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Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

wsj.com

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Re: Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

#11

Post by gpapilion »

propter_hoc wrote: post #9
cjlars wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Three possibilities: 1. All the bay area companies realize they can employ the best talent remotely from around the country (globe?) successfully. The SF pay premium drops. 2. Bay Area companies pay according to cost of living, many remotely. Some people move, some stay. SF pay premium holds. 3. Everyone realizes the pre pandemic normal was right all along and having a lot of talented people in the same building matt…

I agree, although if the premise of the article is true, #1 is the implied outcome.

We already know #1 isn’t true. Facebook, and Twitter both reduce salaries for remote workers.

They probably still pay a local premium but that isn’t different from the Bay Area in general.

Re: Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

#12

Post by andromeduck »

Having moved back to Vancouver for a few weeks it's honestly so refreshing to, be back. Living in SF for a few years kind of makes you forget what being in a half functioning city is like. It's safer, it's cleaner, the people friendlier, the discourse less polarized/toxic, and the public transit isn't garbage.

Re: Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

#13

Post by andromeduck »

cjlars wrote: post #8
dclusin wrote: post #6

I got a job offer from Capital One several years ago in Richmond, VA. I liked the location and the company but my current gig is paying over twice as much in San Jose, CA. I just don't see this panning out on a large scale once people realize that their paychecks will also drop significantly when they move away.

Three possibilities: 1. All the bay area companies realize they can employ the best talent remotely from around the country (globe?) successfully. The SF pay premium drops. 2. Bay Area companies pay according to cost of living, many remotely. Some people move, some stay. SF pay premium holds. 3. Everyone realizes the pre pandemic normal was right all along and having a lot of talented people in the same building matt…

4. Everyone realizes effects are important but also that there is pent up demand for non-sf locations, second tier hubs get more traction, SF premium slowly erodes.

Re: Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

#14

Post by tempsy »

Cactus2018 wrote: post #10

A) The linked WSJ article claims "The median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco in the month of July dropped by 11% compared with the same month a year prior, according to rental-listings platform Zumper, which analyzed nearly 11,000 listings in the city and several surrounding areas." http://archive.is/CZeTm However, B) A different article, dated 8/3/2020, claims: "In San Francisco, Zillow says rent p…

Rents have definitely gone down much more than "just a barely noticeable" amount. Yes, this is anecdotal, but I check studios and 1-bedrooms almost religiously on Craigslist and places in neighborhoods I check are at least 10% cheaper from what I've found compared to last year and there are far more concessions (e.g. free month of rent) than I've ever seen.

I also negotiated my own rent down in my studio after my lease was up. Only 5% but kept my month-to-month.

Re: Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

#15

Post by [deleted] »

andromeduck wrote: post #12

Having moved back to Vancouver for a few weeks it's honestly so refreshing to, be back. Living in SF for a few years kind of makes you forget what being in a half functioning city is like. It's safer, it's cleaner, the people friendlier, the discourse less polarized/toxic, and the public transit isn't garbage.

[deleted]

Re: Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

#16

Post by sdoering »

amw-zero wrote: post #4
aminozuur wrote: post #2

I applaud this trend. I am in the 60% of people[1] who prefer to work from home, and spend more time with loved ones and less time rushing to get to the office. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/05/business/pandemic-work-fr...

I’m very skeptical that 60% of all people prefer to work from home. In my experience, it’s a small but vocal minority who don’t value the social component of an office. I think work from home should totally be optional, but why do work-from-homers assume that everyone else likes to work that way? I do not.

During the soft lockdown in Germany we had an internal questionnaire. The results are surely skewed because of the conditions (parents needing to act as teachers, because of closed schools; people having no real office equipment at home like a desk and stuff like that). None the less around 30% answered that they would prefer full time work from home for the future. About one third wanted to return to the office as fast as possible. And the rest stated that they would prefer some days in the office, some remote.

Re: Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

#17

Post by prostoalex »

cjlars wrote: post #8
dclusin wrote: post #6

I got a job offer from Capital One several years ago in Richmond, VA. I liked the location and the company but my current gig is paying over twice as much in San Jose, CA. I just don't see this panning out on a large scale once people realize that their paychecks will also drop significantly when they move away.

Three possibilities: 1. All the bay area companies realize they can employ the best talent remotely from around the country (globe?) successfully. The SF pay premium drops. 2. Bay Area companies pay according to cost of living, many remotely. Some people move, some stay. SF pay premium holds. 3. Everyone realizes the pre pandemic normal was right all along and having a lot of talented people in the same building matt…

Feels like we've been through #1 with the wave of Indian outsourcing prophesied to eat up US IT industry 20 years ago.

If Austin or Denver offer employees at a discount, why not Manila and Bangalore?

Re: Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

#18

Post by bluedevil2k »

It’s odd they don’t mention the sky high taxes in California as a driving force for the exodus and the fact the Gavin Newsom wants to raise them even more to cover Covid shortages. There’s only so much you can squeeze out of people before they’ll pack up an go.

Re: Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

#19

Post by Shivetya »

Somehow completely ignoring the issue with how the homeless have made many areas of the city uninviting. The pandemic is being exploited by both business and politicians alike to mask underlying issues in hopes of getting a free pass. The old don't look behind the curtain. Protest violence isn't helping any city; and the lie about Federal agents causing it was silences with continued violence long after they left; and the long term change to where people want to live from the confluence of the pandemic, protest violence, and costs, is all coming to haunt our cities.

Re: Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

#20

Post by x87678r »

Whenever I see % increase as a headline you can be confident that its using percentages in order to make a misleading point.

Sure enough a few paragraphs down:

> It should be noted that San Francisco had an unusually low inventory relative to other large cities prior to the pandemic.

Maybe there are a lot of people selling, but you can ignore this particular stat.

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