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Tech Workers Take to the Mountains, Bringing Silicon Valley with Them

wsj.com

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Re: Tech Workers Take to the Mountains, Bringing Silicon Valley with Them

#81

Post by vmception »

code4tee wrote: post #59

I saw a great quote recently that said something like “Everyone loves work from home until you lose a deal to the competition that turned up to your customer in person.” There’s an element of truth to this. Best advice I’ve heard is to say the draw for living in a city may go away but you need to be close. Living in the middle of nowhere isn’t going to look like such a great idea when people start gathering together…

and the people that survive in the denser environments will - by nature - be more fit to acquire goods and resources

so its unlikely that everyone in their remote prepper bunker will remain competitive just because we have video phone in the 21st century

Re: Tech Workers Take to the Mountains, Bringing Silicon Valley with Them

#82

Post by blantonl »

I own a number of pieces of property in Whitefish Montana, where I decamped to the second my children were released from school for COVID reasons in March (we split time between TX and MT). Given what I felt were going to be significant economic disruptions due to unemployment and drops in income, I prepared myself with the understanding that our little resort town was going to be facing some hard times. Usually, small resort towns tend to take it on the chin when the economy turns.

Boy was I wrong.

Once the initial shock of lifestyle changes happened due to COVID, people FLOODED the area and any piece of real estate not bolted down was flying off the shelves and bought for cash unseen. I sold a small lot in the Whitefish City limits for a significant capital gain, after buying it for what I thought then was at the top of the market in 2019. I've been offered cash for home-run-knock-it-out-of-the-park prices for my retirement home property that are simply unfathomable. The only reason why I don't sell is because I treat this property like I do my two labrador retrievers - everything has a price, but I'm not interested in selling. :)

There is a lot of angst in Whitefish over the changes - all the building and influx of money really helps the local economy, but the quality of life (traffic, etc) is suffering. It's the age old dichotomy for a small Montana popular town.

Re: Tech Workers Take to the Mountains, Bringing Silicon Valley with Them

#83

Post by tjr225 »

nendroid wrote: post #2

I think the migration out of the bay will make it a more reasonable place to live. We do have some of the best weather in the world. I'm going to gamble on staying. Hopefully this isn't like detroit.

> Hopefully this isn't like detroit.

Even if it became more like Detroit you'd still have what Detroit can never have- nice weather and unbeatable nature right outside your doorstep.

Re: Tech Workers Take to the Mountains, Bringing Silicon Valley with Them

#84

Post by davidw »

iaw wrote: post #61
davidw wrote: post #31

I can't read the article, but this appears to be hitting us hard here in Bend, Oregon. House prices were already high and only appear to be going higher. I think more people could be a great thing if we get them involved locally, and if we add enough housing to accommodate them, which is tricky right now. As someone involved with a local YIMBY group, it's tough to see the prices - it felt like we were making some pro…

In 1978 California passed the ill-conceived Proposition 13 which encourages people to keep houses rather than sell them through lower tax rates for longer ownership. California has almost 40M residents and Oregon has a bit over 4M, even a fraction of those 40M going north to Oregon is going to overload the housing market there.

Yep. Oregon has something similar in Measures 5 & 50, and it distorts our market as well.

I follow CA housing politics fairly closely because, as you point out, they are important in Oregon too. It has been really dismaying to see them consistently fail to pass the kinds of reform they need.

Re: Tech Workers Take to the Mountains, Bringing Silicon Valley with Them

#85

Post by stanrivers »

didibus wrote: post #73
d1zzy wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That seems obvious to me: lowering your cost of living means you are willing to accept $X-1, or if you personally don't want to another person that also moved out of high priced living area may accept a lower salary (so they get your job). Otherwise why did companies even have different compensation tiers for same type of work across US regions? Just because it takes some time for the market to price the changes it d…

True, also there is now a bigger talent pool to choose from, since you don't need to worry about finding candidates willing to relocate, that means more employees to choose from.

Ok - This is fair - as you make it easier to work from other places, you increase employee supply. That resets the balance. Good points.

Re: Tech Workers Take to the Mountains, Bringing Silicon Valley with Them

#86

Post by stevenj »

blantonl wrote: post #82

I own a number of pieces of property in Whitefish Montana, where I decamped to the second my children were released from school for COVID reasons in March (we split time between TX and MT). Given what I felt were going to be significant economic disruptions due to unemployment and drops in income, I prepared myself with the understanding that our little resort town was going to be facing some hard times. Usually, sma…

I don't live in Whitefish (nor Montana), but I love it - it's such a cool town!

What do you think about Bigfork as a place for future investment/growth?

Re: Tech Workers Take to the Mountains, Bringing Silicon Valley with Them

#87

Post by robocat »

code4tee wrote: post #59

I saw a great quote recently that said something like “Everyone loves work from home until you lose a deal to the competition that turned up to your customer in person.” There’s an element of truth to this. Best advice I’ve heard is to say the draw for living in a city may go away but you need to be close. Living in the middle of nowhere isn’t going to look like such a great idea when people start gathering together…

> I saw a great quote

I recall that being in Matt Levine’s Money Stuff (I did a search for it, however I didn’t find it.)

Re: Tech Workers Take to the Mountains, Bringing Silicon Valley with Them

#88

Post by cusp »

One thing we really like about where we’re living now (peninsula) is there are a lot of mixed race couples with kids and our kids feel this is totally normal.

We’re considering moving but worried that our kids will have a tough time fitting in, especially given how divided our country is.

For other mixed race parents looking to move, do you have similar concerns?

Re: Tech Workers Take to the Mountains, Bringing Silicon Valley with Them

#89

Post by ghaff »

sna1l wrote: post #46

I think the burst of tech workers moving out of Silicon Valley/SF into surrounding suburbs + other areas is driven mostly by people who were already on the cusp of leaving the city. I've been thinking about leaving SF to move to the East Bay for the last couple years, and COVID-19 has provided a very strong impetus to expedite that move. Obviously this is anecdotal, and everyone has their own motives, but I haven't h…

I would guess that's pretty accurate. Either renters decamping somewhere cheaper/nicer/less crowded for the duration. Or people who were toying with moving out and switching those plans into high gear.

Re: Tech Workers Take to the Mountains, Bringing Silicon Valley with Them

#90

Post by triceratops »

stanrivers wrote: post #3

Are companies going to start adjusting salaries for people who move (this makes zero sense to me, the value you add most likely doesn’t change because of where you live)? That’s where this gets weird... people move to these better-to-live places and then all the employers decides to pay them less because of location. Then you just push up housing prices with salaries that slowly reset over time to be cost of living a…

This "your salary = your value add" meme has never made any sense to me. In a fair world that should be the case, but it never has been and never will be. Proof: offshore outsourcing.
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