Hey everybody. My name is Phillip Shephard. I’m a local real estate agent located right here in Northwest Arkansas. Today, we’re talking about something a little bit more serious, a little bit more somber, and that is about the looming potential recession in all of America.
This first of two parts will be a stream of consciousness talking about America and what’s happening with the potential recession when it comes to the housing market and people moving across America and how all those different things relate to Northwest Arkansas.
In this article, we’re going to look at this more like a structure, almost a sphere or diagram that we’re putting together to set us up for a more in-depth discussion in part two. But for now, let’s rame it all up and talk about this.
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People Are Leaving Big Cities
The first thing I want to talk about, and you might be aware of this, is the fact that a lot of people in America are leaving big cities in droves. They’re leaving major cities like LA, Chicago, and New York and going elsewhere.
We could talk about different political stuff. We could talk about the different COVID-19 stuff. We could go into all that, but regardless of how it happened, it’s happening.
And so a lot of people are moving to these major mid-sized cities that are up-and-coming, hence Northwest Arkansas.
People leaving big cities because they’re tired of it and want to go somewhere else is the first thing overarching this whole thing.
By the way, if you just moved to some of these cities and don’t know what to visit, check out my article about moving to Northwest Arkansas, Bentonville, or Fayetteville and what I did first there.
Remote Work Is Common
The second thing we also need to talk about is that remote work, which you are aware of, has increased exponentially over the last three years for obvious reasons. A lot of people are working from home now, which means that they’re able to travel and go to other cities and not have to be at work itself.
This creates a lot more opportunities for people to get out of major cities or get out of where they’re originally from and go to different areas to experiment, try to see if this is the best place for them, or to be in a better environment that’s going to be more friendly towards different things.
Remote work has radically changed everything about the way people pick homes and the way that people pick areas where they want to live. If you don’t have to be stuck to go to San Francisco or go to LA or go to Chicago or New York to actually work there, the interesting thing is you can work anywhere you want.
Some people think of going to Cabo, Mexico, or Jamaica. That’s all great and fine if you want to do that. But obviously, there are major disadvantages to moving there and other places like that on the beach and other different parts of America.
That’s why people are moving to these midsize cities because it’s kind of this happy medium, sweet spot where they’re closer to bigger cities and have all the things people are looking for.
And so a lot of times, many remote workers will find these midsize cities like Northwest Arkansas and move here because they see all the benefits of that mid-sized city structure.
So, we have people that are leaving big cities in droves. We have people that are looking to move to mid-sized cities because of remote work and different job opportunities.
NWA is a wonderful place to move to! Find out the REAL Reasons People Move To Northwest Arkansas
Also, I have a 3-day itinerary that can help you decide what activities to do if you’re overwhelmed by everything Northwest Arkansas has to offer.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a foodie, a sports person, a sightseer, or want to spend quality time with your kids; I have something for you. Check out the link below to learn more:
https://www.allthingsnwa.com/3-day-itinerary-northwest-arkansas
Moving to a More Favorable Environment
And thirdly, people are looking to move to areas that are more favorable for raising families, finding friends, building communities, having businesses, and also just getting ahead in life.
We all know that if you want to move to LA, you’re not going to really get ahead. How many people do you know that just have an apartment living in LA? To buy a house in LA is just not a thing. Buying a house in Seattle or Portland is really tough. Buying a house in the Chicagoland area is challenging. They’re so expensive. New York? Forget about it.
I don’t want to eliminate any other cities, but Northwest Arkansas, especially Fayetteville, which is rated as one of the most affordable places to live in America, is very affordable, and people can get ahead in life. They have great salaries down here, and you can find an affordable house, or if you want to rent for a while, the rent is very affordable.
It might be a little more challenging in downtown Bentonville or downtown Fayetteville. You might have to go on the outskirts a little bit, but the thing is that you can definitely get ahead in Northwest Arkansas because the environment here is way more friendly towards getting ahead.
And so a lot of people are coming here because they see the opportunity, see all the up-and-coming things happening here, and wonder why they’re staying in LA or Chicago, or Dallas, or Austin.
So, they’re moving here because they see the potential for getting ahead, raising a family, and finding a community. All the different things that people find meaning in, they’re finding right here in Northwest Arkansas.
If you’re an outdoorsy person who doesn’t like biking (or hiking), check out my other article about five different outdoor activities that don’t include biking or hiking.
Essential Businesses
The last part I want to talk about is the fact that whenever recessions or kind of a crunch time happens, the one thing that we always need to be aware of is that the essential businesses will always succeed.
Hence, Walmart, Tyson, J.B. Hunt, all the medical startups here, all the different transportation startups here, all the university stuff that’s happening here, all the patents, and all the different things that are happening here.
And this is where it dovetails into Northwest Arkansas. But even if you have a mid-sized city or, let’s say, for instance, if you are in an environment where there are those essential businesses, transportation, food, farming, and any sort of like, brick-and-mortar store kind of stuff, those are going to be completely fine.
And usually, honestly, a little side note, whenever there’s a recession happening, and you need to crunch dollars, you start thinking, rethinking about where you spend your money when you buy groceries.
A lot of times, as people, we think we can go to Whole Foods. We can go to whatever, but when money becomes money, and it becomes tighter, we start thinking about what’s the most affordable place to get food, and the first two places we often think about are ALDI and Walmart.
And so I want to dovetail that to the next part, but essentially the core of this last little bit is that essential businesses will be completely fine and probably do very well because people always need to have those essential businesses.
Northwest Arkansas Itinerary
So maybe you’re an adventurer. Maybe you’re a sportsperson. Maybe you’re into arts and culture. Maybe you’re a foodie. Maybe you have kids. I made a three-day itinerary for Northwest Arkansas because one of the things you’ll quickly realize coming down here is there’s so much to do.
The three-day itinerary will help you focus on some of those amazing core things you can accomplish in three days. Trust me, there’s more to do than three days, but those three days are top-tier-level stuff in Northwest Arkansas. So go ahead and download the three-day itinerary.
Conclusion
We’ve looked at a rough framework of how the recession affects Northwest Arkansas, and we’re setting up why it will be potentially more sheltered from any sort of financial recession in the future.
We’ll also look at how it can actually benefit because there are so many people moving here, and more people will be escaping out of these larger cities. Head on over to part two to read more about the recession and Northwest Arkansas!