Where are the best places to live?
 

I am graduating from school this coming December with a bachelors degree in marketing but I want to transition into real estate at some point in time. I am getting to the point that I need to start getting some feelers out there to get a job out of school. Before I can do that I need figure out where I want to move.

Things that are important to me:

A good real estate market or possible upcoming market.
Decent out of school pay with a good job market in the marketing or finance industry (I could transition into finance)
Has a lot of water around it, love to be close to the ocean or driving distance for a weekend by the beach.
A strong wakeboard scene with local cable parks.
A good singles scene. I'm a 29 year old single guy.
Good restaurants or food scene
I enjoy racing, and dirt bike riding.

I would say florida, but I have a little dog and an unjustified fear of alligators. Top places would be Charlotte, Charleston, Wilmington, maybe Austin. I know some of those places have gators, but I don't want to have to constantly worry about my dog like I would in florida. Any places I am missing or arguments why I should choose one of the places I listed.

I am from Northern California and it really fits the bill but some of the politics and people keep me from going back to that state. The politics really just comes down to their firearm laws.

Being realistic in this job market, anywhere that'll give you a job..

Lots of people in Florida have dogs. I think gators are not as big an issue as you may suspect. Out of your list, Austin has a hot real estate market and easily the longest riding season. It also has the superior singles scene. Austin has a great fast casual and food truck scene but I wouldn't put their restaurants on the same level as Charlotte or Charleston. They also have cable parks and a surf park. The beach is a couple of hours away. It's not the best beach but not the worst either. I don't think any of those places would be a bad place to land. Just giving you my take on the one I have the most experience with.

Truth

I was really worried about that. Pay is absolutely terrible a lot of places. Firms are trying to pay kids strait out of school $36k a year in Denver. Thats not enough to survive here, but after my first career fair at the business school I'm not as worried any more. Most employers were very recpetove to my 7 years military experience and my upper division math and science credits from when I was a ME major.

The end game is to live on or very close to the water. My family owns a home in Jacksonville close to Black Creek. I don't trust my dog more than I don't trust alligators. Austin just may be the place to be, I actually prefer the great casual dinning scene. Just looking for something that closely represents the california food scene. They are diverse with the beach side food trucks to napa valley.
I know Austin probably is the best choice, their economy and market out paced Denver in 2015 or 2016, can't remember. Will be adding on my list of places to visit before deciding.

I just graduated in August of 16. Just be realistic though, especially with how common marketing degrees are these days (no offense, just an observation)

But at 36k they can F off. I'm very happy with my pay out of college, especially if you keep your expectations low. I love Texas, and the job market out here is great.

In my opinion I graduated maybe 5-6 years ago and moved from, MA to CA to TX to NH. Get a masters from a school where you think you want to live and feel it out. Moving cross country a few times is a hassle. And lets be honest, the bachelors is the new high school diploma.

Thanks guys for the opinions. Still curious to peoples opinions of the places I have mentioned or are there any places I have missed.

My day job is as a Advertising Director for a media company in Minnesota. Most marketing/advertising companies do pay new college grade around $36k. That said, if you can gather some experience for a year or two grinding on a lower income the doors open up pretty fast for higher income positions in the marketing world, especially if you have strong sales and leadership skills. Just like college that first job is a stepping stone.

Thanks for the military service! I know we all appreciate the sacrifice you made for this county and all of us.

I'm sure that it's not even on your radar, but Minnesota is a really amazing place but you have to like winter. We have a great wake scene and 10,000+ lakes. Heck there are 1,000 lakes just in the county I live in. There's good clean water everywhere and always good people to ride with.

Thank you, and no Minnesota is not on the radar haha. I have an uncle that lives out there, it is very pretty but yes you are right you have to love winter. That is a season I am trying get away from. I guess I should clarify a little bit about the degree. My first job out of school will only be a source of income while I establish myself in Real Estate. I do not plan on making a career out of marketing.

I think you're gonna have a tough time replacing what you already have. One thing that's often overlooked is our NorCal weather. It's really hard to beat. We don't have to deal with humidity, tornadoes, ice/snow or 1" hail that can total a car like in Texas. Also, is being near your family important?

Real estate is commission only so you won't get any kind of salary.

texas sucks, you don't want to live here

can't suck that bad if it has a higher immigration into the state than out of the state haha

lol yea Harris county (Houston) is the fastest growing county in the nation.

Costa Rica. Forget work and debt all that stuff. Go relax

Pura vida Reddog, got that right!!

Orlando, Orlando, Orlando! You can wakeboard January 1st with 80 degree temperatures in 75 degree water, also the real estate is always a hot market!

San Diego is legit. We ride year round

Orlando>SanDiego
Jason, how can you say you ride year round when you cannot ride Most of the time?
El Capitan is open on its winter schedule one half hour before sunrise to sunset as follows:
Saturday - Fishing, general boating and water contact (water-skiing, wakeboarding, jet skiing, etc.).
Friday, Sunday, Mondays and Tuesdays - Fishing and general boating, no water contact activities.
Wednesday and Thursday - Closed.
Orlando has Hundreds of lakes that you can ride Anytime!

San Diego's great. Had an absolute blast! But I lived there in my early twenties making pretty good money and still found it very expensive. I know your style of living plays a part too. What are you looking for, living by your self in a house, on or near the lake or ocean. Or having 3-4 roommates and splitting rent?

Very odd. Almost sounds like I wrote that, OP

im 30, single, from Northern California, living in palm beach county FL and just about ready to buy a house... but cannot for the life of me decide exactly where. Its between boca- minutes away from ski rixen which I visit often, somewhere on this small freshwater chain of lake system here- preferably lake Clarke (though small), or the Sacramento or disco bay area of cali, close to the two cables outside of sac

I own an 03 SANTE but can't stand to be away from cable for very long. I also own firearms, motorcycle, a 600hp GT-R that would not be at all legal in CA, and I ****ing hate liberals. but most of my family is in California.

I agree, go where the money is. I'm self employed from my desk so I can go pretty much anywhere... but sometimes more options means more indecisiveness.

Let us know what you choose to do

We don't have cable parks, and it's not a "hot" climate, but the Portland OR/Vancouver WA area isn't all that bad and has access to a lot of what you're talking about, depending on your perspective and point of view.

Portland is nicknamed "bridgetown" and between the Columbia and Willamette rivers, we have no shortage of water and boat launches.

Plenty of motocross here as well as a solid racing scene for sportbikes. The beach is an hour and a half away and we do have an area for surfing. Our real estate market is ridiculous. Houses are selling within days or hours of being listed. for a typical home, sellers are getting multiple full priced offers 10k to 20k above asking with closing costs included. It's nuts.

Solid job market and singles scene. Portland is big enough to have lots of cool stuff going on, but small enough that you end up seeing some familar faces at the big events. Portland has a lot of cool companies too. Nike, Intel, Columbia Sportswear, Hewlett Packard, Adidas... About 90 minutes away is Slingshot Sports and Da Kine. The Columbia river gorge is world famous for wind surfing and kiteboarding.

It's about 90 minutes to Mt Hood for snowboarding (because once I get into November, I have to winterize my boat and it'll stay winterized until we don't have freezing temps at night which is in April. We get a fall/winter full of rain, and that sucks, but that's why people are into snowboarding and mountain biking. Our summers are actually pretty rad with temps in the 80s and 90's with no humidity to speak of. We've never seen a gator and even mosquitos aren't much of a factor most the time in the summer.

We have more microbreweries, coffee shops and wineries than you can imagine. Our restaurant scene is great and we have lots of great places for happy hour and dining. Decent club scene in Portland too.

Portland is pretty liberal, but the gun laws are just fine. You'd have NO problem getting a carry permit in OR or WA. I have both. Just outside the cities, the people turn pretty conservative. So we've got a mix. But both states are pretty progressive considering that we both were on the forefront of legalizing both gay marriage and recreational marijuana.

Oregon is unique in that it's one of few states that doesn't have sales tax. (they get you with income tax). Washington doesn't have income tax. so if you're lucky, you work it like I do where I live in Vancouver WA and work there too (no income tax), but do a lot of shopping in OR and have Portland as my playground.

We also have Central Oregon a few hours away with some really cool lakes where the climate is hotter and drier in the summers. so Mountains, rivers, ocean, desert, forests, cities, backroads... all within a 2 to 3 hour radius.

It's not for everyone, because some people want 70+ degrees most the year. But if you can handle the off season and fill in your time with snowboarding and other activities, it's got a lot of what you're looking for.

Honestly I think Im really looking for something with the SoCal San Diego Vibe outside of California. I just can't go back with their current government.


It's a tough spot to be in haha. I am trying to chase money and lifestyle, but have a really good balance between the two. I will definitely update the thread with what I end up doing.


Wow thank you for such a well thought out and thorough response. I have driven through Oregon a few times and haven't thought much of it even though I have a friend the lives in Bend. I will have to get out there then and give it a look over.

I say you can ride year round because thats what I do. Mission Bay is open year round from sunrise to sunset