Ah, you have hit it right on the head! That is the million $$ question that we are trying to answer right now. We have been researching cities the past few months and are having a hard time narrowing our search. I’ve checked out Idaho, Montana, Colorado and the areas of the Midwest like Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa.
I do believe that we will end up sacrificing on some quality of life issues if we leave as it is nearly impossible to find a place as perfect as Encinitas! IMO the economy, weather, low crime rate, abundance of things to do like going to the beach, biking year round etc. do justify a much higher cost of living here. I don’t, however, believe that current home prices properly reflect that differential because they have been largely inflated by speculators and investors and not by market forces.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see prices here drop 25% or more, but still settle at a point that is significantly higher than most other cities.
