The Southeast (as seen from my front window, lest you think I'm making this up):
Honestly, I'm being flippant. I obviously love the southeast cuz it's home, and if I were king the days of interstate and international mobility would mostly be a thing of the past. Perhaps with the coming de-globalization and the re-regionalization my hopes and dreams will come true that people just stay put rather than moving around based on home price and CoL maps and various climate prediction maps. A redneck can dream.
But seriously, my part of the world just happens to be full; so, you know, look elsewhere.
Are you putting the cart before the horse? Will your company actually allow you to work from the EU or elsewhere? Do they look the other way if you use a vpn?
My family and friends live in one of these "still sovereign nations". They read this forum too. Being forced to learn Russian was the least of their troubles. I'll not bother you with the details, but here's some keywords in somewhat chronological order: first Soviet occupation, Siberia, nazi occupation, second occupation, GULAG, concentration camp, raped, forced conscription, killed, lost fortune, requisitioned, tortured, home taken away, KGB, hyperinflation, crazy '90s crime.
The Baltic countries have wonderful things going for them by the way, like low cost of living, EU, euro currency, NATO membership, low tax, stunning nature, and more.
Was just fun jab, my country of origin loses the value of its currency every soccer match lol. Definitely not as bad as concentration camps or Soviet occupation, although I do think a lot of German officers fled to my country after WWII
The Baltic countries have wonderful things going for them by the way, like low cost of living, EU, euro currency, NATO membership, low tax, stunning nature, and more.
THF is a geologist, so it looks like for him "stunning nature" translates into "interesting and visible geological formations".
BTW it's interesting how differently people define nature. For me, coming from the green forests and plains Poland, "nature" means lots of plants. So, when I was driving through some desert in Nevada, and chatted with a gas station clerk in a middle of desert who was originally from Russia, she was almost offended when I asked if she's missing the nature. Her comment was that the ground and the rocks ARE nature. Whereas for me, they were always just boring dirt and rocks.
@thf cool. Helsinki to Lisbon ( ~ New York to Seattle) would give you a good overview.
Apparently lots of pregnant Russian women have gone to Argentina to give birth, as it entitles both baby and parents to Argentinan citizenship. It's a shame Argentina isn't in better shape, it be a great place.
@zbigi, that's wild, I never thought of that. I will always see the canyons and tall mountains of Arizona as having more nature than, say, the rolling forested hills of Vermont. Canyons and crested-mountains are where it's at. It is easier to build population centers with flat land, admittedly, which is why most of the population centers are there.
@chenda, yeah, it's pretty bad down there right now, geopolitically and economically. On the bright side, winning the World Cup cheered a lot of extended family up.
Michigan is relatively cheap and there is a lot of nature of the cold, wet, green variety. Biggest fresh water preserve on the planet. Also might be the state that ranges the widest along the naturally occurring Red to Blue spectrum and some other measures of diversity. Also produces the widest variety of agricultural products of any state besides California. About the best microcosm your likely to find, which is why I never choose to leave. In fact, if I could find a man with all the qualities of Michigan, I might even reconsider monogamy.
About the best microcosm your likely to find, which is why I never choose to leave. In fact, if I could find a man with all the qualities of Michigan, I might even reconsider monogamy.
There are only half a dozen or so regions in the world which tick as many resilience boxes as Michigan. And probably as many men too.
My brick mini-mansion is for sale. Not sure it would appraise for $250k, but I would take that much.
It is a midcentury track home but solid masonry construction. It has an extra deep two car garage. New stove, dishwasher, disposal, fridge, rangehood/microwave, furnace, hot water heater. Ancient AC unit and roof in the middle portion of its lifespan. Nicely landscaped with all the orphaned plants DH can find.
About any medium-sized city in Illinois outside the Chicago suburbs will get you a pretty nice house under $250K--if you can afford the ongoing real estate taxes.
Wow, there are a bunch of <200K houses in the Midwest, a ton in Ohio in particular. Not much to do there and brutal winters, but I suppose they'd be twice or triple the price if it were interesting there.
So there are inexpensive, well-built houses. You just have to be willing to live in what most buyers would agree are boring states, and avoid major cities like the plague. For example, in Miami, if you put 250K or less, you get decrepit houses in ghetto neighborhoods.
@chenda, Salt Lake City for sure, it's within 30 min of all the stuff I like and 3 hours of all the stuff I really like. Would probably need 500K (2x the 250K number) to get a good house there.
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In CO, Grand Junction, Montrose, Durango, or Cortez, CO have houses on the west of the Rockies. There's also Pueblo, CO, but that one is far from all the cool national parks. Colorado Springs and Fort Collins may have something.
In UT, maybe I can get something in St. George. Even Provo, Ogden, and Logan are pricey af. Maybe I can build something in Brigham City.
In NV or AZ, Vegas, Phoenix, or Tucson have houses.
In NM, Albuquerque has lots of houses, but I'm not sure if that's a good state; it looked real run down when I drove through it. Santa Fe was really nice, tho.
Why limit yourself to $250k? Assuming you don't fail the career gauntlet that could soon be 1 years income. I would strongly consider househacking and either having roommates or buying a place somewhere desirable to live with an ADU and living in the ADU while renting out the main space. Being an onsite landlord could be a whole lot easier than having a dedicated rental......not to mention the tax advantages.
You've been here nearly a decade, a lot of 101 threads lately?
250K/yr remotely? That's top 5% income, I doubt that, thought it'd be nice. Even when I was offered to work in the middle of nowhere Nevada, the most I got offered was 110k/yr. 101 nothin', times have changed.
Price is where supply meets demand. The higher the demand and the lower the supply, the higher the price and vice versa. Meaning, look for a place nobody wants to move to and where existing people want to leave. Shortcut: if you've heard of the place, it's probably not cheap.
