[Nic'sgot4]

Hello all,

My family and I have found a fantastic place to buy acerage and have dreamed of having this kind of laid back country life style for a long time.

Problem is we moved from the UK 5 yrs ago and have been where we are for all of that time and are very settled.

The kids love their school, I have some very special friendships and a great support network here.

Would it be insane to leave it all behind for our dream. We would be about an hour and a half away from where we are now so could still see our friends.

I'm just not sure if I can bear to start again.

What do you think? What would you do?

[~kitteh.hoardere...]

I'd say do it!

1. Because we really want to move to the country too, we are thinking in 5-10 years time. (I was trawling the internet last night and found 2 houses on acreage that I want! Perhaps I've been watching too much Escape to the Country LOL!)
2. You should do it while the kids are young and will bounce back quickly. The kids will easily make new friends etc, but when they get over 10 it will be REALLY hard.

90mins is nothing! I mean in Sydney that's not even from one side to the other!

[jfl]

By all means go for it, if it is feasible. But, be aware that the 'laid back lifestyle' you envisage on acres is not quite that. You will need to do a fair bit of maintenance (mowing, weed control, maintaining fences etc) which is both time consuming and expensive. It is more work, and more money, than maintaining a suburban block over time.

I have lived on acres, and while the visual aspects were wonderful, the work, money and travel aspects outweighed them in the end. But, each to their own.

[erindiv]

Just got given a fantastic bit of advice a few minutes ago re a completely different scenario, really made me think.

I reckon we usually know what the right thing to do is, it's just doing it that's the hard bit!

This is a decision only you can make. It's normal to fear the unknown. Sometimes you've got to make a leap of faith, at other times you're best to keep your feet on the ground.

[Amanda_R]

Ultimately only you can know what's right for you and your family. Weigh up the options, spend some time in the town/area where you're wanting to live, throughout all the seasons, if you're still feeling positive perhaps consider renting for a period of time to test out living in the area without making the step to sell up and move.

But then again, if it feels right, you've considered all the positives and negatives, if the block you are looking at is a once in a lifetime, then go for it.

[i-believe-in-mir...]

By all means go for it, if it is feasible. But, be aware that the 'laid back lifestyle' you envisage on acres is not quite that. You will need to do a fair bit of maintenance (mowing, weed control, maintaining fences etc) which is both time consuming and expensive. It is more work, and more money, than maintaining a suburban block over time.

I have lived on acres, and while the visual aspects were wonderful, the work, money and travel aspects outweighed them in the end. But, each to their own.

Couldn't have said it better myself. We are on a very small acreage so alot of maintenance as we need to tend to all areas of it. It is so much maintenance, time and money. We are quickly realising that there is not enough time to do it all, especially with young kids, which is why we are looking to downsize back to a residential block. The space is fantastic though and it definitely has its advantages but it costs more, timewise and financially.

Good luck with your decision.

Felicity.

[Nic'sgot4]

Our 4 children have been sick all last week and it made me have major second thoughts as my friends were all there to help me out with school runs etc.
But over the weekend we have all been talking about it again and still really want to go.
My 8yr old boy is the most against it as he is worried he wont make friends.
DH and I think we will rent down there 1st give it 6 months or a year and if we don't like it come back here. My two boys should slot straight back into their old lives and friendships if this happens.
I'm kind of thinking of it as a long holiday.
I just think if we don't do it now then we wont.
Now to get my head around selling our home. Shame we can't afford to keep it and rent it out instead of selling it.
Ah well I suppose it's just bricks and walls

[countrymel]

By all means go for it, if it is feasible. But, be aware that the 'laid back lifestyle' you envisage on acres is not quite that. You will need to do a fair bit of maintenance (mowing, weed control, maintaining fences etc) which is both time consuming and expensive. It is more work, and more money, than maintaining a suburban block over time.

I'm kind of thinking of it as a long holiday.

Bear that in mind.... as when you have land you actually don't get things like 'weekends' anymore.

All the time we are not at work is spent tending our property - and it isn't even that neat nor do we have any animals yet!!

Our suburban block dwelling friends have a far more 'laid back' existence than we do!

[Nic'sgot4]

I just ment long holiday as in somewhere different for a long time.

[*LucyE*]

We have an acreage and agree that it takes A LOT to maintain. We also have the luxury of all the machinery, equipment we could possibly need as well as hired help (gardener, landscaper, specialists such as skid steer driver etc).

Our place still looks like an unkept heap after 5yrs (although we did,'t do much the first 2.5yrs and the last 6 months). The maintenance is constant (mowing takes 6hrs to do the whole yard on a top of the range ride on). Then there's the whiper snipering, manual weeding and spraying on top of that. That's just to deal with the grass/weeds.

We've got a reticulation system set up now that runs off our bioseptic system mostly. Before that watering the plants was really time consuming.

Basically, what I'm trying to say is that don't get caught up in the romanticism of it all. I love our home, the location, privacy and space but it is a big money sink. We could have saved some money but it would have compromised our lifestyle (mostly time).