All Forum Posts by: Karl B.

Dallas, TX/Frisco,TX it's BOOMING! 🚀

Hmmm Karl I certainly would agree with Breezy's recommendation.  New Zealand does fit most of your criteria, loads of hiking spots, friendly people and most places close to a lake or the ocean. But cheap land..... not so much. Think Auckland is either no1 or 2 as the most unaffordable city in the world. And where I live in the Bay of Plenty it is not unusual  for a 350-400 metre squared section to go for around $350,000-400,000NZD.  Three quarter acre section a little bit further out of the city is going for around $600,000.  So you might need to go out into the sticks a bit to get some affordable land here. Our building costs are pretty high as well.  Roughly between $2000 and $3000 per square metre depending on the quality of the finish. Sorry I haven't done the conversions to imperial.  Anyway happy to help if you have any other questions about NZ.  😎

@Karl B. I'm interested to know if you have made a decision after all of the suggestions. If so, please share!

I would agree with North Cal but rules and regs there are getting uncomfortable for some. I live in Colorado Springs and love the mountains and hiking but find that there is a shortage of water, large lakes etc.

I've lived in southern Alabama on the Gulf Shores and loved it, but possibly a shortage of woods and trails for you there.

If you want to check off your full list you might want to get bold and creative and look into Summerland, Penticton and Kamloops in British Columbia, Canada. Its a far stretch but throwing it out there as it fits all your requirements in excess. Beautiful large lakes and rivers, mountains and forest trails, great real estate investment opportunities, cheap land on the Canadian dollar (25% discount right now) and extremely friendly people who say "Eh" a lot ;0)

Vancouver area is a great choice, nice weather, nice pacific ocean wave on one side , and magnificent Rockies on another side.. NO snow ... and delicious spring water from Rockies ... just stay away from the area close to city Centre where they're pricy but other than that, it's awesome! Good luck and please share your plan when it's decided!!

Florida can be great, but if you want all four seasons and less oppressive heat in the summer, check out Wilmington or Charleston areas. Lots of retirees, vacationers, beach culture, tourism dollars and of course friendly Carolinians. If you can get in a surrounding town then land is even cheaper..

 I can tell you are from Southern California. News Flash! Northern California is California. Without us where would you get your water? (Sorry, us Northern Californians keep hoping LA will secede from the state.) >;-> Lake Almanor, isn't that far from Chico or Redding. It is about 200 miles south of the Oregon Border. 

Tacoma, Wa is starting to come up and fits most of your boxes. Everyone is getting priced out of Seattle and moving South (or North) - and Tacoma has a lot of great inventory. Good luck!

I originally moved from California to Casper, Wyoming (don't move to Casper) thinking that I would miss the beach but I grew up surfing in the Pacific and, once I moved away from the coast, I realized that I just didn't miss it like I thought I would. I found that the low density living and abundance of land made people behave differently toward each other (more humanely), which more than compensated for the lack of large bodies of water.

I ended up in Wellington, which is located about an hour and a half north of Denver and 15 minutes north of Fort Collins and I love it here. This is a small town populated by about 8,000 people with massive, new residential construction going on right now and probably for the next 20 years- an excellent investment opportunity, as I see it. I bought one of these houses in late 2014 and it has increased in value from $222,000 to $290,000 in 2.5 years, so I'm buying another one on Monday for $300,000. I am renting my current house out for $1,700 per month, which will provide great cash flow.

UPS plans to build a distribution center in the area, Google plans to build a headquarters near Denver, and there are dozens of new neighborhoods being built as I write this. I want to specify that I live in Wellington but I am talking generally about Northern Colorado.

I wanted to provide some specific financials because they are important when considering an area as an investment opportunity but, more importantly, the people that I've encountered in Colorado are warm and friendly compared to the stereotypical Southern Californian.

This reply turned out lengthier than expected but I hope it helps. Feel free to contact me if you want to.

Bradenton and Sarasota hit every single one of your targets.... however, they are relatively boring as far as cities go (at least to a mid twenties guy like me). You get EVERYTHING you asked for in your initial post though!