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!