Day 29: Step #10, Finding New Digs Overseas
How To Choose Your New Residence—Questions To Ask Before You Rent Or Buy
Dear Student,
Today, checklists of questions and issues to address when shopping for a new home in a new country.
First, a checklist to consider whether you’re renting or buying:
- What is the drive time from the nearest airport?
- What is your access and right-of-way? That is, how do you get to your house or property? Must you cross another person’s property? If so, are you certain your neighbor can’t ever restrict your access?
- Is the property accessible year-round, including during winter and/or in the rainy season? Not all roads are accessible year around in a given region depending on the season. Does it snow heavily? Will ice block your path for weeks a year? In the tropics, streams that barely flow or don’t at all during the dry season can be raging torrents when the annual rains start. Ask about the road condition in all seasons.
- How far away is the nearest medical care facility? How far is the nearest hospital?
- Is there enough water and water pressure? Is there hot water? Check beneath the sinks (in every bathroom) to see if the plumbing provides for both hot and cold water… don’t take for granted that a blue handle and a red handle actually indicate the temperature of their waters—both might be fed from the same cold water line.
- What distance are you from day-to-day services (grocery stores, dry cleaners, pharmacies, banks, etc.)? Consider this (and proximity to medical care facilities) in terms of time rather than distance. Ten miles on a rough dirt road in the rainy season can translate to an hour or more of travel time.
- Will you need a car living in this place? Does your budget allow for a car? Where will you park?
- What’s included with the property? In Argentina and Panama, for example, when you buy a home, you buy bare, stripped walls and empty rooms—no lighting fixtures, no appliances.