I grew up in a community like this, in a family operating on your set of assumptions. The problem isn't losing half the value of your property. The problem is

I grew up in a community like this, in a family operating on your set of assumptions. The problem isn't losing half the value of your property. The problem is that after 20 years, moving on isn't as easy as it sounds. More importantly, selling at any price is way more difficult that it sounds. If you don't GTFO early enough, the muni has lost a ton of revenue without right-sizing so the remaining owners on are on the hook for huge property taxes just to service the debt (further suppressing demand at literally any price). And there are all sorts of reasons you might not GTFO in time. Just two more years until the first kid is done with HS. And now just two more years for the next kid; still seems unfair to move them. And so on. And then just 2 more years until you've saved up enough for that dream place in the mountains. And then it's too late. So you are stuck with this albatross that you literally cannot sell. Property values, even at $1, are totally hypothetical. There is no buy side of the market. At all. Enjoy your property taxes, or figuring out how to abandon the property. It's the suburban muni equivalent of a condo unit that is attractively priced but won't ever move because a contingent of geriatric owners have managed to run up $2k/mo HOA fees by unwittingly turning the condo association into an assisted living facility (but not making it far enough to actually be an assisted living facility).