It's my story.  It's my wife's story.

It seems to be an ever more frequent story these days.

I left Maryland back in 1996 to attend JMU.  I graduated in 2000 and again in 2002 - got married in 2002 (19 years ago yesterday!) and Shaena and I decided to stay in Harrisonburg.  Some years later both of my sisters (though not my brother) were also in Harrisonburg and it wasn't too much of a surprise that my parents relocated to Harrisonburg after my dad retired.

With Shaena and her sister both living in Harrisonburg when their parents retired, it also wasn't too much of a surprise that they relocated to Harrisonburg after retiring.

And so it seems to go for lots of folks these days.  I frequently find myself working with home buyers who are the parents of JMU or EMU graduates who are either...

[1]  Buying a second home in Harrisonburg to be able to spend more time in Harrisonburg with their kids and grand kids.

[2]  Relocating to Harrisonburg after retiring to be able to spend more time in Harrisonburg with their kids and grand kids.

...and a newer trend...

[3]  Relocating to Harrisonburg before retiring -- because Covid created an opportunity for them to work remotely -- to be able to spend more time in Harrisonburg with their kids and grand kids.

So, some part of the continuing strength of our local real estate market is the double impact of a local college student deciding to stay in this area after graduation.  They become Harrisonburg area residents -- and there then ends up being a decent chance that their parents may end up being Harrisonburg area residents at some point as well!

 

P.S.  I can't understate the impact of the grandkids.  Once the grandkids are on the scene, for some reason the grandparents are even more interested in considering relocating.  :-)