User blog comment:Zelron/Helgen Hometown (Dragons bring down my property values!)/@comment-4057437-20121128070410

We agree that Helgen would be a better choice than Winterhold as there is nothing left in Winterhold to base the rebuilt town's economy on. Helgen, on the other hand, has all the surrounding area intact.

This leads to the issue of food for the town, more specifically, farms. It could be a requirement that for every X number of citizens there would have to be a farm (or fishery).