I've been involved in the real estate arena in good times, average times and bad times. I'm starting to worry about the current situation also. As someone else mentioned, there have been times in the last 35 years that have been extremely challenging but also rewarding and some people were definitely caught unprepared.

The pandemic has caused some changes in our world that we have never seen previously. The biggest thing in my mind, is so many people being given the opportunity to work directly from home. I don't know exactly what the definition is of that but if the worker literally can work from home no matter where that home is, maybe it is time to think outside the box for a while. Especially if you are young and not anchored down to a particular area yet.

I am not normal! I have been willing to move and lucky to have a flexible wife that went with me. Many of those moves were real estate oriented. We have lived in different states and actually different areas and times in Utah.

We lived in Provo/Orem for five years beginning in 1985. We moved to St. George in 1991 for 10 years. After full-time RVing for six years, living in AZ, TX and FL for five years to buy real estate we returned to St. George for an additional three years to build homes.

I'm giving this travel documentary to show I was willing to live outside the box and moved to different locations. I was able to take advantage of real estate in each of those.

It is easy to do a quick research and find affordable housing still available in various states around the country. it is definitely not the river bottoms in Provo or the avenues in Salt Lake! I looked up various articles and found interesting information about prices of homes. Again, relocating would definitely be thinking outside the box and not for everyone.

I checked average price homes and also median price homes and found different articles providing interesting information. I found many locations, both cities and states with homes around or under $200,000. Some of those cities were Wichita , Indianapolis, San Antonio, Cincinnati, Columbus, Charlotte, Huntsville, and among others, the states of Oklahoma, Iowa and Florida. One article that listed the top 15 cities for investment or rentals showed three in Texas and three in Florida. The same article also anticipated over 900 people moving into Florida every day for the next three years. Pretty good demand for sunshine area.

If you truly show home ownership at the top of your list and have flexibility, there are many places you can probably find and afford with exceptionally low down payments. I have seen numerous posts where first-time buyers used the same type FHA loan that my wife and I used 40 years ago. It was a great way to get started on the real estate merry-go-round.

I'm sure there will be lots of negative comments about leaving family or the LDS community but there are some other really nice areas around the country if you are willing to step outside the box.