NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - When a couple of college football fans started traveling for the season, they had more than just sports scores on the mind.

Coldwell Banker president Jim Gillespie had just finished a nationwide survey of home prices, but after talking it over with a friend, he decided to boil it down to just the 59 towns with the best football programs.

After all, along with four great months of football, college towns have a wide range of activities year-round.

"College towns can be great places to live because they are family-friendly, lively communities with an abundance of activities ranging from sports and entertainment to high culture," says Gillespie in a statement. "A large majority of these towns are also very affordable, making them ideal for first-time homeowners or Baby Boomers looking for a second home near their alma mater."

Lubbock, Texas, home of the Texas Tech Red Raiders, ranked as the most affordable college town, with an average home cost of $164,133. Palo Alto, California, home of the Stanford Cardinals, was the most expensive at $1,550,000.

The study evaluated average home values for a single-family home measuring about 2,200 square feet with four bedrooms, two and one-half baths, a family room and a two-car garage.

Gillespie said the study comes on the heels of two interesting trends in college towns.

"People who are thinking about retiring may go back to their college towns. There's plenty of culture and recreation there, and many take classes as well," he said. Indeed, those benefits led MONEY Magazine to focus on college towns when selecting its best places to retire for 2005...see the selections here.

The second trend, Gillespie said, is that parents with kids in college are buying properties near campus. He said he had seen parents allowing their children to manage properties, renting rooms to other students.

"That way, it's cheaper for the student and the parent earns the appreciation," said Gillespie.

Coldwell Banker's findings might have implications beyond just home prices, according to Gillespie. "We found that in the most affordable college towns, the schools went to more bowl games," he said.