Why I won't be moving to a small town soon...

There was an article in the business section the other day about selling your home in the city and moving to a small town. Many do this when they retire, because, if you picked the right small town, you could perhaps buy a house at less than half the selling price of your house in the city. You would then not only have a home, but a lot of money left over to travel, start a small business or just bank!!

It's certainly a tempting idea, however, the article went on to suggest what type of people would adapt well to life in a small town. According to this list, my husband and I would never survive the move. Here is an excerpt from the article.

"You are suited to relocating to a small community if you are:

1. Good at building new friendships.
2. Extroverted
3. A good learner (e.g. you can figure out how a well and a septic system work.)
4. Good at pursuing hobbies or interests that will help you meet people."

Unfortunately neither my husband nor I are extroverts. I am the one who would have to figure out the mechanics of a house on a well with a septic system. Although I could join a knitting guild, my husband's hobbies are reading mystery stories and watching baseball on TV. Finally, I can't say that either of us have a wide circle of friends. In fact, we both have, as best friends, people we met in elementary school - go figure!

City Lights

I know of some people who have sold their house in the city and relocated to their cottage, which in one case was fairly isolated. Unfortunately the fates were against this one couple. No sooner had they moved, when the husband had a heart attack. As the wife didn't drive, she was at the mercy of friends and neighbours to regularly drive her the three hours from the cottage to the hospital, where her husband was recovering.

Sometimes you just have to be realistic and do a lot of "what if" scenarios before you make that huge leap. The article does suggest renting for a while in the place where you would like to buy or at least spending some vacation time there.

I love the idea of having a bigger place for less money and having some extra cash to travel, but I'm not sure that I'm ready to give up what I have become very accustomed to.

Ironically, I could move to another country, for the adventure!!