Oracle Moving HQ to Austin • Hacker News Board

Re: Oracle Moving HQ to Austin

#111

Post by lotsofpulp » Fri, Dec 11, 2020, 10:17 PM UTC

tidepod12 wrote: post #105

lotsofpulp wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The Californians, after years of having higher salary, more savings, and a job that lets them move, goes to Texas and offers $400k for that same house. Nobody pays more for something just because they have more savings. They pay more because they might be getting outbid by someone. I don't see the purpose of characterizing that as "California exporting higher costs of living". People with more money outbid people wi…

>Nobody pays more for something just because they have more savings. They pay more because they might be getting outbid by someone. No, they pay more because they can afford it . When a bidding war starts between a Californian and a Texan for the same house, the Texan loses every time because they can't bid as high as the Californian. It isn't just housing, either. When a new grocery store opens up in one of these ne…

It seems like we're saying the same thing, except that I am claiming it is unremarkable, or trivial. People with more resources have been outbidding people with fewer resources since forever, and whether they're from China or California or Kansas or the other side of town is irrelevant.

Re: Oracle Moving HQ to Austin

#112

Post by adventured » Fri, Dec 11, 2020, 10:17 PM UTC

tidepod12 wrote: post #44

nordsieck wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How long before all the Californians make Austin the exact same place they fled from? That is a concern. But part of SF's problems is structural: transportation and new construction are constrained by water. That is much less of a concern in Austin.

Have you ever been to Austin? It has the worst transportation network in the entire state of Texas, and that's a really low bar. The bus network is mediocre at best, the rail system (actually only one line) is practically useless, and there's only two highways that are notoriously gridlocked at all hours, even in non rush-hour.

The context of SF and Austin are obviously entirely different in terms of direction, momentum, it makes sense Austin wouldn't yet have a great public transportation system.

Austin TX wasn't rich 20 years ago, where was the money going to come from to build a nice transportation network? It's booming at present and will be very rich 20 years from now (most likely). It has a bad transportation network because it was underdeveloped for the prior decades as with much of Texas. The question going forward is what they'll do with their growth and rising affluence, how they'll utilize that (or not).

Re: Oracle Moving HQ to Austin

#113

Post by bsder » Fri, Dec 11, 2020, 10:17 PM UTC

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #30

A4ET8a8uTh0 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are being downvoted for a seemingly flippant remark, but someone should really check whether senior execs conveniently are already well positioned to move there.

They are being downvoted because people who live in Austin think it's laughable that execs are moving to Austin because it's some cushy vacation spot. Execs are moving to Austin from CA for the exact same reason a huge chunk of the rest of the techies are moving to Austin: 1. No state income tax. 2. Comparatively cheaper home prices, though with news link this perhaps not for long, centrally located Austin single fam…

> 3. Vibrant tech and VC community - not at the same level as SV but a not-too-distant second-or-third.

Uh, no.

Austin has a lousy VC community. There are countless articles about it.

And, as for tech, for software it's mainly only Tivoli alums--and a lot of the best ones decamped for greener (read: better salary not in Austin) pastures. IBM as a technical presence has been gone forever (the Advanced Workstation Division was quite amazing and IBM Somerset was one of the PowerPC development arenas). Apple just came in so hasn't spun anybody out yet.

Re: Oracle Moving HQ to Austin

#114

Post by redelbee » Fri, Dec 11, 2020, 10:18 PM UTC

orliesaurus wrote: post #23

I live in Austin, Oracle has a huge campus here that looks as big as an airport building with terminals/gates and all the trimmings. It's a beautiful building that gentrified the whole area, for better or worse. I ate there a couple of times, it's nice inside too! I love biking/walking around the Oracle campus area because they made a bike path and the area is safer than it was before. That being said, I know a coupl…

>I love biking/walking around the Oracle campus area because they made a bike path and the area is safer than it was before.

That general area of the Town Lake trail was always my starting point for runs. My favorite “section” was definitely the trail on either side of the dam. I would park in the lot across the lake from the now Oracle campus and start most of my runs there. I ran thousands of miles with that as my starting point (I was training for ultramarathons) and never felt unsafe. That started in 2010 so I can’t speak to safety before then.

I liked the character of those neighborhoods and everything they had to offer. The JuiceLand on Cesar Chavez always brought out the most interesting characters in various states of mind on Saturday and Sunday mornings. There was always a pickup basketball game going at the Metz Neighborhood Park, and sometimes I would take a break there to refuel and watch for a few baskets. The Oracle campus is on the other side of the lake from there but I think it still had an influence on the neighborhood even that far removed. I won’t say it was a completely negative influence, but it definitely made things less interesting to me. The east side in general was trending in that direction though, so I’m sure it wasn’t all at the feet of Oracle.

I don’t live in Austin now. It was nice to reminisce about long runs on Town Lake so thanks for that!

Re: Oracle Moving HQ to Austin

#115

Post by tidepod12 » Fri, Dec 11, 2020, 10:18 PM UTC

avl999 wrote: post #100

tidepod12 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Californians in LA/SF are used to paying $800k for a house, and the Cali salaries are high enough to support it. A Texan in Dallas/Austin is used to paying $250k for that same house, and has a relatively lower salary to match. The Californians, after years of having higher salary, more savings, and a job that lets them move, goes to Texas and offers $400k for that same house. The Californian thinks it's a great deal,…

> The Californians, after years of having higher salary, more savings, and a job that lets them move, goes to Texas and offers $400k for that same house. The Californian thinks it's a great deal, because they get the same size house they previously lived in for only half the price! And the seller thinks it's great, because he now suddenly gets a huge premium on his previously-valued-at-$250k-house. All of the real es…

The supply of housing isn't a problem in Texas, but "supply and demand" isn't the end of the story. When two Texans want the same house, a bidding war is artificially capped (at, say $300k) because that's all the average Texan can afford. But when a Californian moves in with high net worth and a higher paying job, they can bid much higher, and they don't mind doing so (the mindset I have personally heard from most CA transplants to Dallas is that they don't care if they paid more than the average Texan pays, because at the end of the day they're still paying less than half what they were paying in CA).

And then there's the issue of property taxes. A Texan lives in his nice $250k house and pays $X/year in property taxes. Then someone comes in and buys the house next to them for $400k/yr. Suddenly this neighborhood is now appraised at a much higher value than before, and the Texan's property taxes are now twice as high, bordering on the edge of unaffordable. I've personally seen several people be priced out of an area due to this.

Re: Oracle Moving HQ to Austin

#116

Post by monocasa » Fri, Dec 11, 2020, 10:19 PM UTC

lotsofpulp wrote: post #95

tidepod12 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Californians in LA/SF are used to paying $800k for a house, and the Cali salaries are high enough to support it. A Texan in Dallas/Austin is used to paying $250k for that same house, and has a relatively lower salary to match. The Californians, after years of having higher salary, more savings, and a job that lets them move, goes to Texas and offers $400k for that same house. The Californian thinks it's a great deal,…

>The Californians, after years of having higher salary, more savings, and a job that lets them move, goes to Texas and offers $400k for that same house. Nobody pays more for something just because they have more savings. They pay more because they might be getting outbid by someone. I don't see the purpose of characterizing that as "California exporting higher costs of living". People with more money outbid people wi…

At least in Denver, it's common to see Californians come in and for the first offer drop down 20% over asking. No bidding war. They want to guarantee they get the house _without_ having to deal with a bidding war, and have enough savings that the marginal cost of each of those dollars is less than those living and working in Denver.

Re: Oracle Moving HQ to Austin

#117

Post by tidepod12 » Fri, Dec 11, 2020, 10:20 PM UTC

lotsofpulp wrote: post #111

tidepod12 wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Nobody pays more for something just because they have more savings. They pay more because they might be getting outbid by someone. No, they pay more because they can afford it . When a bidding war starts between a Californian and a Texan for the same house, the Texan loses every time because they can't bid as high as the Californian. It isn't just housing, either. When a new grocery store opens up in one of these ne…

It seems like we're saying the same thing, except that I am claiming it is unremarkable, or trivial. People with more resources have been outbidding people with fewer resources since forever, and whether they're from China or California or Kansas or the other side of town is irrelevant.

If you think discussing the effects that people moving from CA to Texas has is irrelevant when we are literally in a thread specifically about the effects of people moving from CA to Texas, I dunno what to tell you.

Re: Oracle Moving HQ to Austin

#118

Post by hbcondo714 » Fri, Dec 11, 2020, 10:20 PM UTC

whatok wrote: post #2

Relevant text: Oracle is implementing a more flexible employee work location policy and has changed its Corporate Headquarters from Redwood City, California to Austin, Texas. We believe these moves best position Oracle for growth and provide our personnel with more flexibility about where and how they work. Depending on their role, this means that many of our employees can choose their office location as well as cont…

Name anchor link to this text: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1341439/000156459020...

Interesting this sentence is at the end of this 40+ page document under the section "Other Information". The very first page says 2300 Oracle Way Austin, Texas but their previous quarterly reports shows 500 Oracle Parkway Redwood City, California

Re: Oracle Moving HQ to Austin

#119

Post by warmfuzzykitten » Fri, Dec 11, 2020, 10:21 PM UTC

1helloworld1 wrote: post #18

Shouldn't the republican party be worried? If the trend continues and a lot of companies move from California to Texas bringing along a lot of liberal employees with them, won't that tip the already narrowing margin towards the democratic party?

It won't be a problem for local republican politicians as long as people keep moving to already democratic locations like Austin, whose impact has already been gerrymandered away.

https://www.texastribune.org/2020/11/13/texas-redistricting-...

Re: Oracle Moving HQ to Austin

#120

Post by tinyhouse » Fri, Dec 11, 2020, 10:21 PM UTC

abfan1127 wrote: post #110

tinyhouse wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? Never been in Phoenix but I saw last summer they had some heat waves reaching temperatures around 120F (on top of being very humid). Why is it popular?

Phoenix is a very dry heat, very little humidity. 120F is toasty, but its nothing a pool and margarita can't solve :). Our winters are fantastic. We have 300+ days of sun shine! We are 2-3 hours to the Mexican beaches, 2 hours to snow for snowboard/ski (flagstaff), lots of golf, lots of hiking, lots of Tech work (Motorola was a monster back in its day, Intel has a huge presence, Godaddy, Paypal, the list goes on), Ba…

Oh right it's dry, confused it with Houston :) But still, an average high above 100F for 4 months is pretty brutal. I'm guessing people don't spend much time outside during the summer months (during the day at least), unless it involves some water activity.