The article is based on # of sales, not price increase or decrease.

Not only would it decrease your monthly mortgage but you'd be able to get into it with a very little down payment since you'd be living in one side of it. 

Income Levels: Will your AGI decrease in future years below the $150,000 threshold?

At the same time if you as the customer are rigid in your payment abilities, it may decrease the amount of contractors that you'll be able to have do your work.

Limited Housing InventoryThe number of homes for sale in Buffalo is significantly below pre-pandemic levels, with a reported 46.1% decrease compared to 2018–2019 averages.

Quote from @Basit Siddiqi: Quote from @James Wise: Quote from @Basit Siddiqi: Strange that you mention that you are looking at Toledo and Cleveland when those two cities are also seeing population decreases.

That's a significant discount --- I wonder if they are seeing a decrease in homes posted.

All 3 cities show a 7-11% decrease in home sale counts over the 2017-2019 average, so we still have plenty of catching up to do in terms of housing supply - much harder to do when you're growing fast.Durham and Charlotte are set to make large strides toward that goal - but Raleigh is barely budging.

Year 0: ($2,000 - $1,700) x (1 + 2%)^0 / (1 + 5%)^0 ≈ $300 in today’s buying power.Year 5: ($2,000 - $1,700) x (1 + 2%)^5 / (1 + 5%)^5 ≈ $260 in today’s buying power.Year 10: ($2,000 - $1,700) x (1 + 2%)^10 / (1 + 5%)^10 ≈ $225 in today’s buying power.Year 15: ($2,000 - $1,700) x (1 + 2%)^15 / (1 + 5%)^15 ≈ $194 in today’s buying power.So, if you purchase property in a city where rent increases at a slower pace than inflation, the amount of goods and services you can buy will decrease over time due to inflation.Here is what I recommend:Purchase in a city that possesses the following characteristics.Significant and sustained population growth.Rapid and sustained appreciationBalance negative cash flow, interest rate buydown, and increased down payment to create an acceptable cash flow situation today.Refinance when rates fall to increase cash flow.

Cleveland, Baltimore, Toledo, Indy etc....You will see net population decreases in most of these areas but these are the areas where the prices are the lowest in the USA and come with rents that are very high when compared to the sales price.