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Living in town vs. living in the country

I'm on the country living side of things. I grew up in a neighborhood. Farm fields across the street. Couple empty lots. Woods and undeveloped land at the back of the neighborhood to ride bikes on. It was good. I loved going to friends houses who lived in the country. We live in "the country" now if you want to call it that. 1 acre lots or more. Our kids like it but I have heard them say things like "I wish we had neighbor kids close." We drive to a neighorhood to Trick or Treat. There are small things like this which we miss out on. They don't weigh heavy enough to justify moving by a long shot.
 
Jim, do what's best for you and your bride. I personally love living in the country. You like bonfires?starry nights?pissin out back,privacy.......stay out of town. We get our groceries and shop on our way home from work. Kids sports will always be a pain in the ass regardless if you live in or out of town. What I really love about country living is the quietness. Maybe once in awhile we'll here a train blowing its horn 3 miles away or a distant dog bark or yote yipping but the dark starry nights and quiet are sweet....:smiley_coolpeace:
 
I still live 7 minutes from where I grew up. Moving to a "city" is not something on my radar. When I got laid off and we were talking about moving to Columbus for work, it literally made me anxious to the point of having the one and only anxiety attack of my life. That said, we live 10 minutes from the "amenities" around here and we're in the "best" school system. But the main factor for us is this is home. I'll live and die in a 3-4 township area of Washington County, so probably not one to provide good insight on moving! LOL
 
One of my biggest worrys when we were raising our kids in the country was when they were dropped of at a friends house to play for the day with a "city kid" they would be hit by a car because they never had to look both ways when crossing a street.
 
Jackalope said:
Stay out of any of these cities. Even the small ones are full of nothing but heroin addicts and trash. And I'm not talking good ole white trash but rathet black acting white trash. Even if you pick a good neighborhood it'll slowly start being overrun with trash. We bought a house on the north side of Springfield in a nice neighborhood. It was mostly retirement age people and older families. I never saw trash or less then desirable people at my local Kroger or Speedway. Now 11 years later it's a different story. I see more and more trash every day. We're selling in the spring and moving to the country. Far our of town and off a side road.
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^^^Better think about this!^^^ An old friend of mine ran into the same thing. She paid 100,000. for this nice house in a nice neighborhood. 10 years later, she barely got enough to pay off the loan and had to hold out for a long time for that. The neighborhood now looks like a ghetto complete with graffiti on cars, houses and garages. Plus, we already know where your heart is JB...... and it's not inside a corporation limit sign.
 
Some good points above. The main thing is that I am sure you are hoping the new kid will be into hunting and the outdoors. If you move to town this will dramatically decrease those odds. Also if your kid is into hunting, they will be disappointed that you moved from a place that you could hunt out your backdoor.

They make jogging strollers that roll well in the woods. No sidewalks needed!
 
giles said:
If the place is that nice...why is it for sale?
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They recently had their fourth kid and are upgrading to a much larger home, right down the street. They had no intentions of moving until the surprise baby came along. They actually just finished remodeling the entire main floor last year since they planned on being there for a while.

5Cent said:
I am thinking you are set on the school system. Things sure have changed in our conference but I am surprised to hear that you put the alma mater over others well within reach. We are currently dealing with Ty being a Charger or Roughrider. We are good with either, but kindergarten times suck! Do they not think ppl have a day job?!?
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Yes, we would prefer to live in my alma mater's school district. The school district we currently live in is total garbage in my opinion. There are some others relatively close by that aren't so bad, but they would all put us that much farther from my wife's side of the family. I know this isn't something that will be an issue for several years, and I know there's open enrollment options, but this is a major factor in the direction we'd like to move.

Joel said:
With kids consider this. What if you get a bunch of horrible trouble making kids right next door or a few houses down. Your kids will either have to be out there with them when the weathers nice whether you like it or not or you will have to keep them cooped up inside. That's a big factor for me. I grew up in a neighborhood with a dozen or so kids and we were all outside together. Some of the kids were good, some were bullies and some probably grew up to be convicted felons. If you live in the country you get a little say in who your kids spend time with.

Neighbors is another huge thing to consider with or without kids. One bad neighbor can screw your peace and quiet up real fast.
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This is a good point and one I hadn't really considered. Thanks for bringing that up.

Jackalope said:
Stay out of any of these cities. Even the small ones are full of nothing but heroin addicts and trash. And I'm not talking good ole white trash but rathet black acting white trash. Even if you pick a good neighborhood it'll slowly start being overrun with trash. We bought a house on the north side of Springfield in a nice neighborhood. It was mostly retirement age people and older families. I never saw trash or less then desirable people at my local Kroger or Speedway. Now 11 years later it's a different story. I see more and more trash every day. We're selling in the spring and moving to the country. Far our of town and off a side road.
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Another great point. No city is immune to the heroin epidemic, even the small towns.

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Thank you for all the great replies. If this were put to a poll it would be a landslide. And I totally get it. I think deep down in my heart of hearts I really want to live in the country. I believe my wife does too. Part of our problem right now is the place we currently reside is not newborn-friendly and it's a utility expense nightmare. It's a very old house with almost zero insulation, so in the winters (even mild winters) the furnace runs nonstop and it's always freezing cold in the house. We basically don't even use the upstairs except for storage. I have no space for an office setup and I'm piling papers and files and notes all over counter tops and tables. It's an organizational disaster area. We've been house hunting for over 2 years now and it's becoming incredibly frustrating. We just can't seem to find a nice place in the country... Everything that pops up is either a total piece of shit or has total piece of shit neighbor houses. I think the interest for moving to town is stemming from this frustrating house search... An act of desparation. Maybe I just need to take a chill pill and keep waiting it out. Patience is not my strongest attribute, so this is going to be difficult.
 
If you like the location of where you live, what about fixing the place up. I remember growing up my parents house had no insulation. I remember seeing my breath on a cold morning when I would wake up. They started fixing the place up though as finances would allow. Every year they would remodel another room. I think the first thing was to insulate the attic and then they started downstairs. Other than the kitchens and bathrooms the other rooms in a house are pretty cheap to remove the inside walls, insulate, and put back drywall. By doing the work yourself any money you put into it, you would get back out of it if you decide to sell. You could do the work in Feb-March which would maybe coincide with the tax return?
 
In all fairness, we cannot know what would work best for you. You went to the Dawg Pound of a Browns game and asked the fans who you should root for. We (for the most part) are going to say country. Just like fans in the Dawg Pound are going to tell you to root for the Browns. lmao

I like where you are going. You are weighing out your options. You are open to considering the city life. I really hope you find what you are looking for. One thing I wouldn't rule out is buying a fixer upper in the country or a house which is smaller than your true needs with the thought of adding onto it. You know I have a handful of rentals and have done some different real estate stuff in the past. We have added onto our house. We have bought and sold houses. One thing I can not see is building a brand new house. I'm not sure I'd ever get a return on my money. In your shoes though. . . I wouldn't rule out a fixer upper or small house. Just have a solid vision if looking at either. Plan it up front on "how" you would be able to add on or repair it. You are a handy guy. You work on bows, you are learning snares, you have figured out lawn mower repairs. . . .A little repair work on a house or even contracting out an addition is NOT something outside your abilities. You are a sharp guy. Just a thought.

Oops. Sounds like Cspot was thinking like me. He beat me to it, in a way. Not sure remodeling a house you are renting is quite the same, but it is the same principle.
 
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We were basically in the same boat as you when we moved to our current place just over 7 years ago. We had a newborn and a 1 year old and were just out of room in our old place.
We also debated in-town vs. an acreage/rural neighborhood. In the end we decided to stay in town basically so the kids would have plenty of neighborhood friends to play with and of course for the conveniences offered by being close to work and the necessities. Now the kids are into sports, piano lessons, swimming, etc. so being in town is very nice.
Yea, you can have bad neighbors, and there always seems to be at least one. But you can have that in the country also. We as parents are aware of who are kids are playing with, and most people are pretty good folks. The neighborhoods to completely avoid are generally pretty obvious.....
You also can't shelter your kids from other kids at school so they will be around bad-apples either way. Sooner or later you have to trust your parental abilities and hope your kids are making the right decisions.
And I still piss off my deck in town!
 
cspot said:
If you like the location of where you live, what about fixing the place up. I remember growing up my parents house had no insulation. I remember seeing my breath on a cold morning when I would wake up. They started fixing the place up though as finances would allow. Every year they would remodel another room. I think the first thing was to insulate the attic and then they started downstairs. Other than the kitchens and bathrooms the other rooms in a house are pretty cheap to remove the inside walls, insulate, and put back drywall. By doing the work yourself any money you put into it, you would get back out of it if you decide to sell. You could do the work in Feb-March which would maybe coincide with the tax return?
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We are currently renting the place we live right now. So remodeling is not really in the cards. Otherwise, yep I'd be all for it. But even then it doesn't solve the school district issue.
hickslawns said:
In all fairness, we cannot know what would work best for you. You went to the Dawg Pound of a Browns game and asked the fans who you should root for. We (for the most part) are going to say country. Just like fans in the Dawg Pound are going to tell you to root for the Browns. lmao

I like where you are going. You are weighing out your options. You are open to considering the city life. I really hope you find what you are looking for. One thing I wouldn't rule out is buying a fixer upper in the country or a house which is smaller than your true needs with the thought of adding onto it. You know I have a handful of rentals and have done some different real estate stuff in the past. We have added onto our house. We have bought and sold houses. One thing I can not see is building a brand new house. I'm not sure I'd ever get a return on my money. In your shoes though. . . I wouldn't rule out a fixer upper or small house. Just have a solid vision if looking at either. Plan it up front on "how" you would be able to add on or repair it. You are a handy guy. You work on bows, you are learning snares, you have figured out lawn mower repairs. . . .A little repair work on a house or even contracting out an addition is NOT something outside your abilities. You are a sharp guy. Just a thought.

Oops. Sounds like Cspot was thinking like me. He beat me to it, in a way. Not sure remodeling a house you are renting is quite the same, but it is the same principle.
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I'm not against fixer uppers at all. I have done plenty of construction and remodeling jobs in the past and consider myself a jack of all trades, master of none kind of guy. Problem is we just haven't been able to find a decent one of those either. Believe me, when you look at houses for sale on a daily basis, you see all kinds. The trouble is most of the "fixer uppers" that I see getting listed are actually "total gut jobs." I just don't have the time to tackle something like that right now. But if the price and location was right I wouldn't be opposed to hiring some of the work out. Unfortunately we just haven't found the one yet.
 
I can appreciate that too Jim. When you see one listed that "needs TLC" and you find out it needs a $50-80k make over. Lol
 
hickslawns said:
In all fairness, we cannot know what would work best for you. You went to the Dawg Pound of a Browns game and asked the fans who you should root for. We (for the most part) are going to say country. Just like fans in the Dawg Pound are going to tell you to root for the Browns. lmao

I like where you are going. You are weighing out your options. You are open to considering the city life. I really hope you find what you are looking for. One thing I wouldn't rule out is buying a fixer upper in the country or a house which is smaller than your true needs with the thought of adding onto it. You know I have a handful of rentals and have done some different real estate stuff in the past. We have added onto our house. We have bought and sold houses. One thing I can not see is building a brand new house. I'm not sure I'd ever get a return on my money. In your shoes though. . . I wouldn't rule out a fixer upper or small house. Just have a solid vision if looking at either. Plan it up front on "how" you would be able to add on or repair it. You are a handy guy. You work on bows, you are learning snares, you have figured out lawn mower repairs. . . .A little repair work on a house or even contracting out an addition is NOT something outside your abilities. You are a sharp guy. Just a thought.

Oops. Sounds like Cspot was thinking like me. He beat me to it, in a way. Not sure remodeling a house you are renting is quite the same, but it is the same principle.
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Go Browns!!!

[emoji1612]


 
just like others have said, we lived in town when i was younger moved to the country when i was 10 and its the only place i could live now. you go down in the old neighborhood where i use to live and its bad. my cousin took her kids to the park the other day that i use to run around at daily and had to clean up needles on the play area not saying all that would happen where you are looking but once it starts it gets out of hand really quick.
 
We never let distance from family enter into our thoughts when I worked for the Finance Company and a transfer with advancement came up and more money. We transferred every 2 yrs and the 3 kids always got over it with new friends quickly.
We always thought family is family and we can always go back for major functions. And at times it was great not being close for the problems that came up.
IMHO the not moving because of kids is a parent hangup not a kid loosing friends and school change. That's how it was with our family.
Just think of how of your close friends from school do you have years later. The close friends stick by you and the other ones just fade away.
 
CJD3 said:
How about buying raw land and building?
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We've considered it. It's just really expensive. These days you can't build a house of similar quality to one built in the 70's, 80's or 90's for anywhere near the same price as buying an existing home. Unless you go with a custom builder, you can expect a ton of corners to be cut and half-assed no-attention-to-detail kind of work. I won't rule it out completely though... I would love to have a "pole barn house" some day.
 
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