Cities with multifamily properties that are also good to live in?

[Shayna McHugh]

I'm about to move back to the U.S. from abroad, and I have an online business so I can settle anywhere in the country. It's a good problem to have, but... it makes choosing a location difficult!

I'd like to get started by buying a multifamily property and living in one unit while renting out the other(s). Does anyone have suggestions on U.S. cities that tend to have a number of duplex/triplex/4-plexes, and are also nice places to live?

By "nice place to live" I mean: 

• a city that's sizable enough to have cultural/sports/arts activities
• parks and proximity to nature would be a plus
• climate-wise, I grew up in CT so I'm used to four seasons, but would rather not go anywhere north of that

Thanks in advance!

[Bill S.]

@Shayna McHughso the number of 2 to 4 unit properties is generally driven by age of the City. I know places like Chicago have lots of 2-4 unit flats in the older parts of town. I know I was surprised by the number of multiunit buildings when I visited the Boston area as well. Not saying those locations meets your other requirements but just offering observations about RE. Generally I would say you want older Cities which means most will be East of the Mississippi and probably in the northern part of the US. Personally I don't think an area with a population less than 1M would have the culture/sports/arts activity you are looking for. Some smaller areas have one or the other. For example Santa Fe has arts but not sports.

If you want 4 seasons you should stay north of 35th parallel and I would be careful about going too far North as the winters can be brutal but that depends on your taste as well. Some climate is of course is impacted by elevation so it's not exactly cut and dried but generally that would serve as a guide.

BTW I vote for Denver but I'm biased and I know we don't have the stock of multis that other older areas do. We do have them just not as many.