wow the pics in this thread have me excited for snow season.
Definitely check out the Tahoe area. I really have no idea of price ranges of houses there, but one of the benefits of buying in tahoe is that the whole area is beautiful with a ton of stuff to do year round. In the summer all the resorts open up to mountain biking, theres water skiing and jet skiing, and other watersports, tons of hiking and camping and miles of bike paths, plus river rafting. Also one of the resorts (I think Squaw) has a giant bungee jump tower right on the edge of a huge cliff. I would assume most resorts also have golf courses (only know for a fact that squaw does)
Tons of young people live in the area, especially in the winter when people come in to work at all the resorts, there's nightlife and good food, but you could definitely find somewhere nice and quiet too. Check out the area near Tahoe city/homewood; it's close to squaw/alpine/northstar and theres a wide variety of places both on the lake itself, and back in the forest more. Also remember that with a place close to good skiing, you will always be able to rent it out when you aren't using it.
If anyone is ever up in the Tahoe area, there's a tiny restaurant called
Evan's where I had the best meal I've ever eaten.
Lake Tahoe in the summer:
