When we decided to move to the opposite end of South Korea, a lot of people had questions. Here are some answers.
We get a lot of questions about our move to Gyeongnam. So much so that I thought it might be easier to have an FAQ section where people could probably see some of the most common questions answered. (I started writing this a few months ago, but I’m finally getting around to publishing it now!)
Myth: My husband’s company tried to fire him by dispatching him to the boondocks.
Fact: My husband and I both work from home (for now).
This is what most of the people thought happened to our family because it’s pretty common for Korean companies to quiet-fire employees when they underperform or age out of their roles. Tough labor laws make it extremely difficult to fire people in Korea (this might explain why there seemed to be at least one resident sociopath in every Korean company I’ve worked in, but not so much in the overseas/multinational ones) so being asked to suddenly go down south, far from Seoul, to work in one of the factories is a real thing. And because a normal family doesn’t just pack up their life and move four+ hours down to the middle of nowhere without any roots or reason.
In Korea these days, it’s becoming increasingly rare to have a 100% remote job as most Korean companies have gone back into the office. But we’ve been lucky—since COVID-19, my husband and I have worked from home. Ajeossi’s role wasn’t remote to begin with, but he naturally never returned to the office, and my work was always remote-first. Our drastic move was possible because we weren’t tied down by location or by a big desire to reside in the city. In fact, I think their jobs are the number one reason people I know can’t move to the country, even if they wanted to.
Myth: We built that country house that I’ve been talking about for ten years.
Fact: We never built the country house that I wanted. And probably never will.
If you’ve known me for a while, you’ve probably heard me talking about living in a house in the countryside at one point. Because I’ve done a lot of research on buying rural land and even shared stories of visiting prefab home showrooms, a lot of people assumed that it finally happened. But it didn’t, and it probably never will. Which takes us to one of the important lessons I’ve learned as an adult living in Korea: To have a good life in Korea, you must go mainstream when it comes to your finances and investments, and go against the grain when it comes to lifestyle. I’ll expand on this notion in a future post, because I learned it the hard way, and I wish I realized it earlier.
With that said, one of the the golden rules in Korea is that you never buy real estate outside of the Seoul Capital Area (SCA), and you never buy anything that is not a bona fide apartment (no villas, no officetels, nothing else). You can downsize or upgrade your apartment, but you always have to stay in the Seoul area where your investment is safe and most likely to increase two, three-fold over the course of a few years. Of course, this rule may not apply if you have family or work outside of SCA, but that isn’t our case. Because we don’t know what the future holds, it’s too big of a risk to sink money to build or buy a house in a region that we may have to leave in the future.
To have a good life in Korea, you must go mainstream when it comes to your finances and investments, and go against the grain when it comes to lifestyle.
Myth: We sold our city apartment and bought a house in the country.
Fact: We have a tenant living in our city apartment, while we are renting a house provided by the regional government (aka geo-arbitrage).
Yep, it’s another housing-related question. Can you tell that Koreans are obsessed with real estate? One of the most common questions I get asked literally by everyone, even like strangers who might find out we’re moving away in passing conversation, is if we sold our apartment to move to the countryside. It’s funny because it sounds like an intrusive question, but in Korea it’s not. Koreans are obsessed with their real estate because it’s not just a home, it’s their nest egg. When I lived in Gyeonggi, it was common to chat with other residents about recent real estate transactions in our neighborhood. We’re all very invested because household fates and futures are tied to property value.
I think some people might have thought we were in a bit of a pickle to move so drastically far away on such short notice, and would also sell our apartment. But we moved quickly because we were granted school housing by the local government that we probably would never qualify for again under different circumstances. We’ll continue to lease out our apartment over the next several years as it appreciates in value.
Myth: We’re settling down in Gyeongnam.
Fact: We can only live here until February 2029
If you follow my Instagram stories, you’ll notice my tendency to wax poetic about country life. There are so many wonderful unexpected pleasures of living here that we have considered staying here long-term. However, our time here in this particular home and area is limited.
We have to move out of this house by February 2029 at the latest, which is when our youngest graduates from elementary school. But most likely we will vacate the premises before 2027, which is when our oldest will graduate elementary school. But where? I doubt that the kids can move back to the city and adjust to the break-neck speed of life and academics there after spending five years catching grasshoppers and sliding down a mountain. At this point, we’re open to staying around Gyeongnam (we really love the mild weather), and we’re also considering going overseas. The fact that we consider enrolling kids in an English-speaking overseas school an easier transition than sending them to a Korean public middle school speaks volumes about the state of education in South Korea.
I often joke with my new neighbors that we could very well be fugitives or in hiding to arrive in a rural village where we have no prior connections. We all have a good laugh about it, but also, we all know it wouldn’t be implausible. It’s literally a favorite storyline in K-dramas like My Liberation Notes (highly recommend if you like quiet dramas with mysterious men). I hope this clears up the air, but if I left out any other myths, assumptions, or burning questions, please feel free to ask them in the comments!