All Forum Posts by: Claudia W.

@Brian Kelley and @JPaul Mills ! 

Thank you for reviving this thread and sharing your input. As we've both lived in Mobile, AL before we know the area and prices a little bit - even though that was  before we became interested in real estate.  Pensacola area is still in our top 5 for sure, mostly for its potential  for us given our start capital after we sell our house in Hawaii... 

You guys are great, thank you for all your responses and information. Thank you for confirming the "Find the life you want to live and your investment opportunity will follow" attitude. Having been moved around with the military we've learned to bloom wherever we're planted, but we'd like to find the best "climate" for us. ;)

@Rob Lucey Thanks for your input. I wish a road trip was an option to explore all the possibilities. I'm afraid internet research will have to do for now... Maybe once we have our top 2 or 3 choices, we can fly there and explore the areas. 

@Account Closed I really missed waking up with mountain views... I hear Savannah is a great town too - what's the price range for a 3/2 there?

Welcome to the BP community @Kimberly Gillock ! I'm fairly new here and to REI as well, but I'm impressed by the resources BP has to offer (the podcast makes my daily commute now something that I look forward to)

Hi @Jeremy Baker ! 

I met my husband in Mobile AL at the University of South Alabama (Go Jags!) and he's originally from there. We're familiar with the ridiculously humid summers and I would definitely not want to move back there if I can avoid it (just for the weather alone). Pensacola might be another city worth considering :) The beaches there truly are amazing (for the mainland ;) ). 

Thank you for taking the time and replying to my post! I hope you get to realize your dream of moving to Maui soon! The constant summer is nice, but I really do miss the seasons and occasional "bad weather days". The reasons why staying here isn't really an option for us is the high COL and how far away it is from everything (especially Europe). 

Thank you @Jean Bolger - we'll look into Boise as well then :) I've done a similar search within our price point for property values in Colorado, hence the hesitation to move there. Maybe we just need to adjust our strategy then... 

@Rusty Thompson I know this sounds weird but we really miss the rain (we live on the dry side of the island, so we have maybe 5 rainy days/year). 150 rainy days is a lot though and might make us SAD ;) Thanks for your input also on ARVs - really appreciate it!

Thank you @Tara Hall ! Denver and Colorado have always been in the top choices of our list (maybe because it's the closest I can get to Austria ;)). We appreciate your input - seeing the property prices scared us off a little at first that's why we started to look at 2%-places (like Mobile, AL and Atlanta) just to make getting started a little easier. The idea of being able to buy a house all cash (with our current savings) is very appealing! But like I said earlier, there would be a tradeoff with quality of life and our lifestyle. And then we think again how real estate will be the vehicle to allow for lifestyle design (thanks, Tim Ferriss) and lots of traveling. So where we live wouldn't matter as much. I feel like we're going in a circle here... 

Thanks @Gordon T. ! We'll do some more research on those areas you mentioned :) 

Thank you, @Bill S. ! We keep discussing how much 'real estate potential' should play a part in our decision making when it comes to moving. We just feel that we're in a unique situation having no real roots and a lot of opportunities. I agree with you that we should move some place where we'll be happy and adjust our strategy from there. But at the same time we also know that we want to make real estate our "life" so we want to go somewhere where it's feasible and affordable. Because we're currently doing the long-distance landlording, I'm not to keen on investing remotely again. We will have some free cash (and our full VA entitlement) once we sell our house here in Hawaii (at current market value, we should net about 50k + all the money we have in savings). Depending on what market we end up in, we could use that to buy and flip a house all cash, or only be able to use it as a down payment... Decision, decisions...

@Paul James , thanks for the info. I personally have never been anywhere in Texas, but my husband loved San Antonio when he was stationed there. We're really not looking to "capture" equity/appreciation, but overall Texas seems to keep popping up when it comes to great real estate markets,  I will check out the article you posted!

Thank you so much for your input, @Gordon T. ! While we love the outdoors opportunities here in Hawaii, we're looking forward to lower house and living costs! Coming from Austria, I'm naturally drawn to mountains, but Atlanta has definitely positives as well (international airport hub, real estate opportunities). What suburbs of Atlanta would you recommend (I'm definitely not a city girl)?