If your point is that there are some decently priced houses available, I definitely get it. I just don’t know that it’s worth getting up to spin on the mouse-wheel each morning to live in Murrieta, even if you had 5 acres and granite countertops.
My point is that there are established towns and cities all over this great country that afford a much higher standard of living, both financially and culturally, than we do here.
Two final notes…1)both houses you posted were minimum $50K higher than the random, nice looking house I posted and 2) correcting my guess, Valparaiso is less than 60 miles from Chicago, a culturally diverse and vibrant metropolitan area (I know, corrupt, too)
I think we probably agree on more things than we disagree so….cheers to you!