Where Homes are Affordable!?! (pension, weather, moving, communities)

[Curmudgeon]

Yes, Sports Fans, it's that time again. Yet an other list to tickle your fancy and curiosity.

And before you jump to a conclusion, they ain't talkin' Detroit.

The perennial question remains, would you want to live in these places?

Where homes are affordable - Spring, TX (1) - Money Magazine

[willow wind]

Let's see their options

the frozen north land
tornado alley
the great plains- more frozen winter and blizzards
a chance to live in a REDEVELOPED FLOOD PLAIN ( what can they be thinking ? )
one more, hot, sticky Houston suburb- suburban sprawl at its best - the Texas hill country is far more pleasant

No, nothing really interesting in that article to me. Some of these places maybe more interesting to young people starting out or young families looking for good job growth with affordable homes, etc.

North Port Florida may be of interest for someone looking for a Florida spot. But if I had to pick a spot in that area, I'd go just a bit south and look at Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda. If you like Florida heat and humidity, I'd prefer a town on the water, rather than inland where North Port is.

[RiverBird]

Originally Posted by willow wind

Let's see their options

the frozen north land
tornado alley
the great plains- more frozen winter and blizzards
a chance to live in a REDEVELOPED FLOOD PLAIN ( what can they be thinking ? )
one more, hot, sticky Houston suburb- suburban sprawl at its best

They're getting desperate

(but really, people do survive just fine in the North)

[augiedogie]

Many of those towns are fine liveable communities. But considering its "Money Magazine", well, that information like the rest of that rag are useless except for a bird cage. Those prices are nothing to crow about. Lots and lots of towns accross America have just as inexpensive housing, and are nicer cities. I think that magazine must sell those slots in those articles. EG: In the mid 90's I lived in Goldsboro, NC. It got listed in Money Magazine, as one of the Top 10 cities in America to live. It was a total joke. No one I knew who lived there thought that. They had all kinds of problems in that town: The schools were absolutely terrible, the jobs were mostly minimum wage, and the locals overtly hostile to outsiders.

[accufitgolf]

Some lovely towns on the list. I personally would avoid many due to winter weather. Golf courses must be playable year round for me to have any interest.

[Midpack]

Only two that appeal to us at all, but we each have our own criteria to satisfy, so I am sure other places on the list appeal to others. Not surprisingly, many affordable places have less than moderate climates, deep south, central plains and north. And many, but not all, were somewhat remote. You get what you pay for more often than not...

[sweetana3]

I always suggest Indianapolis for afforable housing of all kinds and all the services you could need. In addition, I was just in southern Indiana and found a fully!! renovated historic log cabin with two floors and a good barn (currently commercial but could be residential) for $69,000.

What is affordable to one may not be to someone else. What is your afforable need?

Right now Indianpolis has 849 residential single family homes for sale at or under $50,000. 2228 under $100,000. This is just for Marion County and does not include the surrounding counties.

[Escort Rider]

I clicked through all 25 locations and noted the following:
1. Mostly towns and small towns, but also some small cities.
2. I would not want to live in any of them.
3. Absolutely incredible that there are that many places where they are just giving away the houses!

My conclusions: Plenty of people do not need, and are not interested in, world-class cultural attractions on the level of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra (just to use two examples to indicate an entire scene of opera, live theatre, foreign films, world-class art museums, etc., and I am not implying that Los Angeles and New York are the only cities where such things are world-class). So for those people who do not need the live culture at that level, I can easily understand why they would consider the places listed. Why not? O.K., the weather would be disqualifying in some of the places for many people. I understand that.

But the list is another vivid reminder of why people relocate in retirement. Just sell your house in ____ (fill in the blank with dozens of high cost of living places) - unless you are underwater - and take your pension or savings and pack up and move to one of those 25 places (or many others too, as has been pointed out) where you can buy a decent house for nothing and live comfortably on even a modest income because the housing is so cheap.

Even though I know all those things intellectually, it is always an astounding surprise when I am confronted with specific examples, in this case 25 specific examples.

[texdav]

I think this just poit sto more place to live where average retirees can live i nice neighborhood with low COL and has the growth in other taxbase to not be seeing high future liabilities. The number of such articles as well as even post here show that is what many are looking for in moving in retirement.That is why we see so mnay of these artacles;huge numbers are looking for such places.

[gypsychic]

I didn't even bother clicking through the whole list. I already live in a great area, not the cheapest but there are plenty of affordable places if one wants to live where I do (Sarasota) and quality of life is SOOOO much higher here than North Port (the city in FL that was mentioned)

Bottom line, there are 100s of cities in different states where cost of living is cheap and may appeal to those with a very small budget. So from that standpoint, these many lists come out are probably helpful to those trying to figure out what to do.