The following contribution is from another author.
Searching for a new home is a fun process. It signifies change, moving forward to the future, and perhaps settling down comfortable with the family you call home. There’s much advice out there, mostly dealing with how to secure the best house, how to sell your current home, how to negotiate, how to inspect a home, and how to repair damages. But rarely is the huge, first, humbling question answered.
Just how are you supposed to choose where to live?
This is a worthwhile question to ask. If you’re starting from a blank slate and technically everywhere is possible, then you have a real quandary on your hands. Choosing someone to build a romantic relationship with out of 7 billion global people is a hard enough task, but finding a home out of billions of potential options with the potential of crafting your own? While of course your possibilities will be filtered through personal preference and good sense, this can still be a hard task.
In this article we will never tell you what to choose, of course, but we will help you lower the search parameters to help you find something useful. Hopefully, this can take some of the fear out of that decision you may wish to make.
A New Adventure
Familiarity can be a great thing to consider, but sometimes, you wish to settle down in a completely new environment. Choosing a subdivision of properties best for you can mean weighing up all your options, and seeing what your requirements are. But often, leading said decision with a brave interest and a willingness to enjoy something new can add real verve and thrill to your move. After all, who wishes to live in the exact same surroundings for all of their life? Maybe some, but it’s also important to try and find shores anew, even if only slightly different to what you are used to. You’ll never know what you might appreciate unless you try it, after all.
Abroad?
Moving abroad can be a worthwhile venture for many reasons. Perhaps you have new employment there, or perhaps you’ve heard that the schools are much nicer. Perhaps you wish to engage with a culture that you can trace your family history back to, or maybe you wish to live closer to friends and family who have also made the move and swear by doing so.
There’s a large world out there, and so many wonderful places to live that it can make your head spin. Maybe you enjoy being surrounded by historical towns and cities, or maybe you’re moving for the climate. All of this is valid and reasonable provided you conduct the necessary research, visit often, and ensure you are familiar with the house buying procedure here – as it may differ from the usual flow of this in your home country.
Pros & Cons
While the two prior examples can seem like romantic adventures (and they are sure to be), it’s also best to weigh up these options based on your needs. For example, perhaps you are an English teacher, and in Europe, English teachers are in short supply. Both you and your spouse recognize this opportunity, and so begin looking towards a beautiful place to grow and develop, but most of all to settle down.
However, you realize that the pay in said country, while it would go further than it does in your current country, is less pay than you have right now. That being said, the beautiful surroundings, clean air, relatively stable political situation and low crime rate of an area you’re looking at, as well as the large property you could select with your starting funds all equate to a fantastic deal. It’s when you weigh the pros and cons like this that a move goes from being a pipe dream to actually something that could be feasible.
If you’ve been thinking of a place as truly feasible for some time, and have visited a few times to fall in love with the environment each time (as well as absorbing the culture and meeting the locals), then odds are you have a fantastic route forward.
Future Plans
Your future plans matter. Do you hope to have children with your spouse or are you against that idea? This decision can lead to radically different lifestyle paths. For example, having children may draw you into a more suburban environment, while the two incomes gained from no children can allow a nice property in the middle of the city to become a feasible and worthwhile approach. Your future plans can help you structure your life. Planning the next five years as realistically as you can will help you with a certain time frame.
Of course, do not be so strict with your filters. When getting married at 26 children may be the last thing on your mind, but at 31? There’s a chance you may feel different when you’re settled. This doesn’t mean you need to future-proof every single decision you make in life (because how can you?) but you can try and stay rational and utilize your good sense to this end.
Renovation Plans
If you have dreams of extending a property, of building an outhouse, or many other personal additions to your future household, then considering where you live is important. If living in a graded and listed building, you may find that the local housing authority restricts any and all construction in your area. This can prevent you from making plans. That being said, it can also prevent the nearby construction of a large housing lot, perhaps ruining the beautiful and serene environment you have found your house in. It’s these kinds of tradeoffs that can help you remain more informed and weigh up all the variables when coming to your final decision. While you cannot plan for every eventuality, it’s measures such as these that are worth knowing.
With this advice, you’re sure to choose the right place to live.
