Moving to Green Bay / Wausau, WI - Looking for Advice

[Josh Lang]

Hey BP Community, 

I have recently hit a mental roadblock that I've never faced before. I have always been 100% on every decision I've ever made in my life up until now. I graduated from the Milwaukee School of Engineering with a degree in Architectural Engineering and have a starting salary of 70K in Milwaukee. As great as this used to sound for me prior to graduation, I am not happy with the outcome. My girlfriend (soon to be fiancé) and I have both decided that living in Milwaukee does not suit our style as we both grew up in Marshfield, WI, a more rural central wisconsin location. We both want to move toward the Green Bay/Wausau area, but I feel uneasy in leaving. 

The main question at hand: Should I leave the city and head for an area I want to live in or stick it out and save up a ton of cash to invest?

The issue with leaving is that I know I will take a pay cut if I leave my current company. This will result in less money available to invest in real estate. I have already purchased two rental properties (a duplex and a fourplex) from work income over the last year. 

The positives of leaving include living somewhere where I could see myself really being able to invest energy into building new relationships and creating connections. Since I know I will leave Milwaukee at some point, I don't want to spend a ton of effort building relationships or a business that I will have to pick up and move later down the road anyway. I really want to shift my career/business aspirations toward real estate investing as soon as possible.

Any advice on this sort of situation would be greatly appreciated. Feel free to shoot me an IM as well!

[Scott Schultz]

Why would you lose money?  there are Lots of Jobs in every field in Wausau, or Green Bay, they are both good sized Metros with lots of industry.  I would say start Job Hunting and go from there. If you are not in a hurry it makes it even better.  Go where you want to go, and dont do it for the money.  Investing can be done regardless of income. also consider the cost of living. Wausau (at least surrounding area) has a much lower cost of living than MKE so how much pay cut can you take and still be Net the same?   My primary Property Manager is out of Wausau most of my portfolio is North of there. Let me know if I can help in any way.