Am I crazy to consider buying a house in a new city I haven't lived in?

MoneySeeker1

Right now - Lockdown is altering everything and I don't know how much longer they're going to keep it up for. I'm certainly worrying they plan to do this for literally years (though I do hope I'm wrong - as the thought of even a few more months of it and the wreck our Society will be at the end of it all is more than a little daunting).

The thing is - as a city person myself (that moved away from one a few years back) I know that what a city is about is Facilities and more facilities. It's about loads of social things going on, loads of decent standard places to eat out, ready access to a wide area (even if reliant on public transport), ready access to healthcare. So yep - facilities. 

The second thing is the mindset of "finding oneself", "You do you and I'll do me" and not trying to push people into a mould (that may or may not suit them personally). That's a big plus point to cities and helps produce individualistic type people who think for themselves.

In a Lockdown like this - that detracts one heck of a lot from what a city is about and it will probably prove rather harder to try and make friends/general social circle when that city's social events basically aren't happening for however-long.

Living in a small town, as I do now, there's been time to make some friends before Lockdown hit (ie a few years), figure out how to manage when they decided to impose Lockdown on us and it's a "chatty" area (which is a mixed blessing - but the upside is few people think it's odd for total strangers that have just clapped eyes on each other to get into long chats and it's perfectly normal). A new friend of mine only moved here just before Lockdown from a big city and I note she's already friendly with various other people I'm friendly with - despite Lockdown - but she doesn't think she'd have been able to do that in her own big city in similar circumstances with a Lockdown going on. You get used to chatting in the street here with anyone you know/lots you didn't know - so that makes it easier than it would be to survive this in a city.

So - yep circumstances are different to normal and, though I've known for a few years a Lockdown was coming, I couldn't tell you how long they are going to keep it up for I'm afraid.

Davesnave

Assuming you're moving for work, I can't see the urgency in buying immediately.

The only city I lived in for a long time was small and  had many different areas, each with its own nuances, and I certainly didn't pick up on all of those within the first few months.

Even if it's just a stepping stone property, where you buy might make quite a difference when you decide to move on. Have you, for example, read the Local Plan so you know how the city council sees development in the next 10 years? There is only so much you can take in on a bike, but granted, it's better than just driving around.

newsgroupmonkey_

Moved a 9 month pregnant wife and a 3 year old child 60 miles away from where we lived.

Partly due to work (the commute was killing me) and partly because there was a chance my eldest was going to lose the School lottery game (this was the difference between an "Outstanding" school and one in special measures).

We visited a number of towns that were affordable. We then picked one and spent a couple of weekends in a B&B, checking out the various areas. Even though I worked nearby, I didn't actually know anyone in the town when we moved in.

19 years later, I moved a few miles north in February. My disappointment was like many Home Counties towns, it has become unreasonably extended without the proper infrastructure. Even where we are, we are aware that our village will eventually get consumed.