affordable place fairly close to beaches and colleges?! (Salisbury, Easton: rent, crime)

[spikey08]

Hello everybody,

This may sound more like a dream than an actual plan ... but maybe you have some advice for us ..
My wife and I ( 25 and 21 ) are planning to move within the next year. I am a medically retired veteran that spend most of his life overseas and she is a german/turkish girl that I brought over here. Neither of us have seen much of the U.S. but we are sick and tired of the Mid-West. I am originally from Illinois and we are currently living in St.Louis,MIssouri and cant wait to get out of this crime and drug infested city.
The ideal place would be fairly close (up to 1 hour drive) to the beach, affordable houses ( up to 100.000 ) and colleges and universities nearby.
Were not planning on having kids but we do want to buy a small house with my VA loan instead of "wasting" money on rent ...

[North Beach Person]

Your killer is your house price, $100,000K will not be close anywhere in MD that meets your other criteria.

[spikey08]

I figured it would sound ridiculous to some of you ... but all I know is the midwest and here it is possible to find a nice home from 50.000- 100.000 ...
I am just trying to get an understanding of the rest of the U.S. in order to make plans..

[kjg1963]

Close to a beach and a college would be Easton, Cambridge, Salisbury, etc. Salisbury University and University of Maryland Eastern Shore are closest to those towns. House prices are not going to be anywhere in the 100,000 range. Probably double that and more. Check the classifieds for those areas and you'll get an idea of how much home prices are. Ocean City is the biggest beach area that is close, but also Fenwick Island and Bethany.