While I've successfully managed distributed teams (and there are a number of companies that do it heavily), working remotely is not a panacea. There is definite

While I've successfully managed distributed teams (and there are a number of companies that do it heavily), working remotely is not a panacea. There is definitely something to be said for face-to-face communications. People miss out on a lot of hallway conversations when they aren't in the same place. There are a lot of other tribal dynamics that come into play when you separate people, even when they're at opposite ends of the same building. Even a company like Google with global presence and an amazing proprietary internal video chat system generally discourages remote working and often defrags teams (reorganizes them so they are all in the same geography). And while it may be possible to get your current employer to let you move out of state, many employers are going to be reluctant to hire someone who is already remote and is an unknown quantity in terms of output. This potentially limits job mobility, one of the perks of living in a tech hub.