It is easy to fall in love with the idea of living in a rural location, especially if you have grown tired of urban residential living. With a move to a quieter, greener area, you will be freeing yourself from many of the stress-inducing elements of modern life, such as traffic, noise pollution, and trash, which are mainstays of city life but rare in the countryside.
With that said, living in a rural area does come with some practical and lifestyle challenges that you will need to at least be aware of — and perhaps manage — before you make the move. If you have eyed up a rural property that you’re interested in purchasing, then the following tips should help ensure it is a success.
Understand What It Is Like Year-Round
You tend to feel the seasons more intensely in rural areas. A snowstorm in New York can make getting around slightly trickier, but it rarely brings the city to a standstill. In a rural area, the same amount of snow can grind things to a halt, at least for homeowners who have to drive roads that are not plowed.
It is important to have a strong understanding of what it is like to live in your intended property year-round. You might love life there in the springtime, but remember that could well only be a small part of the whole story. When you live in a rural area, you are more likely to have distinct seasons — and your move will run a lot smoother if you like (or can at least tolerate) all of them.
Triple-Check The Property’s Infrastructure
When purchasing a property in an urban environment, home buyers mostly focus their energy on the condition of the house itself, since it is generally understood that the property will be fully connected to the public electrical grid and sewer system. In rural areas, that is not assumed. If the property has a septic tank, then you will need to inspect its current condition, and perhaps work with a company that offers septic design consulting if a new system is required. It is also important to check the reliability of electricity. Even if the property is connected to the grid, you might need a whole-house generator or solar panel system if power outages are a common occurrence.
Calculate Your Commute
One of the advantages of living in an urban environment is that you are close to where the jobs are, which means acceptable commute times. When you live in a rural location, you are less likely to live near your place of work. The average commute time in the United States is just over 27 minutes, and you can bet a big chunk of the ‘above average’ commute times came from people who lived rurally.
Having a good sense of how long it will realistically take you to drive to work (and to the supermarket, school, etc) will be key for preventing headaches further down the line. With that said, do not be automatically put off if it is 45 minutes or more — it is, after all, much more enjoyable to drive in the countryside than in bumper-to-bumper urban traffic.
