>>2496478You're right, but let's face it, one look at the pop density map says it all. There are pockets of solitude in the east, but they teeter constantly on the edge of being overrun by New Yorkers and Floridians, not just in terms of real estate overbidding but vacation visits. We saw what happened to much of the rural east during the pandemic. We've seen Florida transition fully to the Boomer Waiting Room. West Virginia and eastern Kentucky are practically the only parts of the Apps that haven't been gentrified yet. In any given year, depending on what's happening in the country at the time, you could be flooded by refugees in two seconds flat. Boston and NYC are like two giant quivering blisters waiting to burst; they contain so much pus it's never a matter of if, but when.
Would I live in the east over, say, Minnesota? Yeah totally, the mountains are still there. But if I were rich and planning on buying a place, I'd take the smaller house in the west over a bigger house in the Apps. The deluge looms. Even today, the population of the west coast is less than half that of the east coast.
