Should I Move Out of the City?

Moving out of the city is such a massive change of lifestyle that you are unlikely to know if you will adapt to it until you jump.

Having made the jump backwards and forwards myself many times here are some things to consider when deciding if moving out of the city is a good idea.

The Pros and Cons of Living in the City

What are the advantages of living in a city?

• More job opportunities
• Higher Salaries
• Better technology – faster internet
• More schools
• Wider variety of Entertainment and Culture
• Better Public Transport
• Faster emergency service response times
• Wider Choice of healthcare
• Cultural diversity

What are the disadvantages of living in a city?

• More competition when looking for work
• High cost of living
• Higher rent and property prices
• Stress
• Higher crime rates
• Pollution
• Congestion
• Lack of parking
• Lack of privacy
• Noise
• Lack of space
• Lack of community spirit

You may also like to read: Is Life Better in the Countryside, the Suburbs, or the City? In this guide, we look at the pros and cons of living in the city, the suburbs, and the Countryside in far more depth.

The Pros and Cons of Living in a Small Town

What are the advantages of living in a small town?

• Less competition when looking for work
• Lower rent and property prices than the city
• Larger homes, often with a garden
• Lower cost of living
• Less stress
• More personal space
• Lower crime rates
• Less pollution
• Easier parking
• Less noise
• More green spaces
• Closer communities
• Higher quality of life

What are the disadvantages of living in a small town?

• Fewer job opportunities
• Lower salaries
• Less entertainment and culture
• Fewer choices of schools
• Less healthcare choice
• Less comprehensive public transport
• Longer commuting times
• Not so culturally diverse
• Everybody knows your business
• Emergency services may take longer to respond

You may also like to read: How to Move Out of London. London is so unique in every way that we have created a guide to leaving the Capital and we look at areas that you may wish to consider moving to if you still need easy access to London.

The Pros and Cons of Living in a Country Village

What are the advantages of living in a country village?

• More house for your money
• You will likely have a garden
• Healthier lifestyle
• Locally grown fresh fruit and vegetables
• Easy access to areas for recreation
• No pollution
• Less noise
• Less stress
• No congestion
• Plenty of parking
• More personal space
• Closer community
• Higher quality of life

What are the disadvantages of living in a country village?

• Fewer homes to rent
• Lack of work
• The Internet may not be as fast
• Long commuting times
• Feeling of isolation
• Lack of shops
• Less local entertainment or culture
• Fewer choices for education
• Fewer local amenities
• Emergency response times may be longer
• Infrequent public transport
• You will likely need a car
• In winter you may be snowed in your home
• There may be power cuts in bad weather
• Lack of good internet access
• Not so culturally diverse as a city
• Everybody will be watching you
• Wildlife, especially mice and bugs are far more common

You may also like to read: The Pros and Cons of Moving to the Country. Life in the countryside may seem idyllic but there are certainly some disadvantages that you should be aware of.

Of course, these pros and cons are generalisations that may not totally apply to your city, town, or village.

But by producing your own pros and cons list you will soon see whether the positives of moving out of the city outweigh the negatives.

Would You Move Home Just for Outdoor Space?

Many city or townhomes tend to have small backyards or no garden at all.

Moving home so that you can have a garden is why many people choose to relocate.

And currently, this is one of the biggest reasons why people are moving out of cities, they have realised the importance and benefits of having an outdoor space, whether for themselves or for their kids.

But is the reality of having a garden different from how we envision it to be, especially if we have never had a garden before?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of having a large garden?

Like any pros and cons list, it will depend upon what you hope to get from having a garden and what you intend to use it for. But here are some pros and cons to having a large garden that you may like to consider.

What are the Advantages of Having a Large Garden?

• You can grow your own vegetables
• Kids will have space to play
• You can entertain in the garden
• Gardens are great if you want pets
• More privacy from neighbours
• More options for garden buildings, like an office or shed
• A well-planned garden adds value to a property
• A large garden gives you the opportunity  to extend the house if you need to

What are the Disadvantages of Having a Large Garden?

• Gardening is hard work
• It takes time, money, and energy to maintain a garden
• English weather does not always allow full use of a garden
• You may need to buy expensive powered gardening tools

You may also like to read: Moving From a Flat to a House. Is It a Good Idea? Having made the move several times from city flats to houses, here are some things to consider whether apartment living or living in a house which will hopefully give you some food for thought.

Is it Better to Have a Bigger House or a Bigger Garden?

Whether your money is better spent on a larger house or larger garden is down to your lifestyle and what your needs are.

However, a large house does not always equal larger rooms or mean that you will have more useable space. So it is important that whatever size house you choose the layout fulfills all your needs.

Not only does a larger home usually mean bigger rent or bigger mortgage repayments, but increases running costs.

You will need to factor into your budget:

• Higher taxes
• Bigger utility bills
• Higher maintenance costs
• Higher property insurance
• It will cost more to furnish

Certainly having a large garden is very enjoyable when it comes to fun and relaxation, but it does take hard work to grow vegetables, maintain lawns, and keep a garden tidy.

Depending on how large the garden is, you may need to buy powered garden machinery to make your life easier, none of which are particularly cheap.

But with good planning, a large garden can offer you more versatility and perhaps return a higher degree of happiness than having a larger house will.

If you have two spare bedrooms you never go in other than to clean, that is poor value for money.

If you have a shaded area, a weatherproof area, an area for entertaining, for growing vegetables, for the kids to play in, and those areas are used, then that offers far better value for money.

It is worth remembering that if you have a large garden and in the future you need more house space, you can always extend the building into the garden, and still have a good-sized garden.

The choice will come down to how you intend to use the space and how regularly, whether it is indoors or out.

And there are some stunningly pretty and practical small gardens, it just comes down to imaginative and creative use of space.

A well-planned garden is a desirable asset for any home and can add around 5% to the asking price of a similar property.

You may also like to read: The Pros and Cons of Having a Garden. In this guide, we look at the pros and cons of having a garden in far more detail.

Is it Better to Have a Bigger House or Better Lifestyle?

Does it make more sense to have a bigger home or have a disposable income?

This question begs another question: If it is a choice between the two, do you really need a bigger home or just want one? If there was a real need for a bigger home then that in itself would answer your question.

So let’s look at the ‘Do I need a bigger house?’ question.

One of the advantages of buying a bigger house is that we have more space. But ask yourself why you need more space.

If you were to reorganise your home would this solve your problem?

• Decluttering your home is an easy way to make it more spacious.
• Something as simple as rearranging the furniture is a quick and simple way to create more living space. Use a floor plan to see if you can lay out your rooms more efficiently.
• Build a garden shed and use that for storage to free up space in your home
• Rent a storage unit to store things that you rarely use.
• Create a garden room that can be used as an office for example to free up a bedroom.

You may also like to read: How to Declutter Your Home. In this guide, we share tips to make making each room of your home easier.

This is also worth remembering that with bigger houses comes bigger bills, and more time needed for cleaning and maintenance.

Owning a larger home is often more stressful too as it comes with increased responsibilities and worries.

With no money for socialising, or maybe even doing emergency maintenance, this will add to your stress levels, so it is not a decision to take lightly.

The price of a house can go up or down, and the cost of repairs you will rarely recoup.

The hours of cleaning and decorating you will never get back.

Disasters can wipe away the money you have invested in your home in seconds.

You can spend a fortune having a large home and making it into a showpiece, but the chances are the next owners will remodel it, your hard work and money for nothing.

Unless you have endless streams of visitors or really care what others think, who is going to know or care whether each bedroom has a bathroom?

So if you have no real need for a bigger home why waste your time and energy?

Is it not better to be financially comfortable in a smaller house than bankrupt in a mansion?

Surely your quality of life is more important than what others think of you or your home.

The quality time you spend with others, being around to see and enjoy your family live and grow rather than working all hours to pay for a home you never get to be in, to be able to travel, to have unique and memorable experiences, to be able to create special memories that will stay with you for life, surely that is money well spent.

You may also like to read: The Pros and Cons of Moving to a Bigger Home. In this guide, we look at the subject of upsizing in far greater depth.

Deciding Where to Move Home Next

Having made the decision to move you may now be unsure exactly where you want to move to.

There may be many options for you, or you may be familiar with the area as it is where your family is, or you grew up there.

We have a large section in our home moving blog dedicated to how to decide where to move home next with lots of useful advice as well as regional guides with plenty of essential information.

You may also like to read: How to Decide Where to Move Home Next. In this guide, we suggest 11 things to take into consideration when deciding where to live next.

You may also be looking to move within commuting distance of your workplace and www.zoopla.co.uk has a useful tool that will help you determine a commuting radius from your workplace.

If you will be working from home the local broadband speed may be an essential piece of information to know when choosing where to live.

At www.uswitch.com you can enter the postcode of your prospective new home to determine the broadband speeds in that area.

Local crime rates are also something that you will be interested to know about when looking for a new home.

Go to www.police.uk, enter the postcode, and you can see what the local crime rate is in that area.

Another useful tool if you are looking for new schools for your kids can be found at www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk which allows you to compare all the schools in a radius of a postcode.

City Living Through the Stages of Life

As we go through different stages of life, and we or our family have different needs and aspirations, we could find ourselves, like me, toing and froing between city life and living in the country.

Often though this makes little financial sense, moving is not a cheap exercise.

But we often have to make decisions about what we know and need in the moment, who knows what tomorrow let alone 10 years’ time will throw at us?

However, people naturally are pack animals, generally, people thrive when in a community, and cities were designed to bring people together so that resources, infrastructure, labour, amenities, and housing would be easily accessible for all.

Through most stages of life city living actually makes a lot of sense for most people, everything is where you want, when you want.

There is an awful lot to be said for convenience.

Should you have children then you may even have a choice of schools in the city and there may not be the need to get in the car and do the school run every day like there would be if you lived out in the sticks.

Then as the kids get older there will be more social opportunities in the city.

When moving somewhere even slightly remote, don’t underestimate how much time and inconvenience it will be to become their constant taxi driver when they have to attend after-school events or just want to go meet friends.

When the kids leave home you will be able to enjoy more leisure pursuits and entertainment that are right on your doorstep.

In all likelihood, the city would offer you more and varied career opportunities.

Of course, there are downsides to city living just as there are downsides to living on a tropical island.

Some people move out of the city and thrive in smaller communities, where they have more space and less pollution, and could never envision being back in a city.

Others miss the buzz, the energy, the variety of things to do, being in a multicultural environment, and the ease of city living.

All I would say is, to think carefully before moving out of the city, it is often very difficult to move back.

You may also like to read: Is Retiring to the City a Good Idea? In this guide, we offer 16 great reasons why moving to the city for retirement makes so much sense and how moving out of the city in retirement may not be such a good idea.

Good luck with your decision and don’t forget to visit our home moving blog which is packed with guides to make every aspect of your home move easier, cheaper, and safer.