Bryan and Jessica Schuster were living in an apartment in Orchard Park when they decided the time was right for them to buy a home.

Jessica, 23, was working on her master's degree in political science at the University at Buffalo. Bryan, 24, has a steady job at a West Seneca plant that makes chip dip and yogurt.

The couple began house hunting -- and found a place they loved, a three-bedroom Cape Cod on a three-acre lot in the Village of Springville.

Then the Schusters, who are also expecting their first child, had a decision to make.

Could they afford to buy the home, even though the price they pay to commute to work and school -- with gas hovering around $4 a gallon -- would shoot way up?

The couple decided they could.

"We probably spend $110, $120 a week now on gas. Which is obviously more," said Bryan.

"But we're paying less for other things, like utilities," said Jessica.

"Just kind of weighing everything out, it seemed like we were going to come out even, at the very worst," Bryan said. "But it looks like we're doing pretty well out here so far."

The Schusters are among many people buying and selling homes in rural areas in Western New York -- and around the country -- these days who are having to consider a new factor in their calculations of affordability: Gas prices.

With fuel for cars an expensive -- and unpredictable -- factor, a 45- or 50-minute commute to the city or inner-ring suburbs for work or errands is suddenly something that seems a bit pricey.

In the Town of Holland, Supervisor Michael Kasprzyk said his 3,600-person community is seeing a drop-off in interest in homes -- and he thinks the high cost of commuting is to blame.

"Because we're so far away, with the price of gasoline, that has hurt us," said Kasprzyk, who has lived in Holland most of his life.

"Lancaster has tremendous growth, because they're close. The commute out here is 45 minutes in the summer. And maybe two, three, four days in the winter."

Kasprzyk is joking about the last part -- but he may be on target with his assessment of people's willingness to spend hours in the car in an era of eye-popping prices at the gas pump.

And Western New Yorkers aren't the only ones coping with rising gas prices by changing their behavior.

Survey data released by AARP in a bulletin last month showed that 60 percent of people ages 18 to 49 reported that gas prices were causing financial hardship for their households. In the 50-plus age bracket, that number was 55 percent.

Both groups of respondents reported limiting daily driving as one of their tactics to cope with rising fuel prices: 68 percent of those in the 18-to-49 age group and 65 percent of those in the 50-plus group said they had done that.

So, while the call of the countryside is strong, some real estate professionals in Western New York's far-flung rural areas said that gas prices are having a decided effect on local buyers' willingness to look at and purchase rural homes.

"It definitely is having an impact," said Susan Lesinski, who has lived in Holland for 30 years and has been selling homes with Hunt Real Estate in East Aurora for 20.

"I had a listing, let's see, it was on Carpenter Road in the Holland-Wales area, an easy commute to the 400. I thought for sure it would sell quick. And I kept hearing: gas. The cost of gas is too much. It took a lot longer to sell that house, and I kept hearing about the price of gas. I do think it's affecting our prices -- I think we're having to lower our prices because of the cost of gas."

Other real estate agents said that they don't think fuel prices are having an impact -- yet.

"It's a great time to buy a house," said Cheryl Earl, a real estate agent who also sits on the Town Board in Sardinia, one of Erie County's most geographically remote communities.

Gas prices may end up affecting the town's commuters, she said, but for now "it's too early to tell."

In some ways, the situation might boil down to numbers.

Town supervisors and town board members in some of Erie County's most rural towns said that there's a certain distance people seem to be comfortable driving.

Interest in buying homes generally tends to taper off when the commute nudges close to an hour each way, some said.

That leaves many rural towns -- Collins, Springville and others -- still in the mix for homebuyers looking for a rural experience, while others might be cut out of consideration, these officials said.

"In 45, 50 minutes I can be to Buffalo General. That's not a bad commute," said Merle Harvey, supervisor in the Town of Collins and proprietor of a farm spread that includes beef cattle and greenhouses.

Harvey said the town has seen steady growth of about five or six new homes a year -- it's usual pace. He said many Collins residents don't mind not being part of a housing boom in the rural suburbs of Buffalo.

Lesinski, the East Aurora real estate agent, agreed that the number of miles between a community and the city and suburbs has become a key factor for people in their home-buying decisions. She has more luck these days showing potential buyers homes in Aurora, Elma and Orchard Park than in places deeper into southern Erie County.

"You do get to these outer areas, and it is getting harder to get people to buy those homes," she said.

Kasprzyk said that there's a hidden corollary to that driving math: If a person is willing to drive from Holland to Buffalo, he said, they are probably willing to drive an even longer distance.

That's why you still see some healthy home buying in small communities in rural counties ringing Erie County, Kasprzyk said.

"If someone is inclined to put up with a long commute, they can go to Yorkshire, West Valley, Sheldon, and the taxes are going to be much better," he said.

That might be true, said Anthony Zientek, who sells homes at WNY Metro Zientek Realty in Arcade.

"In Arcade, people are driving that far," Zientek said. "I don't see gas prices affecting us as much. It's a 50-minute commute, but people are doing it. People are complaining -- but it's not stopping them."

And it didn't stop the Schusters in Springville, either.

Bryan and Jessica, both Springville-Griffith Institute graduates who married in 2009, are loving their new rural lifestyle.

The couple expects to welcome Henry James Schuster in October and then continue working and attending school. They have family in Springville and surrounding towns, and that was important to them as they expand their own family.

"There's a lot of free day care out here," Bryan joked.

In the end, the couple said, the price of gas -- while a factor -- just didn't stack up against their other considerations when hunting for a home.

"When you take into consideration the little bit extra we spend, it just didn't amount to much," Bryan said.

"This is just home," Jessica said.

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Going the distance

Daily round-trip commute to Buffalo*

(Daily cost of commute calculated for a 25-miles-per gallon vehicle, with gas at $4 per gallon. Source: Mapquest.com, using commonly taken routes in the region)

cvogel@buffnews.comnull