251–260 of 582 posts
How about Bozeman, Montana? 50K people small but got pretty much everything you'd need.
And it's all at rock bottom prices.
Louisville airport is about an hour away, and since it's a major UPS hub, it's quite nicer than the population of the area would otherwise support.
French Lick, Indiana is a tiny town in the middle of nowhere that some billionaire invested his fortune in renovating a historic hotel, building up a resort casino, and fleshing out the downtown into a charming experience. There's even a ski resort nearby. And it's all at rock bottom prices. Louisville airport is about an hour away, and since it's a major UPS hub, it's quite nicer than the population of the area woul…
We considered: Lansing, MI Chapel Hill, NC Wilmington, NC *Ithaca, NY*
What you describe is a perfect literal match for my town (Farmville, VA) up to your ask for a "mid-sized town". We're a town of 8000, half of which are the university students. I like it a lot (and you might well consider it, email me if you like) but it's not at all what I'd consider "mid-sized", and I'm not sure you'll get all the other stuff you describe if you aim for "mid-sized". But yes, right on, 20 or so shop…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would expect big money coming into a small town to face serious static from local authorities unless and until you're cozied up to its political scene.
Nobody saying or reading this sees this as a problem?
The town that inspired Andy Griffith’s Mayberry is in the mountains of NC (or maybe it was VA). Stuff like that is all over the place here.
As for me, I chose a small, walkable town that isn’t too far from Greenville, SC (which is itself considered to be a small, walkable town by some folks).
Intersect that data with crime and population.
Sounds like a cool data project.
College towns. Pick some states, and go visit towns with colleges in them. They'll have restaurants and groceries, and those faculty kids have to go to school somewhere. Internet should be passable, too. They won't be the cheapest small town option, but houses should come in well below a million bucks. The one town you mention, Lancaster, PA, is a model of the type.
It really depends on the atmosphere you want. College towns are great in many ways, with lots of interesting things to do and a lot of cultural events. However, a lot of people move to college towns and don't realize/remember what college kids are like... they will be noisy at night, sometimes destroy property, throw parties, do stupid pranks... it isn't for everybody
Just wait a bit and see what happens in the housing market. I'm not saying it's ready for a crash, but sometimes renting for a year means everything will change. You can rent in a small town (cheap) or just stay where you are at for a while. Everyone is thinking like you during the pandemic when remote work was the norm. That pushed up housing prices in weird places, like Boise, and other places like Sedona. Places t…
It's a bit of a fool's errand to follow that advice though, you could have been doing renting in urban Canada for years (decades even?) being told a crash is coming any day now eh has too. And now it's extremely unlikely that one would wipe out the compounded growth from if you'd bought when you first thought of it. I think if it's to live in, just do it. Save market-timing for a second home/investment/flip - and eve…