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I might be a bit biased for my own state, but Oregon sounds like it could be right up your alley. Real estate prices have kinda settled down recently after the inflation we had the past few years, so you can find nice houses for 350-500k in the slightly-rural areas surrounding Portland like Gresham, Oregon City, Estacada or Sandy.
Nature access is excellent, especially if you were to live around the Columbia River Gorge like in Corbett. A drive to the coast is under 2 hours from there also.
Connecticut is always good. An hour to the shore, close to Boston and NYC. Bradley is a great airport and there are lots of remote jobs if yours doesn’t work out long term. Plus the best pizza in the world.
Ashland, OR.
Anywhere in New England is great, but I'm also biased.
Also except New Hampshire, but I'm also biased being from Massachusetts.
Plus you're so close to Quebec and Toronto which are super fun to visit. Western MA has a ton of nature trails in the summer and skiing trails in the winter. Plus Massachusetts history is great!
New England tends to be a bit cold no? Seems like 6-8 months will be on the very cold side
It depends on what your version of cold is haha. I love it but it tends to start to get colder toward the end of october and then get warmer around the middle or end of march; anywhere between 30ish to 50ish (as a high) though of course with climate change (sigh) it's pretty much all over the place!
I don’t mind cold but I have to keep my wife in mind. Grew up in NJ and run hot. I miss snow but I only got to experience the good parts of it in NJ. Moved out of NJ at 14 so it was all snowmen and snow days
It's pretty hit or miss with snow these days; when we do get it, there can be pretty significant amounts (especially in western and central mass) but I think this past winter we only had like 1 or 2 significant storms compared to when I was growing up. But yeah if she doesn't like cold too much it might be difficult
Luckily with climate change, it’ll be perfect eventually right? Silver lining and all
Denver is a super nice city and, while it's NOT cheap, there are cheaper areas near by. Closer to the mountains it's all gentrified, but out on the plains, especially north east and south east of the city you can still find pretty affordable areas.
A little while ago, I read an argument that Traverse City, MI will be the next Portland. I think that's right. There's a lot of outdooring within a day drive, and it's pretty affordable.
Your main downsides are summer wildfire smoke will presumably be a regular thing going forward, and winters are cold with lots of snow thanks to lake effect. Michigan politics are interesting, and Traverse City is in a historically red part of the state - but I think that's changing.
500k will definitely get you a good house unless you want something extremely new or right downtown. That particular listing is also one block away from one of my favorite breweries of all time.
Ironically my wife mentioned Traverse. We’re thinking of a lake house situation and I like the Michigan weather with climate change in mind. Thanks!
Central New Jersey.