Once upon a time I was you, searching online for any advice I could find to help me navigate moving from our cute but increasingly crowded suburban home to a charming house in the country. This was in 2018 and I found almost ZERO useful information from people who had already done it. Still, we took the leap of faith, made the move and I’m here to tell you it was the best decision our family ever made! Let me walk you through everything I wish someone had told me:
Making a Move from the suburbs to a Rural Country Home
It can feel both exciting and overwhelming to look through homes on Zillow and realize yes, I want this country lifestyle! But how do I make it happen, especially on a budget? If you’re not sure how to make the leap from house browser to serious rural house hunter, I can help!
Set Money Aside Right Now
When you make an offer on a house you must have 1% of the purchase price in cash sitting in a bank account that you are able to hand over at that very moment as Earnest Money. And that cash must be “seasoned”, which means it has a paper trail as legal income and has been sitting in your bank account for at least three months. Any shorter than this and you need to provide proof of where it came from or special letters that it is a gift from family. This is a hassle. Just put some money away right now and don’t touch it. Your existing home may need some repairs but I’ll remind you again – do not touch this money! It needs to be sitting there, ready and waiting for the moment when you will need to act quickly.
Battle the Mental Overwhelm
Clutter in the closets or garage that you just haven’t had the energy to tackle may be sending you the message that moving is too hard. That’s a lie! Do not let a little clutter – or even a good bit of clutter – hold you back from your dreams! Here is how I battled the clutter that tried to send me the just-give-up message:
The Delivery Box In & Clutter Out Method
Any shipping box delivered to your house cannot be thrown away empty. The same goes for any other medium to large sized boxes that hold food, diapers, or household appliances. Each of these is an opportunity! Fill it with things you do not need and put them in the back of your car to drop off at GoodWill or a local donation center. Feel free to set a timer for five minutes, three minutes, or whatever feels manageable. Just start a habit of getting unwanted and unneeded things moving out.
The Trash Day Method
This tip is from the Minimal Mom, who was a huge source of inspiration for me when it was time to clean out and move. She says every trash day is an opportunity to declutter so your home simply functions better. Get a trash bag and get obvious trash, little wrappers, unneeded papers, old magazines, broken bits, junk drawer fodder, and unnecessary clutter OUT! You do not have to fill the entire trash bag. A brisk throw-away burst is best because it is what you have time for. This weekly blitz, where the trash company will do the hauling away for you, can have a big impact quickly!
Do Current House Repairs Feel Daunting?
I genuinely get this. Making a list of everything that needs to be fixed can be mentally crippling. But we don’t need a huge list, we need $20 and one week at a time. Try to commit to fixing one $20 item each weekend. You may be surprised how far $20 can go.
Smoke detectors may need to be replaced but they are generally under $10 each on Amazon. We had a utility box cover in our yard that had been shattered by a weed eater. I had dreaded replacing it and was stunned when it only cost $8. A broken light switch plate was $2. A 1 inch crack in the laminate counter top I had fretted about only needed an inexpensive filler kit. Same for a tiny porcelain bath tub chip. Anything needing fresh white caulking can be done yourself with painter’s tape and a tube of caulk. Wood repair kits can cover cabinet, flooring & baseboard scratches. Tending to a couple small, $20 easy fixes felt really good! And it made me feel like my country dreams weren’t that far away after all. (Afflinks)
Garage Sales & Marketplace
You can start turning unwanted possessions into cash right now. Facebook Marketplace tends to be better for large or valuable items you want to get a fair price on. A garage sale can be a good idea – we had a huge, exhausting moving sale – but we only earned $400 and two car loads of unsold leftovers went to GoodWill. Looking back I wish I would have sold anything worth $50 or more on Marketplace and donated the rest immediately or given it away on Buy-Nothing Groups to someone in need. It was not worth my time to set aside, price tag, set up, and attempt to sell so many small items we ended up donating any ways. The large and useful things, like furniture, tools, and baby gear were the only things that sold on garage sale day.
Unwanted Item Sales Can Fund Larger Home Repairs
As you sell off unwanted items, set that money aside for some of the larger home repairs. This bit of income won’t pay to replace your roof but it will help get a cracked window glass replaced or a front door re-painted. Especially if you can pay the contractor in cash or pay cash for the supplies to do it yourself. This also frees up some of your direct deposit paycheck money (which is easily traceable as being legal income) to be put directly into savings as part of your earnest money.
Meanwhile, Shop the Housing Market
It’s a good idea to use real estate apps to figure out what country farmhouses are selling for and what you might expect to get for your home. If you will need the cash from the sale of your current home as a down payment on your country house, you’ll need to do the work to prepare your home for a fast sale. This means making sure your home is de-cluttered, clean and everything is in good repair with some fresh updates – like paint or flooring – that makes the home move-in ready.
How to Guarantee a Quick Sale
Home buyers, especially those with children, need homes that are ready for them to move into immediately without requiring any major repairs or updates. Your home will be sold more quickly if it looks sparkling clean and ready for a new family. Kitchens and bathrooms sell a home so your money is well spent repairing things in these rooms. Also consider power washing the exterior, touch up painting any exterior trim that needs it and adding fresh landscape plants and mulch to provide ample curb appeal. (The outside of your home will be the first picture buyers see online.)
I know you may be in a hurry to move but we were able to get our house ready for listing in 8 weekends with our own labor and $1500 paid to a contractor for help with items we could not do ourselves.
Narrowing Down Your House Hunting Area
If you aren’t sure where you eventually want to settle, the internet is the best and cheapest resource. Zillow is great for showing you how the land and views look. Reddit can give you the opportunity to chat with locals in the area to decide if it might be a good move.
Finding Good Info on the Area You’ve Chosen
If you’ve narrowed your hunt down to a certain small town, you can find surprisingly good info if you’re willing to dig several pages into Google search results. Is there a local blogger writing about the area? Are there travel reviews of local things to do where visitors mentioned the people were nice or that the town had great stores? Are you brave enough to call a furniture store to ask how long new furniture delivery may take and then pepper the sales rep with other questions about the area? (Furniture stores are likely to be slower paced so the sales person may have time to chat.) If the furniture store was busy, the floor covering store won’t be so call and ask how long it generally takes between ordering flooring and installation then ask about the area. All of these are free and can help you narrow down where you want to search for a farmhouse.
Visiting the Area in Person
You will need to make at least one trip to visit the area you want to move to in person. Do NOT touch the 1% Earnest Money money to pay for this travel; you may fall in love with something while there and need that money in an instant. It is fine if your trip needs to be as cheap as possible while you cover as much ground as you can. Zillow shows listing addresses so you don’t need a realtor unless you want a full tour of a property for sale. You can choose to do your own driving tour around a few areas to see which you prefer.
When It’s Time to Make an Offer
Do not buy a country house without an inspection. I know the housing market can be crazy but you cannot afford to make a mistake this huge. Rural properties need to have septic systems, barns, shops, out buildings, well water systems and the actual house itself thoroughly inspected by an experienced and licensed professional. Many people who skipped home inspections during the house buying boom of the early 2020’s have deeply regretted it. If a seller is insisting on offers with no inspection, this is a red flag. They know something is majorly wrong.
Things I Wish I Would Have Known when Buying a Country House:
• Buying a house where the owners have already moved out is easier. Country properties are large and it takes a lot of time to clear out every barn, shed, and out building. There are less things to go awry at the last minute if the owners are not currently living in the home. We actually preferred these types of homes and bought a farmhouse that had been sitting empty.
• You do not need a large barn if you are not going to own multiple horses, goats, a milk cow or other large livestock. An empty barn will provide shelter for unwanted pests, even if there is no food present. If the property has a barn, be willing to also adopt the barn cat if one already lives there. You will need her help with mouse control. (You may find adopting an outside cat is a necessity to keep mice out of the shop and your attic, too.)
• Country houses are just a little bit dirtier. It is because of the wide open spaces, which have more natural patches of dirt, that the fresh air breezes kick up. Being aware of this is good so you can overlook a bit of splattered soil on the garden gate and potting shed, wind-blown dust on the chicken coop, or mud on the barn siding and focus on items that are more important.
• There are likely to be trees on your property and it is natural for trees to die. Droughts, storms, lightning strikes, and bugs kill one mature tree every few years on many rural properties. If the tree is far away from the house and structures, it can fall naturally and not cause any issues. (This is free future firewood.) If a tree appears to be dying and could fall near the home, it will need to be removed.
• Country home sellers often have an attitude of “if it is not broke, it does not need to be fixed”. It can be difficult to get contractors to drive out to rural properties for just one small repair. If you’re insisting that a licensed contractor fix every tiny thing, you’re at risk of the seller backing out and you losing the house. It’s better to ask for a discount or cash allowance so you can select your own contractor to fix a list of items later. This also ensures things are done properly and to your liking.
If you’re picky and considered difficult, the sellers will warn all their country neighbors and your reputation will be tarnished before you move in. Most of our neighbors kept in touch with the entire street as they sold their farmhouses and we all knew exactly how the process went before the new family ever had keys in their hands! Negotiate on the big things and understand that some of the cosmetic things are just cosmetic.
Is a Farmhouse in the Country Worth It?
Absolutely, YES! A pleasant country home is worth every second of work, effort, and annoyance it takes to get there. Once you fall asleep to the peaceful quietness under a rural sky full of stars and the gentleness of country life seeps into your soul, any hassle endured to obtain the property of your dreams will seem inconsequential.
You Might Also Enjoy Reading:
Will My Family Be happy in the Country?
Country House Wish List (a handy free printable with farmhouse hunting checklist!)
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