Some good investment opportunities in cities like that if you know what you are doing...which I don’t. Lol. I wouldn’t live there just due to the humidity, never mind crime etc.
At some point (maybe in many years) those areas will also undergo gentrification and become desirable again. A number of smaller cities that no one was interesting in 10 years ago are really booming (Indianapolis, Nashville etc).
I wish people would build in my podunk town... maybe there would be a big enough tax base that they could fix the roads... turns out that 80% of the land in my town is owned by the state (DCR and watershed) so a lot of building won't be happening.
I would also love a wind turbine in my backyard if I could plug into it...lol
I still think there is a market for smaller, more affordable starter homes, but right now, it makes more sense to be building the bigger ones for reasons you mentioned.
For my area (North Central Mass) - 1000' asl
Overall Seasonal Snowfall: B
82.25" A foot or so above normal. Can't complain about the number. Just how we got it. To lose Jan and March sucked
Snow vs. Rain: A-
Same as Garth.. It rained very little except on Dec 25.
Staying power/ (number of days) of the pack: B
Wiped out at Christmas, then a lack of snow until late Jan. But decent after that.
Local winter enjoyment: B+
Skiing was good but not great. Lack of snow in Jan and March limited some of the activites I wanted to do
Temperature: D
Two years in a row of temps that almost never dipped below zero. Lame... overall above normal temps... I guess it was good for my heating bill
Snow Storms/ events (quality/ quantity): B
A good October event that didn't ruin my snowfall! lol A couple of good events including a large December one and a big one in Feb. April was good as well with an 8.5" event
Overall Grade: B
It is definitely something still in its infancy. I’ve been reading about Electrify US which is mostly being done by Volkswagen due to their diesel issues a few years ago. Their new ID 4 (which is a stupid name) also looks like a decent car