Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Housing prices are based upon supply and demand. Anywhere housing is that cheap will have relatively low demand for housing, which means a stagnant or decreasing population. Particularly because you want to live in a rural-like environment - if you lived in a city you could find somewhere affordable but with high crime/bad schools in a growing area.
It is possible of course to "buy the dip" - pick somewhere which is affordable now but which takes off for one reason or another. But you seem to indicate you don't like how your current area has grown, and anywhere on the upswing you will be surrounded by subdivisions and the like soon enough.
With rare exceptions, even "depressed" areas have their good and bad places, though likely with an absence of ultra-wealthy enclaves or amenities catering to a wealthier tier of residents. Unless you are living hand-to-mouth, whether an area is "depressed' or not shouldn't mean much to your daily life if you are able to live in one of the "better" areas, and have a steady income.
I'd say outside of Oklahoma City. Here are a couple listings for ideas. OKC is growing, plus you might be able to tie your cleaning business to servicing base housing at Tinker AFB.
If you want a smaller town, then you could look at other military bases that are located in small towns. All military people that move out of base housing are required to clean their house to pretty exacting standards. It is often easier to contract/hire an approved cleaning service to come in and do the cleaning, than doing it yourself (and maybe failing your inspection). Find the state you want to live in then search for military bases in that state. The bigger the base, the more housing that will need to be cleaned on a regular basis. Yes, you'll have completion, but I assume you have that now.
Central parts of Michigan's lower peninsula might work, in the rural areas away from the larger cities. If you're willing to push your travel time to an hour, you would be reasonably close to Detroit's prosperous northwestern suburbs, Ann Arbor, and East Lansing/Okemos. Central Michigan is somewhat economically depressed, but it's nowhere near as bad as Detroit or Flint. You will find plenty of houses on a few acres for less than 150k (so long as you don't mind century-old farmhouses).
I'm of the opinion that, in the OP's price range, it exists, but the alternatives to a depressed economy may be even worse. You can't build a home for 150k, nevermind 100. If home + land are less than the value of a home, it isn't an area with any desirability for development. If the issue isn't economic (no jobs, no money), it's typically crime.
Metro Detroit (where I just moved) has an economy that isn't too bad. It's weak compared with most similarly sized metros, certainly, but one can still make a living here. Where you find cheap homes are typically places where you need to sleep with a gun under your pillow.
Hampton Roads VA, most of East Tennessee, Northwest Alabama, most of Kentucky, most of Indiana, Iowa, Wisconsin, most of Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
