McClelland Minute - August 08, 2010

Small Towns

It struck me the other day as I pulled into one of the many smaller communities scattered throughout the Midwest region we serve that towns and rural districts are truly indeed special places to live, most of it positive. Let me give you some examples drawn from my personal experience.

If you choose to take the direct route between the post office and bank by jaywalking across the street, most drivers will stop and wave you through.  Some might even roll down their window and jokingly suggest that they would be doing your wife a favour if they had accelerated instead of braking!

The best location for a business in a small town (and this has actually been studied over the years by economic development organizations) is within the triangle created by the post office, bank / credit union, and liquor store.  I guess you pick up your grain, cattle or pay cheque, deposit it in a chequing account, withdraw some cash, and go over to the liquor outlet for a celebratory bottle.  Some say flower shops and pharmacies in particular benefit from being in the immediate proximity.  Hmm.

Small town merchants know all their customers; particularly those that pay their bills in a timely manner.  If you are one of those preferred clients, you can likely phone ahead at five minutes before closing, ask for a part or pail of oil, etc to be placed out the back door for you to pick up.  In fact, most merchants have an outside storage cupboard just for that purpose.  Heck one time we were away for the weekend and had left instructions for our sons to complete a large outdoor painting task (hoping that busy hands would keep them out of trouble), and when they ran out of supplies, the hardware store owner dropped off a couple extra gallons on his way home from work.  He had teens their age too, and knew a prudent strategy when he saw one!

Speaking to that theme, unless your child is truly exceptional in some way, I don’t think there is a better place for them to grow up.  The old saying that it takes a whole village to raise a child is very true.  Not only will you soon hear about what your son or daughter has been doing away from the home place, so will your friends and neighbours.  Who hasn’t pulled a young couple and their truck out of a mudhole on a back road on a summer night?  While these experiences may be embarrassing at times, it can also be an incredibly supportive environment and create life-long respect, even friendships, between generations.

At lunch the other day an appraiser friend and I were having a gentle argument about the factors that create base value of housing between a large and small urban environment.  Present wisdom dictates that it largely revolves around opportunities for employment, education, culture, recreation and access to primary services.  Of course the outcome of this is that a 50’ x 110’ plot of ground is worth more in the city than in a town of 1,000 people.  Maybe so, but some times I think we value our community more when we can directly measure the impact of our personal participation within it.

Vern McClelland is associate broker with RE/MAX of Lloydminster.  If you have questions or comments on this article or other real estate matters, he can be reached at 780.808.2700 or through the McClelland Group website www.mcclelland.ca

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