&gt;You have plenty of places to live,<p>Two hours by car away from work?  And that&#x27;s with me living in a <i>dense</i> part of the country where it&#x27;s <i>easier</i> to make a long commute like that?<p>I mean, come on, bother to admit that economic trade-offs exist.  If demand for labor is greater than the supply of housing, you&#x27;re going to have a difficult housing market, and that&#x27;s <i>before</i> you account for bubble shenanigans like &quot;ghost apartments&quot; used as investments.