3 tips on deciding where to buy a rural property

If you’re dreaming of leaving the city lights behind and moving into your own country home you need to keep a few important points in mind. These tips will help you turn your dream into a reality.

It’s very important that you decide how far you are willing to travel to things like children’s schools, work and shopping. Keep these tips in mind:

• Account for the possibility that you may have to pay suppliers a premium to deliver goods to your remote location.
• Be clear about just how far you are prepared to move from your family and your friends.
• Consider your children's schooling requirements over the next 10 years or so.
• Make the list comprehensive, yet keep it flexible, and do not forget to include seemingly small matters; clear television reception and a fast computer hook up may well be as important to you as local employment opportunities.

So you’ve thought about your basic priorities. Now you need to choose one or to areas to investigate.

• Look through the real estate listings of major newspapers and online to see what is available in different regions.
• Narrow your search by examining local newspapers from promising regions.

There’s only one way of knowing if you can make a place your home; take a look at it.

• When looking, you may discover that rural land is often not serviced by the full range of what city folk may think of as essential facilities, such as electricity and water, telephone and Internet, stores and medical services.
• Other elements of the suburban infrastructure may also be less accessible or less convenient: public transport may be limited, children may need to travel further to school, retail shopping may lack variety or be a couple of hours' drive away, public libraries may service a wider area, and entertainment venues may be fewer in number.
• Think about how willing you are to lose regular contact with your friends and family and how you will maintain links.

When considering making the move form town to country, take these tips into account for the perfect choice. This is one of the most important decisions you will make so, as with all moves, never lose sight of your motives and goals.