We all know that New York has one of the best real estate markets in the country. But sometimes, residents want to stretch their legs a little, get away from the high-rise buildings and the traffic, and experience a slower pace of life. It’s not sacrilegious to say it! It’s the truth!

Life in New York is supposed to go something like this: you move to the city with nothing more than a suitcase. After that, you rent an apartment and find your first gig. After a couple of years, you prove your worth, move up in the company hierarchy, and gain responsibility. Before you know it, you have the skills and connections to embark on your own enterprise - and that’s when the real magic happens. You wind up making a fortune - enough not only for a Manhattan apartment but a second home somewhere else too. 

Many New Yorkers go through this financial transition. The city produces so much wealth that it inevitably overflows to other parts of the country, pushing up real estate prices in locations as far as Florida. 

Over recent months, the second home movement in NYC has gained traction. People are now wondering whether they need a bolt-hole out of town if the coronavirus flares up again. They don’t want to live under lockdown, so they’re looking further afield. 

One place generating a lot of interest right now is the Catskill Mountains - an area of the greater metropolitan region near Catskill park to the west of the Hudson River. 

Interestingly, it’s been about eighty years since the villages in this part of New York state were popular with city dwellers. Now, though, they’re back in fashion, partly because of the architecture, and partly because they’re a long way from the city itself. 

The number of homes being sold here has nearly doubled in the space of three years. Some counties have seen the number of homes going in a year rising from under 200 to over 500. 

New Yorkers are also looking at buying second homes that are literally nowhere near the city to allow them to get a taste of a different lifestyle. Many are asking whether it is worth buying homes closer to Buffalo for access to the Niagara area. And some are investigating properties in previously unknown and isolated counties in the midwest - especially in the Dakotas, which have seen the least stringent lockdowns of any state in the union. 

New York is a cultural melting pot. But many residents in the city long for that simple, all-American way of life found in other parts of the nation. Again, the midwest excels here. Places like Ohio and Ihado are increasingly being seen as places that allow NYC residents to temporarily escape the madness and live as our forefathers once did. 

These trends may reverse soon as the virus panic subsides. But it is interesting to see how real estate preferences are changing. All of a sudden, there seems to be a world outside of New York. And nobody expected that.