ᐅ Building Back from Urban Migration to the Countryside: Home, City, or Rural Property
Created on: 30 Mar 2018 12:18
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Nordmanntanne
Dear Forum,
I have registered here and hope this is the right place for my question. I searched for a suitable platform for a long time, and this forum seemed the most fitting. I would like to share my situation and would appreciate as much feedback as possible:
My wife and I have been living in Frankfurt am Main for four years. We were both born nearby, about 60 to 70 kilometers (37 to 43 miles) outside of Frankfurt in a rural area. We both grew up there, and until finishing high school, it was never in question that we would one day build a house with a garden in our hometown (we both come from the same place). After high school (we were not yet a couple at that time), we both went out into the wider world. My wife studied in Cologne and Bonn, with semesters abroad in Rome, and I studied in Freiburg and Munich. After completing my doctorate in Berlin, I lived in Australia for a year. Now, we both live and work in Frankfurt am Main. We are both civil servants. My wife is paid according to grade A16, and I am at B3. Our financial situation is therefore quite comfortable. Our workplaces are conveniently located. My wife can walk to work, and I can get there quickly by public transportation. Our living situation is good as well. We have been living for four years in a large apartment (120m2 / 1,292 sq ft), which, however, also comes with a correspondingly high rent (basic rent about 2,200 euros). The apartment is spacious, but its layout means that while we can live here for two or three more years with our one-year-old child, eventually our child will need a "proper" separate room. I won’t go into more detail, but the fact is that we will need to move in two or three years.
Two years ago, we became owners of a plot of land in our hometown. It belonged to my wife’s grandparents, who bequeathed it to us. The plot is a dream: 900m2 (about 9,688 sq ft), located on the edge of a forest, with an unobstructed view of the valley, situated in a quiet dead-end street. It really doesn’t get better than that. Our hometown has about 11,000 inhabitants.
We have been constantly wondering if we should build there. Money is not a problem. We are torn. Our commute would be longer. The town has its own train station with connections to Frankfurt am Main. The train runs hourly. The travel time from the station to my workplace would be 55 minutes, for my wife 62 minutes. We both have free public transit passes. The station can be reached by bike from our plot in five minutes. Commuting would be quite an adjustment for both of us, but I think this is something we could get used to.
One concern is that since finishing high school – which was quite some time ago – we have not lived in our hometown. We visit our parents regularly, and many acquaintances have moved back after studying elsewhere. Life there is completely different from that in a big city. We are both worried about “shrinking” into the small-town life. You also don’t have the anonymity of a big city. On the other hand, for 2,200 euros, you could build a nice house there.
So we are torn between the old dream of having our own “nest” at home and the worry that, without meaning any offense, we have outgrown the hometown and might no longer fit in there. Also, the commute would be an adjustment. We are therefore wondering what to do with the land? Should we move within Frankfurt or build there? Selling is not an option for now, as we do not need the money. Money in the bank doesn’t do much anyway.
I would be grateful for any input!
Thank you
I have registered here and hope this is the right place for my question. I searched for a suitable platform for a long time, and this forum seemed the most fitting. I would like to share my situation and would appreciate as much feedback as possible:
My wife and I have been living in Frankfurt am Main for four years. We were both born nearby, about 60 to 70 kilometers (37 to 43 miles) outside of Frankfurt in a rural area. We both grew up there, and until finishing high school, it was never in question that we would one day build a house with a garden in our hometown (we both come from the same place). After high school (we were not yet a couple at that time), we both went out into the wider world. My wife studied in Cologne and Bonn, with semesters abroad in Rome, and I studied in Freiburg and Munich. After completing my doctorate in Berlin, I lived in Australia for a year. Now, we both live and work in Frankfurt am Main. We are both civil servants. My wife is paid according to grade A16, and I am at B3. Our financial situation is therefore quite comfortable. Our workplaces are conveniently located. My wife can walk to work, and I can get there quickly by public transportation. Our living situation is good as well. We have been living for four years in a large apartment (120m2 / 1,292 sq ft), which, however, also comes with a correspondingly high rent (basic rent about 2,200 euros). The apartment is spacious, but its layout means that while we can live here for two or three more years with our one-year-old child, eventually our child will need a "proper" separate room. I won’t go into more detail, but the fact is that we will need to move in two or three years.
Two years ago, we became owners of a plot of land in our hometown. It belonged to my wife’s grandparents, who bequeathed it to us. The plot is a dream: 900m2 (about 9,688 sq ft), located on the edge of a forest, with an unobstructed view of the valley, situated in a quiet dead-end street. It really doesn’t get better than that. Our hometown has about 11,000 inhabitants.
We have been constantly wondering if we should build there. Money is not a problem. We are torn. Our commute would be longer. The town has its own train station with connections to Frankfurt am Main. The train runs hourly. The travel time from the station to my workplace would be 55 minutes, for my wife 62 minutes. We both have free public transit passes. The station can be reached by bike from our plot in five minutes. Commuting would be quite an adjustment for both of us, but I think this is something we could get used to.
One concern is that since finishing high school – which was quite some time ago – we have not lived in our hometown. We visit our parents regularly, and many acquaintances have moved back after studying elsewhere. Life there is completely different from that in a big city. We are both worried about “shrinking” into the small-town life. You also don’t have the anonymity of a big city. On the other hand, for 2,200 euros, you could build a nice house there.
So we are torn between the old dream of having our own “nest” at home and the worry that, without meaning any offense, we have outgrown the hometown and might no longer fit in there. Also, the commute would be an adjustment. We are therefore wondering what to do with the land? Should we move within Frankfurt or build there? Selling is not an option for now, as we do not need the money. Money in the bank doesn’t do much anyway.
I would be grateful for any input!
Thank you
Regarding the salary levels, it is almost entirely unlikely to find a comparably paid job in the public sector in rural areas until the end of one’s professional life. This means either commuting until retirement or looking for significantly lower-paid positions IF anything is to change...
A one-hour commute as a "standard time" often becomes considerably longer due to delays or missed connections.
I currently commute for about 45 minutes. The longest part of this is 17 minutes by train. The variety makes it more pleasant because the commute also involves driving, walking, transfers, and walking paths. In the past, when the commute was over an hour, it was much worse because about 50 tedious minutes were spent on the train. For me personally, it has now become clear that if I have children, despite the "only" 45-minute commute, I need to work closer to home and childcare.
A one-hour commute as a "standard time" often becomes considerably longer due to delays or missed connections.
I currently commute for about 45 minutes. The longest part of this is 17 minutes by train. The variety makes it more pleasant because the commute also involves driving, walking, transfers, and walking paths. In the past, when the commute was over an hour, it was much worse because about 50 tedious minutes were spent on the train. For me personally, it has now become clear that if I have children, despite the "only" 45-minute commute, I need to work closer to home and childcare.
H
HilfeHilfe31 Mar 2018 09:57Well, a parent who commutes should always be close to the child. In our case, it was the mother, who also worked part-time. If a child has diarrhea, you need to be able to pick them up quickly. That’s very difficult when relying on train travel. For financial reasons, only one parent should commute part-time. Alternatively, consider building an affordable home and compare that to the lower salary you might earn as a public servant in the area, and decide if you want that. For me, it would be $80,000 compared to $50,000. That doesn’t make sense, so the mother can stay at home.
H
HilfeHilfe31 Mar 2018 10:31No idea how it works for you. When a lower-paid position is filled here, starting at pay grade 1 is acceptable. For grades 2–3, the salary is adjusted accordingly. Otherwise, there will be unrest within the team regarding the salary structure.
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Nordmanntanne31 Mar 2018 13:01Hello,
thank you for all the responses. So, changing jobs is not an option. As mentioned, working from home is definitely possible, and especially my wife benefits greatly from having very flexible working hours. She doesn’t have to commute during peak times. It’s similar for me. By car, it would take about 45 minutes on free roads (the highway entrance is practically on the other side of the hill where the property is located and can be reached in exactly three minutes; I have already checked it out).
The question was raised about what attracts us to city life. That’s a good question since we are not really big pub-goers or people who want to visit a different venue every weekend. Of course, it’s nice to have the option of going out for more exotic cuisine, like African food, rather than only having to choose between two pizzerias, as is common in rural areas. Ultimately, though, having a wide variety of leisure activities in the city is something we could do without.
What we really enjoy are the grocery stores like Rewe and ALDI within walking distance, which stay open until at least 10 p.m. Additionally, there are two bakeries close by where fresh baked goods are available even on Sundays. You don’t really get that kind of selection in the countryside.
What I’m really worried about is losing the anonymity of the city. It’s a nightmare for me to stand at the butcher’s and have the clerk know who I am and exactly what I’ll order. That thought is absolutely horrifying. On top of that, there is the social pressure that comes with living in a rural area, which you don’t have in the city.
My wife and I both don’t know if this "feeling of home," which we expect to come with moving to the countryside—as a kind of "feeling of completeness"—is just something we tell ourselves, and if suddenly everything will be different. Life there is just a bit different than in the city. We would probably like to try it out for a while, but as mentioned, that’s difficult because there is only a very limited rental market.
thank you for all the responses. So, changing jobs is not an option. As mentioned, working from home is definitely possible, and especially my wife benefits greatly from having very flexible working hours. She doesn’t have to commute during peak times. It’s similar for me. By car, it would take about 45 minutes on free roads (the highway entrance is practically on the other side of the hill where the property is located and can be reached in exactly three minutes; I have already checked it out).
The question was raised about what attracts us to city life. That’s a good question since we are not really big pub-goers or people who want to visit a different venue every weekend. Of course, it’s nice to have the option of going out for more exotic cuisine, like African food, rather than only having to choose between two pizzerias, as is common in rural areas. Ultimately, though, having a wide variety of leisure activities in the city is something we could do without.
What we really enjoy are the grocery stores like Rewe and ALDI within walking distance, which stay open until at least 10 p.m. Additionally, there are two bakeries close by where fresh baked goods are available even on Sundays. You don’t really get that kind of selection in the countryside.
What I’m really worried about is losing the anonymity of the city. It’s a nightmare for me to stand at the butcher’s and have the clerk know who I am and exactly what I’ll order. That thought is absolutely horrifying. On top of that, there is the social pressure that comes with living in a rural area, which you don’t have in the city.
My wife and I both don’t know if this "feeling of home," which we expect to come with moving to the countryside—as a kind of "feeling of completeness"—is just something we tell ourselves, and if suddenly everything will be different. Life there is just a bit different than in the city. We would probably like to try it out for a while, but as mentioned, that’s difficult because there is only a very limited rental market.