Where is Utopia? The best place to live and invest.
If you do a google search for "The best places to live" there are lots of sites that give a broad range of cities both large and small with ton of data supporting their claim. You can find lots of good information and some not so good. But there is only so much you can gain from the data Google spits out at you even if you have the patients and expertise to sift through it all. Even if I had plenty of both, and I don't, it still lacks the human touch. So if you have some extra time and want the chance to get to know a fellow investor keep reading.
I was born right here in my home town of Brunswick, Ga. way back when it was small costal community with very little crime and all your neighbors were always ready to lend a hand with anything that came your way. It's still not a big city by any stretch. In summer when all the vacationers are here we might top out at 125,000 and during the winter we hover between 90,000 and 100,000. But even with those numbers it feels like the hometown has outgrown me. It’s not the size, growth or the number of new people moving in that bothers me. It’s the crime, drugs and lack of morals that has come with the growth that are pushing me out. In the last 10 days we have had 5 shootings. That’s not the norm but it’s more than enough to want to take my family elsewhere.
As an investor I flip, buy/hold and wholesale when the opportunity knocks. I’m very hands on (I can do all things construction related) and generally do two to four flips per year. So far all my flips have been in the $90,000 to $350,000 range. All my rentals have been BRRRs and at the moment I’m down to only three SF units. When I’m not fixing a flip I operate heavy equipment and do equipment repairs for a friend who is a contractor or take or take on rehab projects for friends. I’m small time but for the last 7 years real estate has treated me well and I hope to grow my portfolio and retire from the residual income.
As an individual I’m a Christian husband and father. I’m a big time family guy that really enjoys it. My wife and I have two bio kids age 9 and 7. We also foster and have two kiddos we are working hard to adopt age 3 and 1. I’m also a bit of a country boy. I love taking the kids out on the four-wheelers, camping and growing vegies in our small garden. For me great night life consists of a campfire, sipping coffee and watching the reflection of the moon on the lake.
I’m looking for the perfect place to raise a family and make a good living investing. Somewhere that has a really low crime rate and conservative values. Smaller towns hold the most appeal for living but more populated areas are where good investments are found so it has to be in a reasonable driving distance from a somewhat larger city. I've lived in and worked mostly in the southeast and hope to stay in a similar climate. Maybe the northern AL, AR, MO, GA area.
If you have any articles, websites or personal experiences of a place that will help me find utopia send them to me. Who knows, we might end up neighbors!
Thanks for reading.