As long as you guys don't have immigrant status issue, the most important thing is to have family together, no matter where you live, let alone buy a house or rent a place.
Try to cut the daily commute to the minimum as 瞎哥 pointed out, even at the expenses of lower salary. Long commute will wear you down even if you are a good driver and enjoy driving. I used to commute 40 minute one way. After 2 years, enough is enough, moved to a house in the same zip code as the work.
Also try to raise the kids by yourself if you can. It is a great pleasure to see the kid grow, the fulfillment is unbelievable. As I said here before, many years ago, I moved my parents and in-laws here. After a couple of years, they all moved to senior living facilities. They are happy and we are happy too. It is almost impossible to avoid the conflicts/disputes for 3 generations living under the same roof. And things can getting worse quickly. Just look at those horrible stories from other forums in WXC.
