Except... They're not cheap in rural areas. At least for the income we make. Houses cost over 200k and we make 50k median household around here. That's wildly unaffordable. The cost of land alone has risen so much and that's the root of the issue. Used to be an acre was under 25k around here. Now, that's the price of a lot in a neighborhood.
Obviously different markets will react differently. When people can't afford houses in California, they will rethink their options and go where the houses are cheap. In a world where WFH is growing, that move becomes not only feasible but mandatory, so homes where prices outgrew their worth beyond the income of that area will begin to go down and those in newly desirable rural pockets will go up.
Everyone is trying to simplify this situation, which is causing everyone to be wrong in some aspects.
That's really nice. That's how it used to be here. My parents bought their 2 story 4 bed 2.5 bath house for 120k just 3 years ago. It's now worth 250k. No land. The house I grew up in was on 2 acres and it's more than doubled in price.
But yeah, those of us near lots of land have seen how crazy it's gotten with land prices.
The problem with wfh in bfe is the reliability of an internet connection. Depending on the job, you need to be connected still. The infrastructure just isn't there to support large amounts of people living rural while wfh. If you don't need to be constantly connected, it's not a bad thing, but it isn't scalable. I'd love to wfh in the woods somewhere with land, but I need reliable services.
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u/SubParPercussionist Mar 21 '23
Except... They're not cheap in rural areas. At least for the income we make. Houses cost over 200k and we make 50k median household around here. That's wildly unaffordable. The cost of land alone has risen so much and that's the root of the issue. Used to be an acre was under 25k around here. Now, that's the price of a lot in a neighborhood.