Suburbs of Hartford

I second the Atlanta metro. Still relatively affordable and many areas have excellent schools.

Lake Martin or Lake Wedowee Alabama

We were in a similar situation and settled on the ATL area. Quality of life is excellent, taxes are lower, cost of living is low, schools outstanding, very safe, and it's close to beaches and vacation spots (smokey mountains, New Orleans, Nashville, several cruise ports, several islands, Orlando, etc).

Anonymous wrote:-Chicago suburbs
-Western Suburbs of Philly (specifically Chester County)
-Providence RI
-Hershey PA
-College towns like State College, West Lafayette, Columbia (MO), Blacksburg and Madison
-Davis CA

Don’t buy for under $500k in Providence. It’s not where you would choose to live

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why have all those states been excluded? There are plenty of options in Maryland and Virginia but they’re not close in.

Taxes

I don't think VA has particularly high taxes. Maryland is a bit higher. But even Maryland isn't like the northeastern towns or Illinois with shockingly high property taxes.

You might save maybe a few thousand (less if on a smaller income) in state income tax by living elsewhere. But I'd look closely at the tradeoffs too. I would think the real savings need to be a combination of that $1000-$3000 in no state income tax for someone on a fixed income + much lower heating costs in a warmer state. Air conditioning is cheaper than heat. But also consider things like access to excellent health care (a must the older you get).

Anonymous wrote:Why have all those states been excluded? There are plenty of options in Maryland and Virginia but they’re not close in.

Taxes

Charlestown or Martinsburg area of WV.

Why have all those states been excluded? There are plenty of options in Maryland and Virginia but they’re not close in.

Ohio suburbs between Cleveland and Akron. National Park on your doorstep.

https://redf.in/QCcuFl

https://redf.in/DWoKBQ

https://redf.in/KqlSnJ

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Anonymous wrote:[twitter]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP you should be aware of that what passes for “good housing stock” in many areas pales in comparison to around here. Expect lots of tile floors, carpeting & dark granite countertops.

Pretty much. There is very little inventory completely updated, unless the house is new.

I actually would think the opposite since a lot of “good inventory” around here is based on schools and not the actual house itself

PP here. Look at the interiors of houses with nice exteriors in places like East Grand Rapids or Charleston & you’ll see what I mean.

Nicer (at least in terms of visuals) big new builders like Toll Brothers & Ryan Homes also only build in certain markets and not at in others. In many areas there are basically no new builds.

I guess that’s where we differ. I don’t view toll brothers or Ryan as upscale but more builder grade suburban homes.

They’re far nicer than the average “nice” home in most places.

Not necessarily true. It varies dramatically by location. I live in a small town in flyover country and the housing stock is much better than DC and Toll Brothers and Ryan are considered the cheap mass market builders. The well renovated homes here rival the best renovated homes in DC. I think it has to do with the fact that the older houses were mostly built during a time when houses were better built (and more attractive).

Yep exactly. The cost of living, labor, materials are cheaper in some of the mentioned places. Which makes it possible to add in higher end finishes and collaboration with interior designers for a lot of the new builds

New Orleans and its burbs
STL

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Upper midwest

Chicago suburbs, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Milwaukee, Indianapolis

Chicago suburbs are questionable and depends on your definition of ‘nice’ and size requirements. You can probably find an 80s track home in an exurb for 500k or a slightly closer in small 60s/70s build that was maybe last renovated in the 90s for 500k. But you won’t find anything renovated and ‘nice’ by most people’s standards and definitely not in the more desirable suburbs. I think Chicago suburbs generally would require closer to a 700k budget and for the most desirable suburbs 1M+ .

Milwaukee area would have more.

This house in Oak Park is kind of boring, but I would be perfectly happy to own it.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/948-Hayes-Ave-Oak-Park-IL-60302/3798436_zpid/?

Good god, half a million for a small, hideously ugly, extremely dated house with an hour+ bus to rail commute downtown?

RIP affordable Chicago.

OP specified no IL.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Upper midwest

Chicago suburbs, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Milwaukee, Indianapolis

Chicago suburbs are questionable and depends on your definition of ‘nice’ and size requirements. You can probably find an 80s track home in an exurb for 500k or a slightly closer in small 60s/70s build that was maybe last renovated in the 90s for 500k. But you won’t find anything renovated and ‘nice’ by most people’s standards and definitely not in the more desirable suburbs. I think Chicago suburbs generally would require closer to a 700k budget and for the most desirable suburbs 1M+ .

Milwaukee area would have more.

This house in Oak Park is kind of boring, but I would be perfectly happy to own it.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/948-Hayes-Ave-Oak-Park-IL-60302/3798436_zpid/?

Oak Park has the highest property tax rate in IL. For that reason I'd never live there, although I find the neighborhood to be highly appealing.
I think that numbers shown for that house are not accurate. Here's a smaller house a block away with property taxes 4x more.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/837-N-Lombard-Ave-Oak-Park-IL-60302/3799406_zpid/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Upper midwest

Chicago suburbs, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Milwaukee, Indianapolis

Chicago suburbs are questionable and depends on your definition of ‘nice’ and size requirements. You can probably find an 80s track home in an exurb for 500k or a slightly closer in small 60s/70s build that was maybe last renovated in the 90s for 500k. But you won’t find anything renovated and ‘nice’ by most people’s standards and definitely not in the more desirable suburbs. I think Chicago suburbs generally would require closer to a 700k budget and for the most desirable suburbs 1M+ .

Milwaukee area would have more.

This house in Oak Park is kind of boring, but I would be perfectly happy to own it.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/948-Hayes-Ave-Oak-Park-IL-60302/3798436_zpid/?

DCUM has a hard-on for the suburbs