We love our outdoors across America, but many of the markets are so pricey today that participating in outdoor activities is relegated to just one or two weeks during a vacation. Median home prices in Boulder, Colorado hit $570,000 in June 2017, Vail (Eagle County) $660,000. Telluride (San Miguel County) $735,000, and Aspen (Pitkin County) $2.425 million. With the U.S. median home price now at $263,800, each of the aforementioned town’s home prices were more than double that of the country.
So where do people need to go to afford a home in a market with great outdoors activities? The answer is simple, Greenville, South Carolina. To answer that, Realtor.com put together a methodology to identify where the words AFFORDABLE and OUTDOORS could be used in the same sentence. Their selection criteria included the following:
- Number of National Parks within a 4-Hour Drive – Google Maps
- Number of State Parks or Beaches Within a 1-Hour Drive – Google Maps
- Restaurants With Outdoor Seating – Yelp
- Annual Months of Mild Weather With Daily Highs 60 to 80 Degrees – National Weather Service
- Bicycle-Friendliness Ratings – League of American Bicyclists
- Median Home Prices Less than $300,000 –Realtor.com
Here are the Top 10 Towns. I certainly agree with Greenville’s inclusion. However, I would argue that Columbia should also be in the Top 10 since the Capital City is home to many wonderful state and national parks and is within a two-hour drive to the mountains and beach.
Information provided by:
Ted C. Jones, PhD- Chief Economist-Senior Vice President Stewart Title Guaranty Company
Photo by Jason A G 