I had a local around Cincinnati say all the Ohio sucks memes are part of a concerted effort to convince people it's terrible here and they shouldn't come. A friend from Portland said they tried this years ago, telling everyone it did nothing but rain in the Northwest, and it didn't work.

Really though... this is a result of three things working in tandem: chronic underbuilding of housing especially in some areas, a prolonged period of low interest rates, and financialization of housing. The underbuilding of housing is driven by both NIMBYism and a particularly bad boom-bust cycle in housing a few years ago that scared off a lot of builders.

> all the Ohio sucks memes are part of a concerted effort to convince people it's terrible here and they shouldn't come.

This is completely true. Speaking of, I can connect you with a number of long-term Ohio residents who would be willing to execute a sale-leaseback agreement that expires when their youngest kid graduates high school. For a fee, since you’d be getting such a great deal and early access to prime real estate. I can even get you hundreds of acres of prime farmland, if your budget stretches that far. Let me know!