Relocate to Your Affordable Dream Home

Six Great Relocation Destinations

Below we've listed six metropolitan areas in the U.S. that offer affordable homes and job opportunities that are also great places to live. Feel free to click on each destination or read the introduction as to how we chose the places (we won't be offended if you don't.)

Phoenix, AZ
Orlando, FL
Camden Metro Area, NJ
W. Palm Beach, FL
Madison, WI
Fort Meyers, FL

How the Places Were Picked:

As I did when researching destinations for "The Cost-Conscious Homebuyer's Guide," I chose destinations after researching the quality of life, affordability and the destination's solid economic outlook. Here's my methodology:

First: Solid Economy: We looked at the top 50 ratings in Inc. magazine's "Best Places 2005," which measured metropolitan areas both by short and long-term job growth. Inc.'s researchers also measured how much employment growth has been spread over a range of industries. Why does this matter? The same way you need to diversify among many different investments when you save for retirement, you need to choose a home destination that's in a "diverse economy;" in other words, one that's not dependent on one industry. Remember, even if you can manage to keep your job in a region that's in a downturn, you're less likely to find a home buyer if there's a short "supply of buyers" in that region as result.

Second: Optimistic outlook is corroborated by other institutions. The location also had to rank among the Milken Institute's 2005 top 50 "best-performing cities, which measures "the top economic performance" and "creating the most jobs in the nation."

Third: Consistently solid economic outlook. We even went further and eliminated those regions that didn't maintain their top-50 status from year to year in both the Inc. and Milken rankings. Even areas that appear to be diversified can take sudden downturns: Atlanta, for example, fell from number six in Inc.'s 2004 rankings to number 84, due to a slump in retail, manufacturing and business services.

Fourth: Affordable places to live: We eliminated those regions in the top 50 whose median home price is more than $300,000 (the source is the National Association of Realtors' second quarter 2006 figures unless otherwise specified). Again, it's consistent with our investment philosophy of picking "home investments" that are going to be attractive to the next buyer. Why move to a place where housing is already unaffordable if the end goal is to sell it to someone else?

Fifth—and Actually First—Nice Places to Live: Who wants to live in an affordable place with plenty of jobs if the place is in the middle of nowhere and there's nothing to do? You guessed it—your home destination is got to be one that others flock to. As I did when researching The Cost-Conscious Homebuyer's Guide, I turned to the time-honored destination authority: Places Rated Almanac (this time it was Special Millennium Edition) to cherry-pick the quality-of-life winners. In the rankings, author David Savageau looks at such features as transportation, education, climate, recreation and arts among the nation's 354 metro areas. To make our cut, these destinations had to be among Places Rated's top 100 areas. Therefore, our rankings are based on which of the Inc. 50 are good "long-term investments" and are affordable—and then ranked in order of their ranking in Places Rated.

Be prepared to be surprised when you read our findings—trust me, I was. Three of our six picks are in Florida—a state you may have dismissed as an election-rigged hurricane-bound retiree destination. The sunshine state offers tremendous home and job opportunities—hurry up before some Saudi Prince beats you to it.

And the winners are

Number 1: Phoenix, AZ
Inc. Rank: 16/ Milken Rank: 15/ Median Home Price: $268,300/ Places Rated Rank: 10

In addition to the Inc. and Milken rankings, Entrepreneur Magazine recently ranked Phoenix number one in its top 20 large cities for entrepreneurs; the Phoenix-Mesa area reported more than 12,000 startups in 2005 alone. The draw? Affordable real estate attracts workers, especially from obscenely overpriced California. The region also has an unusually large number of organizations devoted to helping small business. Where to get more info: www.phoenix.gov.

Number 2: Orlando, FL
Inc.: 20/ Milken: 6/ Median Home Price: $260,000/ Places Rated: 22

"Wait a minute," you say. "My strategy would be to get a high-paying job at Disneyworld so my kids can get discount tickets?" Dump any preconceptions about Orlando being a one-hit wonder. Sure, it's the state's top tourist destination but the surrounding four-county area claims a whopping 4,700 high-tech companies that employ 80,000 people in well-paying jobs, according to www.siteselection.com. There are also jobs in financial and business services, military and entertainment-related high tech. Where to get more info: www.cityoforlando.net.

Number 3: Camden Metro Area, NJ
Inc.: 24/ Milken: 19/ Median Home Price: $187,000 (Source: NJ Division of Taxation, Philadelphia Inquirer)/ Places Rated: 29

Take that, New Yorkers who refer to New Jersey as "Jersey" and make fun of the turnpikes—Garden State residents are laughing and driving all the way to the bank! (Full disclosure: I'm a resident of Northern New Jersey.)

This South Jersey region features plentiful land, access to educated labor and major employers such as Lockheed Martin and Burlington Coat Factory. Entrepreneur Magazine also named New Jersey number two (after Arizona) in its 2005 top 10 states for doing business. Check out www.ajb.org/nj.

Number 4: W. Palm Beach/Boca Raton/Palm Beach, FL
Inc.: 45/ Milken: 27/ Median Home Price $177,728 (Source: CNNMoney.com)/ Places Rated: 48

Get the visions of palm trees out of your head and think "gateway to Latin America." "South Florida...is viewed as the economic capital of all of Latin American business being done out of the U.S.," Lucent's South Florida regional director told www.siteselection.com. In addition, South Florida boasts 5,800 high-tech companies that employ 75,700 people. Check out: www.cityofwpb.com.

Number 5: Madison, WI
Inc: 38/ Milken: 35/ Median Home Price: $217,400/ Places Rated: 79

If Madison were a person it would be blushing—no other metropolitan area received more accolades from more sources. The municipality was also ranked number six in Entrepreneur's listing of hot cities for entrepreneurs, the fourth "brainiest medium-size city" by bizjournals.com, its public schools rank number eight in the nation according to Expansion Management, and Number One in the "romantic city" department, according USAWeekend.com. Hurry up and move before the housing prices get any higher! For more info: www.ci.madison.wi.us.

Number 6: Fort Myers, Cape Coral, FL
Inc.: 9/ Milken: 2/ Median Home Price: $267,400/ Places Rated: 92

The retail trade, construction and hotel industries have the most employees, followed by healthcare. In addition, some 600-plus technology businesses call this region home. Florida's Gulf Coast University and the emerging Florida Gulf Coast Technology and Research Park are drawing new businesses to the area. Thomas Edison and Henry Ford had homes here, according to floridatravelusa.com. Why not you? For more info: www.cityftmyers.com/home.aspx.

Are you ready to pack your bags and head out? Here are some suggested next steps:

Needless to say—but I will anyway—it's never a good idea to rely on somebody else's opinion when you're taking the huge step of choosing a relocation destination. It's a big step that requires big research. For example, you'll want to check out the schools in your proposed relocation city—one measure of excellence is the percentage of high school graduates that go onto college. You'll also want to consider the weather, recreational activities, etc. We hope we've got you thinking and if you do take the big step you have our sincere best wishes for happy house-hunting!