What about the Northeast, New England or NJ/NYC? Still plenty of fork-lost (stick a fork in ’em, babeh! — owing to judicial foreclosure taking 3-4 years) properties that can be picked up relatively cheap, interesting people, good outdoor sports if you’re into them, generally intelligent and interesting people, sizable tech industry in Boston and around NYC.

Not as overheated and prone to bubble and bust as the Bay Area, either.