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Impending housing crisis in knoxville that keeps me up at night. a thread.
so we are all tired of this pandemic right, and while I know this probably isn’t intentional, it’s what i’ve observed slowly happening and I worry there will be ramifications.
a ton of people are moving to knoxville (and probably other places in the south) from much higher cost of living areas in the US. Which is totally fine right?? Go on you have that remote job! Save some money. Move somewhere dirt cheap.
Well as housing costs having been sky rocketing in knoxville, people from high costs of living areas *think* their getting a deal when they purchase a home for $200/sqft compared to their normal $300-400/sqft (heck even $700/sqft)
What they don’t realize is the average cost for a home in knoxville /just last year/ was about $100/sqft and has jumped to $118/sqft. doesn’t sound like a lot? that’s an 18% increase in one year alone. think about it.
That would mean our cost of living is skyrocketing while our wages stay the same. I fear the local economy won’t be able to keep up.
You may be asking, “What’s the big deal?? So what if these people are buying all the most expensive houses? they own them!”
What happens when everyone decides to move back from their original places of residence? Try to sell their houses at a profitable price and no one around here can afford them because wages haven’t caught up?
I fear a housing crash and locals who have wanted to sell their homes will then lose a lot. Or those who want to buy won’t be able to because everything on the market has become more and more expensive.
This is only one negative I can take away from remote jobs, is that there are people who are buying up homes in places that is “crazy cheap” in comparison to their income because say they have a NY wage and living in Knoxville TN
Don’t get me wrong it’s a brilliant idea (and i welcome anyone wanting to move to my state!) but also if you are going to move here, try to participate in the local economy as much as possible.
And again, I know there are some real problems going on around the world and I don’t assume everyone is moving just to be able to make a quick buck. But I also don’t want to be naive to think it isn’t happening.
I know this is all very hypothetical but the same thing happened in Nashville and now even locals can’t afford to live there anymore because the cost of living has become so high.
That’s all, sorry if I’m being too doomsday, have a great day
