Zoom Towns: Bringing a New Meaning to Remote Working
A play on the name of the video conferencing software, a zoom town is one that used to be ideal for a vacation---rural, serene, close to outdoor activities and far away from the office. But now that many are working remotely, they’re settling down in these remote locations for more than a long weekend. Lower prices, more space and easy access to nature are making zoom towns the real estate hotspots of 2021.
The pandemic has ushered in a one-of-a-kind lexicon to describe how people are adjusting to their “new normal.” Our search for new information has become “doomscrolling” and the drink that helps us forget the bad news is a “quarantini.” And where are we moving to make our social distancing and working from home more tolerable? A “zoom town.”
A play on the name of the video conferencing software, a zoom town is one that used to be ideal for a vacation---rural, serene, close to outdoor activities and far away from the office. But now that many are working remotely, they’re settling down in these remote locations for more than a long weekend. Lower prices, more space and easy access to nature are making zoom towns the real estate hotspots of 2021.
The housing market in urban centers continues to experience robust demand and low inventory, especially in suburban and exurban areas. But Zillow estimates there are over two million households that currently rent (and are priced out of home ownership in their market) that would be able to buy the median starter home in a non-major market. And it looks as if many are doing just that.
Market watchers noticed early in 2020 an uptick in home prices in the country’s most classic vacation home destinations like Aspen, Colorado, the Hamptons on Long Island, Martha’s Vineyard and Cape Cod in Massachusetts, Hilton Head, South Carolina, and Florida’s Key West. In fact, sales of vacation homes are up 44% in the third quarter of 2020 over the previous year, according to the National Association of Realtors.
But more under-the-radar spots are now booming, especially in the West. Many are the so-called “gateway communities” that offer access to recreation areas like lakes, skiing and National Parks. Go three hours outside of San Francisco, and you’ll arrive in the idyllic mountain town of Truckee, California, where the median home price is half that in the Bay Area. States like Montana, with open spaces and less competitive markets, are seeing an influx of new buyers from urban centers in Oregon and California.
The zoom town phenomenon has led rental property sites to worry about their future inventory. VRBO, AirBNB, and Booking.com all noted an intense spike in demand for rental properties this year, and are working to entice more vacation home owners to list on their sites. They expect the demand to continue, and may be hampered in their efforts if buyers end up using these homes as their primary residence while working from home.
The trend is also putting a strain on long-time residents in some of these gateway communities, who are already worried about the lack of affordable housing and a zoom migration pricing the local workforce out of the market. They’re rushing to prevent any further straining of public resources, while accommodating the renewed interest in their location.
As Americans anticipate more remote work in 2021, many are taking a hard look at a residence in cabin country. Now might be the time to go west or find a remote place to settle down, before those places become just as pricey.
