Yes, I've said exactly this a bunch of times. My advice to young programmers is always this: work for a while in a city with high salaries and lots of demand, then after some years when you are experienced and high value (genuinely so), make the jump to remote, move to a smaller, less expensive place and buy a house. I honestly think this is the best life advice I can give and I wish I'd done it a decade sooner than I did.