I Live In A Rural Town — The Median Downtown Home Here Is Now $1,000,000+
I moved to escape NYC's cost of living, and now it’s followed me here.
3 years ago, my husband and I moved from the NYC area to the Midwest.
This move was easily the greatest money hack we’ve pulled off — keeping our NYC-level salaries and working remotely from a much less expensive location.
While I don’t ever disclose my exact whereabouts, I can give some hints:
My location is shown somewhere on this screen grab. And by the way — I live several hours away from the nearest major city.
That said, where I live is far from a sleepy-rural town. It’s quite the opposite, actually. My town has been on the rise — and fast — for the last decade.
It’s one of the main reasons we wanted to move to this area in the first place. The idea of moving to an emerging area of the country and “getting in while prices are still low” was extremely appealing.
Because in the 5 years before the COVID boom hit, home values in our town grew by 60%.
Given the area’s growth trajectory, we knew there was no time like the present to buy. As soon as we landed here, we started building our house — under the assumption it was wise to enter the market ASAP.
Luckily, we were right…
Like most places across the country, it’s wild to see what’s happened to home values in our town recently.
2 years ago, the median home price was about $350,000. Today, it’s $515,000.
A dramatic jump in only 2 years!
But of course, everything is still relative. Home prices here are still more affordable than where we’re from — especially considering property taxes here are absolutely dirt cheap.
(In my opinion, that’s the real game-changer. Here, I pay less than 1/3 of the property taxes I’d pay on an equivalent house in the NYC area!)
It’s all overwhelmingly positive. The area continues to grow and expand into its own, and it’s now becoming a bustling little metropolis.
It’s certainly no NYC or San Fran — but there are lots of cool things to do, we’re in a top 2% nationally-ranked school district, traffic here doesn’t suck, and the people are extremely kind.
All significant upgrades from where I’m from.
Plus, watching my home’s value skyrocket has been exciting.
However — I must say, even as a beneficiary of the rapid growth here — something just feels off.
I mentioned the median home value is $515,000. Well, just like everywhere else in the world, not every section of town is created equal.
Some areas on the outskirts of town have remained much more affordable.
Other areas, like our downtown, are blowing up.
I’ll be the first to say, downtown is definitely a pretty cool spot — with many shops, restaurants, bars, cool walking trails, etc. For a rural town especially, it has a lot to offer.
But the home values to live close to it have become beyond insane.
While perusing some local listings the other day, I came across a startling piece of information. For the first time, to live downtown now costs a median of over $1,000,000!
I couldn’t believe my eyes.
Trust me — I know there’s value in living within walking distance from all the action. My house is about 4 miles from the heart of the downtown square, and we go over to that section of town often.
We love it.
But is it worth $1,000,000+? Not even close, in my opinion.
So I wanted to take a peak at the inventory currently out there…
Here’s a sample listing:
A 1,000 sqft home with 2 bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms. Asking price of $1,500,000 — aka $1,500/sqft.
What the f*ck?
This is just one example of the madness that has ensued in my local real estate market. Hours out from the nearest city, I’m shocked that our little town can command these kinds of prices.
Trust me, I love my downtown as much as the next person — but if I’m paying $1.5million to live somewhere, it’s not in this tiny house so that I can walk to the artisan cheese shop and to brunch.
It’s just not.
For reference, many listings I’ve viewed in Manhattan Beach, California are going for way less money per square foot than in my dinky town.
This one is a great example. It’s walking distance from the beach, and still $385/sqft cheaper than my local listing.
How exactly is this possible?
While I am happy to see the continual growth of my town, even I can recognize something really weird is happening here.
Just 4 miles from me, homes are priced even higher per sqft than in cities that are traditionally much more expensive and desirable.
What is happening to my blissful, affordable little rural town?!
I’m anxiously waiting to see how things continue to develop.
Join The 30-Day Money Mindset Challenge
Receive a daily prompt to challenge you to reflect and take specific actions to improve your financial life and hit the reset button on your relationship with money.
This article is for informational purposes only. It should not be considered Financial or Legal Advice. Not all information will be accurate. Consult a financial professional before making any major financial decisions.