Getty Images; Alyssa Powell/BI
Emily Nations found her slice of the good life in April. After her Nashville-area apartment flooded for a third time earlier this spring, she started to look around for a new place to live. She briefly thought about buying a home a few years ago, but that wasn't even a consideration this time around — the costs of a down payment and mortgage were too steep. Instead, she ditched her old lease and signed on at a brand-new apartment complex just north of downtown.
"The market is insane right now," Nations, a 31-year-old who works in hospitality, told me. "It makes no sense to even try and buy."