Hi, I am planning to move back to Queensland next year, I normally live on the Gold Coast and still own a home there. I might move back into my home, but I have been considering the option of selling my home and using the equity to buy in a cheaper area and taking the pressure off.

I can earn money online so I don't need to be near a city, although I like the food and activity options that being in a city provide. We need to be near decent schooling for our son and also for if we have more. I guess I just want to ask people who live in these places if the savings are worth it.

I'm specifically asking about areas where you can buy a home for around $500k or less, places that I have looked at so far include some parts of Scenic Rim and Ipswich which are close to Gold Coast/Brisbane, Toowoomba which is a few hours away but still can visit friends and family, and even Emerald which is a really long way away but you can get decent properties for around $300-400k which is crazy value.

If anyone lives in these places (or another place that sounds similar) and can tell me what they think it would be of interested in knowing more. I have three options, one is to stay in my home on the GC (massive home, may need to rent out a room or two), second option is to sell and downsize to a GC townhouse and live mortgage free but in a smaller space, option three is to move away from where I know but buy a proper home mortgage free with even more money left over to invest in our future.