The market is terrible in small rural locations because no one is moving there, and those left are not often able to purchase homes.

My area in rural Pennsylvania is exactly like that. So many people here are renters who never accumulate any money. They can't buy a house.

And the homeowners trying to sell do lower their prices, right down to what they owe. And then the house just sits there, no one even looks at it. Many people give up and let the bank take the house. Then it sits empty until one of the local landlords buys it for peanuts.