Good morning friends!
Today will be the first day of a two part series comparing rural and urban living. Most people will have an idyllic concept of their dream home location, so hopefully these posts will only address some of the more “hidden” advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages:
- Lower taxes, generally. I say generally because it does kind of depend on amount of land owned and proximity from downtown. So typically you can expect a smaller yearly tax bill.
- Cheaper land, usually. Again this depends if you’re buying an quarter section of land just outside perimeter or if you’re just looking for a couple acres.
- More space for home design. Lots out of the city tend to be bigger with less architectural restraints. This allows further creativity on your part to design away!
- Avoid the city impact fee. As much as I don’t like supporting urban sprawl, the fact you can avoid further increases on impact fee implementation is potentially huge.
- The typical reasons: More space, slower lifestyle, quieter, less light pollution, etc.
Disadvantages:
- Logistics. I mention logistics as it pertains to the build as well as simplicity of living later. Groceries, entertainment, social groups are all further away and during the build (again depending how rural you are) you’ll have higher delivery fees, travel times etc.
- Less municipal utilities. Often you will need a well and septic field. Typically these are a little more costly and require more maintenance. Occasionally you’ll even require a septic holding tank which will need to get pumped out on a regular basis or a cistern for holding water that has to get delivered to your yard.
- The typical disadvantages: inconvenience, distance from friends, sites/smells might not be your preference, potential loneliness, etc.
While lots of these advantages and disadvantages are personal preference there are some trade-offs that mean dollar figure changes to your build costs. We’ve built in both urban and rural locations and are happy to sit down and chat with you a little more in depth about your preferred location and point you toward some dirt to get started!