Have the events of 2020 caused you to consider moving somewhere else?  If so, you are definitely not alone.  The COVID-19 pandemic, a historic economic downturn and extremely violent riots in major cities all across America are fueling a sudden surge in interest in rural and suburban properties.  This represents a major shift, because prior to 2020 we had seen a tremendous boom in real estate prices in large cities such as New York, San Francisco and Seattle.  Now a lot of those buyers have become very motivated sellers, but there just isn't a lot of demand for tremendously overpriced homes in core urban areas that are currently being torn to pieces by rioters.

Meanwhile, prices for rural and suburban homes are being pushed up as an increasing number of Americans seek to get away from the major cities.

At first, it was the coronavirus pandemic that was the primary reason why so many people wanted to move.  According to Redfin, page views for homes in rural communities and small towns were way, way up in March as the virus began to spread aggressively in the United States…

A report from Redfin (NASDAQ: RDFN) highlights this trend, showing that by late March, the seven-day average change in page views of homes in rural and small towns was up 115% and 88%, respectively.

Of course now the worst civil unrest in decades has been added to the equation, and this has caused even more city dwellers to consider a change in residence.  In fact, one poll found that approximately 40 percent of all city dwellers "are considering leaving"…