In the After – our now – when houses sell they often remain empty – sometimes for years. Which makes one wonder about who bought them.

And why.

There are two such houses on my country road, which is not far from the middle of nowhere, in rural SW Virginia. One of these was owned by a friend of mine who had to sell because he got divorced and lost his house. That was more than a year ago now – and the house remains unoccupied. Another house up the road also sold about six months ago – and has yet to be occupied.

Interestingly, both houses sold almost immediately – as in within 24 hours of being listed – and at wildly inflated (for this area) prices.

This is apparently happening all over the country, perhaps on account of the dearth of new construction caused by the Biden Thing's uncontrolled demolition of supply chains. There is also the factor of affluent people selling their homes in places such as the DC suburbs and so on at even more wildly inflated prices, using the proceeds to get out of those areas before the next round of "lockdowns," which are less "practiced" in more rural areas.

Or at least it was happening, until the Thing's uncontrolled demolition of the economy triggered a rise in interest rates – which appears to have popped this bubbly real-estate market.

It still does not explain what is going on with these houses that have been selling that no one's living in.

That's what houses are for, after all. Wouldn't you think it strange if car dealership lots were full up with cars that had been sold?