Is that why I have gotten several phone calls over the last few months from people asking if I'm interested in selling my house, many saying they will pay above current market rates and in cash?

I'm not in a big city. I'm in a county with a population density of around 600/mi^2, where the biggest city population is 40k and second biggest is about half that. My house is a little bit outside a town that is only about 10k.

It's about an hour on a good day to commute from here to the nearest big city.

It's not a place I'd expect there to be a lot of interest in speculative house buying...but I'm getting the calls and can't think of what else they might be.