As the economy improves and gas prices fall, more homebuyers are pondering the purchase of a new house in a distant suburb where they can get more square footage for the money. But a leading expert on commuting warns of worse commutes ahead.

"The unfortunate reality is that traffic congestion gets worse when gas gets cheaper and more people have jobs," says Alan Pisarski, a transportation consultant and author of the "Commuting in America" book series.

Eric Tyson, a personal finance specialist and co-author of "Home Buying for Dummies," recommends that all buyers take the issue of commuting very seriously and recognize that gas prices will almost certainly rise again.

"Beware of the cyclicality of all energy prices. You don't want to trivialize the costs of a long commute in either money or time. There's also a fatigue factor that sets in, especially after you've done a lengthy commute for a few years," Tyson says.

Why are some homebuyers tempted to buy in an outer ring suburb? Tyson says that in many metro areas, the bulk of new home construction is situated in the outer tier, where developers can obtain the cheapest land.

"Lots of buyers -- including those on a tight budget -- want that big new house with all the bells and whistles. That's a house they can only afford far outside a city or town center," Tyson says.

Commuting problems aren't easily escaped in many areas. But Tyson says homebuyers who are careful to research the neighborhoods they're considering can ignore some of the more horrific travel problems. Here are a few pointers:

-- Try out your commute on more than one day of the week.

Many real estate specialists advise buyers to hold off on choosing an area until they know what their prospective commute would involve.

"You have to drive the drive at the actual times you'll be doing it daily. There's simply no substitute for such test drives," Tyson says.

Pisarski says one test drive is insufficient because the volume of traffic can vary widely from one day to another, especially on overburdened roads. He recommends Tuesday and Friday -- usually the heaviest traffic days -- for the best commuter tryouts.

-- Look for a commute that doesn't depend on a major highway.

The interstate highway system was designed for long- distance travel, not commuting, Pisarski notes. But commuters have increasingly come to depend on such roadways for daily trips to work and back.

In an effort to ease traffic congestion, many local governments are now widening roadways rather than starting from scratch with a new highway. Typically, an ambitious new road project is more controversial, costly and takes longer to build.

But Pisarski cautions that relying on a major highway as the main conduit of your commute can backfire when the unexpected occurs, such as when a tractor-trailer tips over and traps motorists for hours on end.

Listening to radio traffic updates can alert you to problems ahead of time. But such alerts are only helpful if you have alternative ways to reach your destination.

-- Consider a community not hemmed in by physical barriers.

Many communities face major traffic challenges. But some have better prospects for future relief than others.

"Homebuyers should be wary of a traffic-ridden community that's circumscribed by any physical barrier, such as mountains or a body of water," Pisarski says.

Moreover, he says road-construction projects to improve travel are much more likely in areas free of these natural obstacles.

-- Talk to residents in an outlying area where you'd like to live.

Though the details of their commutes will differ, your prospective neighbors should be able to tell you what roadways are the most troublesome and when.

Also, local residents may be able to tell you about future housing developments slated for their area, which will give you clues to whether current traffic problems might worsen dramatically in the future.

According to Pisarski, too many people take a mental snapshot of the current road situation and make the mistaken assumption that the picture won't change.

"With infrastructure projects backed up due to funding declines, traffic could easily get worse," he says.

-- Review your plans to move to a "fringe" suburb before committing.

As construction continues to bounce back in the aftermath of the recession, Tyson says congestion is increasing most rapidly in outlying areas. Yet these are the ones where new road construction struggles most to keep up with costly transportation projects.

It's easy to identify neighborhoods where local government services are strapped. Often they have schools bulging with students and emergency medical services under stress. They also lack funds to widen or replace the narrow roads built when the community was still rural.

It's understandable that income-constrained homebuyers would consider moving to an outlying area to get more house for their money. But those who make this trade-off should remember that they'll probably pay a higher price in other ways, Tyson says.

"Do you really want to live so far away from work that you'll roll into your driveway at 9 p.m. and have only enough time left to grab a bite and watch a little TV before going to bed? That kind of lifestyle could be too high a price to pay for your castle," he says.

(To contact Ellen James Martin, email her at ellenjamesmartin@gmail.com.)

Were you born in the 1960s, at the tail end of the baby boom?

Then maybe you're like many in your age group who are trying to juggle multiple financial goals simultaneously.

Perhaps you're seeking to buy a more commodious house while also grappling with the challenge of funding your children's college years. As if these pressures aren't enough, Lisa Hatcher, a certified financial planner, has an additional one: your retirement.

"People in their 50s are alert to the issue of retirement savings. But they're very resistant to reducing their living standards in order to save as much as they'll need," says Hatcher, who's affiliated with the Garrett Planning Network (garrettplanningnetwork.com).

She says boomers are the first generation that must worry about paying for their own retirement because many rely on largely self-funded 401(k) plans, instead of the employer-provided pensions of yore.

Despite competing financial pressures, Hatcher says many people in their 50s can still meet more than one financial goal, assuming they plan carefully.

Here are a few pointers:

-- Search for creative ways to fund college costs.

Michael Knight, another Garrett Planning Network adviser, says many of his clients are feeling a great deal of pressure to maximize savings for their kids' college expenses.

"On average, students who graduate with a bachelor's degree have $33,000 in debt, and many grad students ... come out with six-figure debt," says Mark Kantrowitz, a leading authority on funding college and the senior vice president of Edvisors. The company (edvisors.com) runs a suite of websites about planning and paying for college.

Kantrowitz urges students who've yet to enter college to take an analytical approach to school selection, making sure they get the maximum return on investment.

"For example, if you're going into engineering, you'll probably do just as well at a public university as an Ivy League," he says.

As long as they remain as objective as possible, families can often work out compromise scenarios to help reduce the parental burden of college funding.

For instance, a family could decide to divide the cost of their children's undergraduate schooling three ways: a third paid upfront by the parents; a third through the kids' part-time and summer employment; and a third with student loans.

-- Think through your financial priorities in a holistic way.

Before they begin analyzing numbers, Knight asks clients to itemize their top financial objectives. They write down their money goals for the next six months, two years, 10 years and 30 years.

"Each spouse does this exercise separately and then they do it together, which makes for very sobering conversations," Knight says.

This exercise serves to create a firm foundation for a financial "action plan" that can help people clarify their goals in an orderly way.

-- Consider engaging a financial adviser for a few hours.

An increasing number of financial planners are willing to work on an "as needed," fee-for-service basis. One source for referrals to fee-only financial planners is through the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (www.napfa.org).

Knight says that often clients need only three to four hours of help from a financial planner to reconcile seemingly conflicting objectives.

-- Chart your housing plans in context with your other goals.

Knight encourages his clients to fulfill their home-buying wishes, but only if doing so doesn't sabotage their higher priorities.

Suppose you're a 50-something who intends to retire at age 70 and then travel abroad. Would you be comfortable meeting hefty mortgage payments at that stage of your life?

One approach that could allow you to buy a better home and also pursue a fulfilling retirement is to finance the purchase with a 15-year mortgage rather than a traditional 30-year one, Knight says. Then your home will be paid off, or nearly so, by the time you retire.

"With the shorter term, your payments are not that much higher," he notes.

-- Seek a lifestyle focused on the future as well as the present.

Knight says many couples underestimate the number of years one or both will be retired.

"People are living longer and as they grow older, some of their expenses, such as health care, increase," he says.

The good news for many late boomers is that they still have time to build a retirement nest egg without sacrificing near-term money goals.

"If they're focused on their savings and are willing to work long enough, it's possible for lots of people in their 50s to have it all, including that dream home they always wanted," Knight says.

(To contact Ellen James Martin, email her at ellenjamesmartin@gmail.com.)

The residents of high-income neighborhoods often have busy travel schedules and hectic social calendars. So does that mean plush neighborhoods are less welcoming to newcomers than less affluent ones? Not necessarily, says Peter Lovenheim, who's written a book on community.

"It's idiosyncratic which residential areas are friendly. You can't predict this based on income alone. Sometimes, just one person who is proactive in leading neighborhood events can make a huge difference," says Lovenheim, who details his own struggle to find community in his book "In the Neighborhood."

The book was written after a murder-suicide occurred in Lovenheim's suburb, and residents there faced the shocking realization that they'd never met the family involved. As a result, he embarked on an attempt to get to know others in the neighborhood, and found many feeling alienated and lonely.

As Lovenheim notes, there are many pluses to living in a friendly, close-knit community instead of one where residents don't even smile or say hello when they meet on the street.

Are you a homebuyer who wishes to move to a friendly neighborhood? If so, Lovenheim suggests you look for a community with a "built environment" that supports neighborly interaction. That could include sidewalks and green spaces where residents can interact easily.

Here are a few other pointers for homebuyers:

-- Look for a strong neighborhood school.

A strong neighborhood school has the potential to make a community more coherent by strengthening bonds among parents, says William Bainbridge, president of the SchoolMatch Institute, (schoolmatch.com), which provides comparative school information.

Must you shoehorn yourself into an expensive neighborhood to find an excellent school? Not necessarily, says Bainbridge.

"Our research indicates there are still many areas in the U.S. where houses are moderately priced and the schools are great," he says.

Mark Nash, author of "1001 Tips for Buying & Selling a Home," says that children are the conduit for lots of connections among families, particularly through playdates and sleepovers.

-- Don't assume that an "age-restricted" development is your best bet.

Obviously, it's not just people with school-age children who wish to live in a friendly community. Indeed, retired people have even more reasons to appreciate strong neighborhood ties, given that they spend so much time at home.

Many older house hunters are drawn to age-restricted communities where they hope to find social activities to fill their days. But Nash says some who choose such a community face an unexpected result: boredom.

People with broad intellectual interests, as well as the ability to program their own time, can find life in an age-restricted community that's located in a resort area to be especially monotonous due to the dearth of cultural attractions.

"Who wants to spend every cocktail hour hearing talk about other people's aches and pains or what's on their dinner menu?" Nash says.

-- Investigate the social dynamics of any neighborhood you're considering.

Nash, a longtime real estate broker, says homebuyers seeking a friendly, interactive community should spend sufficient time there to pick up less-than-obvious clues about how people relate.

"Even prestige neighborhoods can present real problems if a few residents there have noisy lifestyles or otherwise disturbing tendencies," Nash says. "A couple of very loud party animals who are always up late can spoil the peace for all who live on their street."

To investigate the underlying social dynamics of a community, don't hesitate to go door-to-door for conversations with residents or to talk to local merchants. Quiz them about the pluses and minuses of living in the area; they're likely to give you their candid views.

-- Preview the neighborhood more than once.

Nash encourages buyers with a strong interest in a particular community to visit the area at various hours to scope out patterns of behavior. Also consider visiting on a weekday as well as the weekend.

"Ideally, you'll walk or drive through the neighborhood four times in one day, during the morning, at mid-afternoon, at dinnertime and at 11 p.m. Observe whether residents are interacting or staying in their homes nearly all the time," he says.

In some neighborhoods, residents are superficially friendly yet don't build in-depth relationships with one another.

"It's one thing for people out walking their dogs to smile and wave. It's another for them to occasionally stop and chat before moving on," Nash says.

-- Don't rule out a brand-new subdivision.

Are you interested in buying into a subdivision that's still under development, but fear it could be an unfriendly habitat? If so, Nash recommends you learn more about the area before rejecting it based on what could be an unfounded assumption.

It's true that brand-new communities are often populated by two-income families with parents in their 20s to 40s who have very demanding daily schedules. Even so, many who move to new areas are highly motivated to make friends with neighbors who have children the same age and who would like to share child-care responsibilities.

"The beauty of a brand-new neighborhood is that there's no established social hierarchy. That means everyone is a newcomer and all the friendships are fresh, which can make for a more inclusive place to live," Nash says.

(To contact Ellen James Martin, email her at ellenjamesmartin@gmail.com.)