Astronomical cost of living.. There is no benefit. Why is 3000+ or 4000+ a month rent or buying a 700 sq foot home for 800k, justified? Because it doesn't snow? Because there are beautiful parks and coastlines? That's just not enough. Not enough ROI for me. Did I mention that my apartment doesn't have AC? Ridiculous.

I hate commuting, so I specifically choose an apartment that was only a 10 minute walk to the office. Now, that I won't be going into the office for the foreseeable future it seems silly to live in my downtown neightborhood. My roommate has already decided to move out based on the above reasoning, so the question is do I fill her spot or jump ship to somewhere more pandemic-friendly?

Buy property with land, have space to enjoy what we love in pursuit of better quality of life

I was planning to apply to business school in Fall 2020 and attend in Fall 2021. COVID-19 caused all schools to extend their application due dates because so many international students won't be able to make it. I decided to apply in the "COVID-19" round and got into Ross! We are now headed to Ann Arbor a year early.

cheaper rent, can build equity

Want more space now that teenage kids are home 24/7.

I am sick of the city, I pay too much in rent and I want to be near my family and the mountains and pay way less

My brother in-law died; and while we don’t know yet what from, after combined with the fact that we heard my wife might lose her job, we are taking preemptive action to give up our expensive Bay Area apartment, to back East and was to stay with family we would have been visiting anyway.

We can afford a larger home, more land, and a nicer property for the same price our neighborhood here charges for a small 3:1, and be near the beach.

Paycheck to paycheck for 500 sq feet. My employer slowly transitioning to more remote work, soon no physical ties to the Bay Area.

We already moved! Some of the best job opportunities and highest paying roles within the tech industry are in San Francisco which is what brought my boyfriend and I here just about a decade ago. Living in Oakland (575 sq foot studio) and commuting to SF almost everyday with an avg commute time of 1.25 hours both morning and evening takes its toll. Due to COVID-19 our companies are now fully remote (permanently) which allows us to consider which city we want to live in providing us a better quality of life. We have always loved Portland: hikes, bikes and beers and a little rain?! No sales tax and cost of living is dramatically less than the bay area -- winning on all accounts. We wasted no time when starting to look for a new home as almost half of our friend group in the bay area was doing the same thing. Side note: 4 of our friends have moved already to Bozeman Montana, San Diego CA, Rochester New York and Denver CO. Which we figured meant a larger population in the Bay Area had the same great idea. We wanted to act fast as Portland's real estate market had not slowed down during these times and many people were making the exodus up north just like us. So 3 weeks later, we purchased our FIRST home (because we can afford a home outside the bay area) in Portland. We packed up a Uhaul and drove up on our closing date! Like I said, all this already happened :) We closed last Tues June 30th. We could not be happier in our new home. We haven't missed a day of work in the transition either so its a win-win for everybody. We went from a first floor, 575 sq foot studio with no direct natural sunlight in Oakland to a 2,900 sq foot 2 story home (with basement) with a lovely backyard. Best decision we made was to buy our first home in a global pandemic and get out of the Bay Area.

Expensive

Be closer to family & working remotely is now accepted by my company.

Next year my wife and I want to get away from cold winters and submerse ourselves in nature and new jobs