Today I'm going to show you some affordable Lake towns in the United States now affordable
is obviously relative to your financial situation if you're a part-time Walmart greeter with student
loans and a video poker addiction there's probably not a lot you can afford as far as real estate
goes but the median home price in the United States is 428 thousand dollars as of the first
quarter of 2022. these are all decent Lake towns that are well below that median price Lake towns
or any place near the water are supposed to be expensive not these places they're breaking the
real estate rules sometimes I guess it's okay to break the rules right like I always do I'll give
you the median price and the realistic one that I get from what's available on Zillow and like
Redfin I've tried to explain median to people many times before and it's there's always an
argument maybe I need to get Bry the math guy to explain that too but just know that median
is different than average medians really only used by real estate agents and Banks and crap like that
got it get it good let's take a look number 10 Lake Ariel Pennsylvania I like this area it is
located not too far from my favorite small town in the United States Honesdale Pennsylvania it's
in the Pocono Mountains Lake Ariel is a small town with a population of about 15 000 residents
this area is affordable safe and beautiful the whole North Eastern part of Pennsylvania is just
great I love it since I mentioned that I love Honesdale Pennsylvania and this Lake Ariel is
in that area I know at least six people that have moved to the area so the actual Lake Area not the
town but the Lake Ariel is in the town itself it also touches roaming Woods Lake and it's not too
far from Lake wallenpa which is bigger the lakes around here they're like everywhere those two are
kind of a good size but Lake wall and Paul pack is pretty good size the median home price here is 307
thousand dollars now realistically they have a lot of homes that are right on the water and those can
be anywhere from 550 000 on up but they have a lot of homes that are let's say a half a block in from
the one of the lakes that go for anywhere from two hundred and twenty thousand to two hundred
seventy five thousand and most of these properties aren't like right on top of each other there's a
little bit of distance between each other maybe some Woods things like that if you like trees
and a lake this is a great option Pennsylvania does get some pretty harsh Winters especially
this area but other than that the summers in the spring and the fall aren't terrible here actually
summers are amazing number nine Spirit Lake Iowa beer Lake Iowa is a Northern Iowa not too far from
the Minnesota border and about an hour and a half Drive East of Sioux Falls South Dakota the town of
Spirit Lake sits just south of big Spirit Lake on East Okoboji Lake there's another Lake over here
called West Okoboji Lake this is a great place to live and spend some of your summer I mean they've
got golf courses they've got a theme park this is one of those areas of any state that actually
blows up during the summer months Spirit Lake Iowa has a population of just over 5 000 residents the
entire area has a lot more there's a lot of small towns all around these Lakes but Spirit Lake has
about 5 000 residents they have a median home price of about 301 thousand dollars and honestly
that's about what most homes here go for somewhere in the 300 000 area they have some obviously more
expensive ones because it is a lake town but they also have some that are like hundred and seventy
thousand dollars they got a couple for two hundred thousand dollars so they've got a wide range but
I would say you're probably looking to spend 300 000 on something that's decent nice and livable
and it's in Iowa so you know it's going to be relatively safe and you know it's a great place to
raise kids number eight Lake Placid New York Lake Placid New York is like a Hidden Gem even though
they did host the Olympics 1980. during the summer months this is a great place for fly fishing the
rivers all around there climbing the different Cliffs they got water sports and it's actually the
two-time home of the Winter Olympics they had it in the 1980 Olympics and they also had it in the
1932 Olympics most people only remember the 1980 Olympics unless of course you're like an Olympic
buff Lake Placid has a full-time population of about 2200 residents of course this area
swells during the summer and actually a little bit during the winter when people start skiing
and things like that now this one's a little bit weird their median listing price they say
is about 279 thousand dollars that's not I don't think that's accurate now we said we're gonna try
and keep anything under a hundred thousand less than the national average and so their median
fits that bill realistically not so much I looked around and the things they have for sale right now
all start around 400 000 and work their way up 279 really seems a little off but they do have
some homes that you could find older homes that are about 400 425 000 that area but Lake Placid
is fun it's relatively safe and it is beautiful number seven wolf burrow New Hampshire wolf burrow
is in New Hampshire so right away you know it's going to be beautiful it's hard to find a place
in New England that isn't beautiful I mean outside of Connecticut of course wolfsboro sits on Lake
Winnipesaukee it's got Lakes all around this area but that's the big one it's about an hour
north of Manchester New Hampshire and they have a little over 6 000 residents this is another
place that's great during the summer but there's also a lot to do during the winter a smaller lake
called Lake Wentworth is on the east side of town they say the media listing price here is
about 277 thousand dollars I think that's a little unrealistic they have some lots that are for sale
and that brings the real estate prices down in the median at least I should say they do have a
few homes that are going for about 250 to 300 000 and it looks like in the last couple months six to
nine months they've sold a handful of homes around that price those are kind of away from the lake
so they're not actually on the water or anything like that if you want anything on the water here
you're looking at 550 000 on up which if you're in some place like California or Seattle you're
going wow that sounds really cheap if you're in Mississippi you probably said who could pay 500
000 for a house give me some sweet tea my pellet gun I think I just saw a dinner squirrel
number six Marquette Michigan Marquette Michigan is in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and it sits
on Lake Superior this is pretty much a Lake Resort type town this is a type of place that comes with
a warning if you want to be a full-time resident someplace and you don't like the cold don't even
consider this place Marquette Michigan at parts of the winter sort of look like Hoth remember
that from Star Wars the ice Planet yeah it gets like that here but the summers are amazing I mean
other than the mosquitoes there's a lot of really good Lake towns in Michigan I mean they have over
3000 miles of Shoreline but this one's out of the way it's small and it's affordable they have
a population of about 20 000 residents and they say their median listing price here is about 270
thousand dollars which that one it's it's close but you could find homes for under that there's
some nice livable homes in Marquette that are going for around two hundred thousand dollars
sure they're not like on the water they're in town a little bit but they're decent number five
Winstead Connecticut Winsted Connecticut sits on Highland Lake in Northern Connecticut about
45 minutes Northwest of Hartford Winstead sits at the foothills of the Berkshire mountains and it's
home to Highland Lake it's great to fish water ski swim whatever you want to do Winstead has a median
home list price of 260 000 and I looked around that's kind of accurate but there are a ton of
homes that are in the town and not you know too close to the water maybe half a mile or whatever
they're going for like 150 000 that really don't look that bad now they do have their fair share of
rundown homes that are going for like 120 000 and Below stay away from those unless you're you know
itching to pick up hepatitis or something like that number four Saint Mary's Ohio St Mary's is a
lake town that sits about an hour north of Dayton Ohio so it's just far enough away where you don't
get none of that Dayton stink on you in case you don't know Dayton Ohio is not the best place to be
live in but Saint Mary's sits right on the shores of Grand Lake Saint Mary's and it has a population
of just a little over 8 000. they say the median list price and St Mary's is 239 thousand dollars
uh that's a little high from what I'm looking at they have plenty of nice livable homes that
start off around ninety nine thousand dollars and you know I mean a really nice one that's
under a hundred thousand dollars is going to be hard to find but you could find decent livable
ones that are in between 140 and 160 thousand dollars that is not bad for being a lake town
sure it's in Ohio and you know Ohio comes with its challenges like employment and things like
that harsh Winters but St Mary's doesn't seem that bad their stats are okay they've got a low-cost
living we're not getting into crime stats and all that on this one but I will tell you right now the
only stat that isn't good in this place is their employment numbers so great for people that are
working from home or retirees I would say their crime rate's like 87 below the national average
and their cost of living is about 20 percent below the national average their housing is 40
percent below the national average this is not a bad place to live if you don't mind cold Winters
number three Sulfur Oklahoma what an attractive name for a town sulfur sulfur sits about an hour
and a half south of Oklahoma City Oklahoma and it is right near a place called little
Niagara this is a pretty cool little waterfall swimming hole type thing that's fed with some
of the cleanest water you'll ever get there's a spring right up from the Falls it's uh yeah the
water quality is amazing it looks like fun it's what a lot of people do in Sulfur on a nice hot
summer day the lake they have here is called Lake of the Arbuckles and it's south of town but they
also got Rock Creek flowing right through town and they have some Springs which feed Little
Niagara Falls Buffalo Springs and Antelope Springs you can go there and sit and relax now normally
rural towns in Oklahoma don't have the best stats sulfur is not doing bad I mean their cost living
they're low their crime rates low their employment isn't horrible but it's not great their housing's
affordable they don't have the best schools that's according to area Vibes they give them a big F so
other than schools you have a really nice place to live with really affordable housing you can get a
trailer for 79 000 but you don't want that you can get homes here for in between 150 and 250 000 that
are decent ready to move into they're nice they're not falling down I think the most expensive house
I saw in that whole city is about 550 000 maybe they have a couple others that are a little more
expensive than that come with a bunch of land but 550 000 is maxing out in this town their median
home list price is 224 000 so uh you know I mean they got a lot that's lower than that but if you
like outdoor activities and you want to live in a nice place that's affordable give sulfur a look
number two the Wisconsin Dells now I've been to Wisconsin Dells a few times I've never thought
there was any problem with it and I thought it would be a nice place to live and I thought it
would be a lot more expensive it is not they got a little crime but that's about it most their
other stats are doing pretty good cost of living is relatively low housing's relatively low and
they got some crime big deal now they do have a lake in town it's not that big but they have the
Wisconsin River right there and there's an area right outside of town that is pretty wide almost
like a lake but it's still considered part of the Wisconsin River again this one those situations
if you don't like cold weather this one's not a good deal for you but the median listing price in
the Wisconsin Dells is 199 950 that is not bad you can get condos at Lake Delton which is the
lake that's in town for the low 100 thousands not bad all right before we get to number one don't
forget we have another Channel called on this day there's a link down below now on to number one
and number one Ashland Wisconsin again we're back in Wisconsin this is a great place to live
I mean the entire state is you know normally better than most other states I mean their
only problem they have is Milwaukee Milwaukee's got some crime the rest of the state always has
lower crime than just about any other state outside of New England Ashland is located on
the south side of Lake Superior about an hour and 20 minutes east of Duluth Minnesota again
this is another cold place it's in Wisconsin but there's plenty to do both summer and winter if you
want affordable house and a lake town this is the cheapest you're gonna get that's still decent the
meeting home list price in Ashland Wisconsin is 146 thousand dollars that's the median they have
a lot of really nice homes that are right around 150 000 livable they're not run down about 150
000. you can go lower than that and have to do a bunch of work but to get a decent 150 000 and if
you want to live large you can go all the way up to 220 000. they have some homes here that
aren't the greatest thirty four thousand fifty thousand but they look livable you could move into
those and have to do a bunch of work but they look livable for that price all right if any of you are
thinking about moving to a town like this there's a link down below to home and money they have all
the tools you'll need to find a local realtor and mortgage calculators and all that good stuff's on
their website there's a link down below alright everyone have a great day be nice to each other