Buying a cottage or a rural property can be a great way to establish a home away from home or move to an area that offers the peace and quiet of living closer to natural landscapes.
With Ottawa's population growing, rural living is becoming increasingly popular as a way to avoid the disadvantages of having thousands of neighbours.
While there are many pros to buying a cottage or rural property, there are also some pitfalls that you should be aware of so that you don’t end up purchasing the secluded house of your dreams only to find out it’s a literal nightmare.
Zoning
Before you purchase a property in a rural area, it’s good to understand what type of zoning is available. For example, if you like a property with a cute little barn on it and plan to build your dream home, you may be out of luck when you realize that the land use is regulated to agriculture only.
Utility Access and Infrastructure
When you live in the city, you don’t have to worry about water, waste disposal, or WIFI connectivity. It’s all ready to go. However, with rural or cottage properties, that’s something you need to consider before taking the leap. For example, if you get a property with only well water, you’ll need to be prepared to handle and deal with all that entails.
If you desire connectivity, another pitfall to pay attention to is that rural areas aren’t as able to hold a signal or have internet installed. Other services, such as electricity, may also cost more in these areas, so that’s something else to take into account.
Road Access in all four seasons
How rural are you going? If you plan to go deep into nowhere, road access and maintenance could be compromised in cottage country or other rural areas. It’s also essential to figure out if the road that leads to your new property is private or public because that changes who pays for keeping things up to par, and when the snow hits, you’ll want to know exactly what to do to ensure you can get in and out of your property with ease.
Local services
Services in rural and cottage areas are a lot less available, and that’s one of the significant downfalls of living far away from everything. If you’re sick in a rural area, getting to the doctors or a hospital will be a lot more difficult and take much longer than in more populated areas.
Other amenities, like schools and shopping, will also be scarce, so being able to sacrifice some of those things is crucial for overall property satisfaction.
Future development
There’s no stopping the development train, so if you’re moving to a rural area that will be built up in the next decade, it defeats the purpose. If you want to avoid getting stuck in an area destined for significant growth, you can do your research with the local municipality to check for any plans they may already have in place to avoid buying a rural property that will be less than in a few short years.
There are pros and cons to everything, and when it comes to rural living, it’s essential to understand and accept the good with the bad.