How to Successfully Scout Your New City

Are you ready to relocate and find yourself a new place to call home? Let's face it, even hours of googling a city are not going to make you an expert in the area! Nothing will give you the realistic impression that scouting it out for yourself will. 

How do I know if this city could be my next home?

So - now that we've established an outing is in order - let's talk about some ways you can get fully acquainted with your potential new hometown:

Find a B&B 

If you've come this far, I'm sure you already have a good idea of where you'd like to find a home. Once you've considered property affordability and all your other neighbourhood criteria, the best thing you can do to start your scouting trip is to book yourself in a B&B as close to your ideal area as you can. This will give you the opportunity to fully immerse yourself in the neighbourhood, whereas a hotel will only show you the commercial side of the city. 

Hang out at a local coffee shop

Avoid the chain restaurants and cafés(for now at least) and instead, find yourself a privately-owned spot where the locals hang out! This is the type of place where you'll be able to get a good first impression of your future neighbours, and the general 'vibe' of the community. 

Allow yourself to wander 

The best way to experience an area is to allow yourself to get a little bit lost in it. Without a specific agenda - go on a walk, take a drive, catch a bus, EXPLORE! As tempting as it will be to do all the touristy things, try to stick to 'normal'. Looking for tourist attractions will only show the best side of the area. You want to get a feel for what your day-to-day living will be like if you decide to take root. Go hunting for the places you'd visit on a normal weekend. 

Make conversation

While you soak-up your scouting-mission, don't forget to interact! Chat to your Uber driver, make conversation with the barista, stop and talk to your B&B's neighbour. Don't be shy to ask questions and look for honest opinions from those who have been living in the area for a while. Your experience of a city will be hugely affected by your experience with its people. So if you've managed to make a friend on your trip already, we'd say that's a pretty good sign. 

Have you found an area you feel you could  happily settle in? Reach out to us so we can find you the perfect home to make that move possible!