Can you tell me which city has the shortest commute?

It depends on your workplace and your hours. I can compare specific addresses with you using facts like distance and access points.

Does a shorter commute raise the price of a home?

Often access to major routes is one of the factors buyers weigh, so it can affect demand. The effect differs from one location to the next.

If you work in Salt Lake County and want to live in Davis County, reach out to me here. We will build a search around your actual route and compare homes on the facts. You can also read about Layton and Bountiful to see how two Davis County cities compare.