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Google pays $250M for Sunnyvale offices where 3,000 could work

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Re: Google pays $250M for Sunnyvale offices where 3,000 could work

#41

Post by bane »

yes_or_gnome wrote: post #12
cpeterso wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google already buses its employees from all corners of the Bay. So they know there is talent outside of the Peninsula.

Right. But, there's still the time cost of commuting. If you pay a premium to live in SF, then you're not going to want to commute 90-120 minutes so South Bay. Then another 90 minutes back at night. In that situation, you'd be paying a premium to live in cramped quarters, in a city with thousands of things to do, but have zero time to do any of it during the week. I meet people on Caltrain coming from Gilroy commutin…

So Google et al. should start putting offices in Gilroy, etc.

Re: Google pays $250M for Sunnyvale offices where 3,000 could work

#42

Post by tyingq »

bane wrote: post #39
tyingq wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just for comparison, that would cover PITI for a 15 year mortgage of around $330k. In cheaper parts of the country, like Dallas, that would net you a 4br 2000+ sq foot home on a 1/2 acre in an affluent suburb.

Mortgages also don't go up once you're in, so they decrease as a percentage of living cost over time (assuming no change in income), while rents go up roughly with inflation.

Agreed, although property taxes and insurance typically do go up. How much that matters varies greatly by location.

Re: Google pays $250M for Sunnyvale offices where 3,000 could work

#43

Post by Johnnybe »

ethagknight wrote: post #27
mtbcoder wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why stop there though? Why not open up shop near a university town with a low cost of living? Steady supply of interns, new hires, R&D partnerships, etc. Culture in a university town, while not on par with a major city, is generally quite well too.

As a real estate developer, I would love to see some more discussion on this thread. What would it take to get a major tech company to relocate an office or two from Bay Area to much cheaper regions. Obvious items would be network effects, primarily access to skilled labor and capital. What else? Cheap, frequent flights to the mothership? Has Google fiber and the likes had any real impact on luring tech workers out?…

Google already has offices all around the world. They are already doing this.

Re: Google pays $250M for Sunnyvale offices where 3,000 could work

#44

Post by DINKDINK »

mtbcoder wrote: post #26
yitchelle wrote: post #21

I don't get why Google and others are not going out of the valley to nearby cities like Sacramento? The difference in property acquisition is probably pocket change to the company, but I reckon the quality of life to the Googlers, Facebookers etc would be vastly different.

Why stop there though? Why not open up shop near a university town with a low cost of living? Steady supply of interns, new hires, R&D partnerships, etc. Culture in a university town, while not on par with a major city, is generally quite well too.

Might you be able to test this out for yourself? Is your job location the main reason you don't live in your university town? For me it's not.

Re: Google pays $250M for Sunnyvale offices where 3,000 could work

#45

Post by tallanvor »

mtbcoder wrote: post #26
yitchelle wrote: post #21

I don't get why Google and others are not going out of the valley to nearby cities like Sacramento? The difference in property acquisition is probably pocket change to the company, but I reckon the quality of life to the Googlers, Facebookers etc would be vastly different.

Why stop there though? Why not open up shop near a university town with a low cost of living? Steady supply of interns, new hires, R&D partnerships, etc. Culture in a university town, while not on par with a major city, is generally quite well too.

It can be hard to find people who actually want to live there. It's one thing to have a stream of new interns and even fresh college grads, but what do you do when they constantly want to move somewhere else after a year or two?

Re: Google pays $250M for Sunnyvale offices where 3,000 could work

#46

Post by cybette »

b212 wrote: post #17

I find it crazy how the big IT companies are still willing to pay almost a million a worker per office (most likely much more if you count running costs), any idea why Google is not hiring more people remotely? I mean, if that's a modern IT company that cares for employees it would be the case, I'd rather make $100k in different state or even country, than pay $5k for rent in the bay...

While it's not a million a worker, I think providing and even promoting remote working can be beneficial overall. I work remotely and it saves money for both me and my company. There's also less stress associated with commuting. Remote work is not for everyone (nor possible for all job functions), but companies and employees should give it more consideration. https://remote.co/10-stats-about-remote-work/

Re: Google pays $250M for Sunnyvale offices where 3,000 could work

#47

Post by ZanyProgrammer »

perryh2 wrote: post #14
codezero wrote: post #8

Recently my rent in Sunnyvale for a nice two bedroom went up to $2900* a month from $2100 Looks like the trend will continue. *not including trash and utilities.

You can easily rent a bedroom in an older house or multi-room apartment for around $1000-1200 in Palo Alto, Mountain View, and Sunnyvale though. A few of my coworkers do this.

I recently moved from the Bay Area to get rid of this-as you get older, interviewing with people (often for fucking culture fit) for the privilege of sharing a bedroom gets really, really old (I just want to pay rent and mind my own business). There's something to be said about living as an adult and having your own place.

Re: Google pays $250M for Sunnyvale offices where 3,000 could work

#48

Post by tallanvor »

ethagknight wrote: post #27
mtbcoder wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why stop there though? Why not open up shop near a university town with a low cost of living? Steady supply of interns, new hires, R&D partnerships, etc. Culture in a university town, while not on par with a major city, is generally quite well too.

As a real estate developer, I would love to see some more discussion on this thread. What would it take to get a major tech company to relocate an office or two from Bay Area to much cheaper regions. Obvious items would be network effects, primarily access to skilled labor and capital. What else? Cheap, frequent flights to the mothership? Has Google fiber and the likes had any real impact on luring tech workers out?…

People have to want to live there, otherwise you're very limited in your recruiting pool to people either already in that region, or possibly people from that region.

As an example, I work in Oslo, and we have offices in Trondheim and Tromso as well due to the universities in those cities. Recruiting people to work in Oslo is quite easy, but almost nobody is willing to move to Trondheim or Tromso unless they were looking to move back there anyway.

Re: Google pays $250M for Sunnyvale offices where 3,000 could work

#49

Post by ZanyProgrammer »

yes_or_gnome wrote: post #12
cpeterso wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google already buses its employees from all corners of the Bay. So they know there is talent outside of the Peninsula.

Right. But, there's still the time cost of commuting. If you pay a premium to live in SF, then you're not going to want to commute 90-120 minutes so South Bay. Then another 90 minutes back at night. In that situation, you'd be paying a premium to live in cramped quarters, in a city with thousands of things to do, but have zero time to do any of it during the week. I meet people on Caltrain coming from Gilroy commutin…

"You have to decide, do I want to drastically overpay for where I live to be close to SF?"

Of course, if you make good tech money (say, anything over 200K) then its a moot issue-you can overpay for ridiculously priced 1-2 bedroom apartments, and still have money left over to save/indulge with.

Re: Google pays $250M for Sunnyvale offices where 3,000 could work

#50

Post by ZanyProgrammer »

Johnnybe wrote: post #43
ethagknight wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a real estate developer, I would love to see some more discussion on this thread. What would it take to get a major tech company to relocate an office or two from Bay Area to much cheaper regions. Obvious items would be network effects, primarily access to skilled labor and capital. What else? Cheap, frequent flights to the mothership? Has Google fiber and the likes had any real impact on luring tech workers out?…

Google already has offices all around the world. They are already doing this.

But aren't a lot of those offices either 1. much smaller than MV or 2. not engineering offices?
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