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Amazon needs a new HQ because it can’t convince people to move to Seattle

9 points by SQL2219 9y ago

Amazon needs a second headquarters because it can’t convince people to move to Seattle where average home prices are $700k. If Amazon moved their HQ to Boston, home inflation would spike to 10-20% annually. Boston ($500k avg) will be Seattle in no time flat. How are you going to recruit outsiders when home inflation is off the charts? I would throw most of Colorado in the same boat as Boston, plus I don’t care for the Broncos. Amazon needs a market with some real estate runway: Dallas: $300k, Atlanta $185k. But Dallas is a cluster-f traffic nightmare. Atlanta traffic is a disaster also, but at least you could afford a home there.

pinewurst 9y ago
They need a new headquarters also because Amazon has such an evil local employer reputation that most new hires are moving in from cheaper real estate markets.
Finnucane 9y ago
Cities are gonna fall all over themselves offering Amazon all kinds of corporate welfare giveaways, but in reality, they should be demanding that Amazon pay for housing and transit improvements. Any mid-size city that takes them is going to have all of its infrastructure stressed.
rrggrr 9y ago
Chicago has a fairly stalled housing market, three two top notch universities churning out cheap smarts, and its the multimodal freight capital of North America. The weather would keep me from moving there, but otherwise i yhink its a great choice for Amazon.
- Matt_Mickiewicz 9y ago
  Except that it's the state closest to bankruptcy... and has the most underfunded pension system in the country. The state can't go bankrupt, and they can't print money, so they are raising taxes and as a result many people are leaving the state (500K emigrated in the last decade).
  - jetti 9y ago
    My wife and I bought a house in May and my mom wanted us to move to Northwest Indiana due to how bad Illinois has become and how hard it will be to sell property in the coming years due to the tax increase to pay off all the debt the state has from a lack of a budget for nearly 2 years. It has affected public education as well. The school district my wife teaches at relies on state money (she claims it is the only one outside of Chicago that does) and because of lack of budget and various debts the state owes there is not as much money for education. If things don't change shortly the district will have to shut down in February of 2018. If teachers want to stay past that they can but they just won't be paid. Now, granted this is the far southwest suburbs so it may not be exactly where the new amazon workers may live but it is still a reflection as the state as a whole.
hourislate 9y ago
I wonder if they are considering weather as part of the equation? DFW has very nice summers and the week of winter is pretty nice. Lots of land, plenty of wind power, great highways system, lots of talent. Seriously, why would they even consider any where else when more Companies on the S&P 500 call Texas home then any other state. It's their loss if they go anywhere else.
- solotronics 9y ago
  some local land developers submitted a plan to locate at the end of Houston street bridge in North Oak Cliff
- bradknowles 9y ago
  But in Dallas, they couldn’t come in and own the entire downtown. So, clearly that is a non-option. Now, Detroit — they could pretty much buy the entire city for a song, and then destroy whatever they want in order to build the new environment they want to see. But Debt-roit doesn’t have the greatest supply of techies, and they would have to spend a lot of money to make it a nice enough place that people would want to live there.
codeonfire 9y ago
Amazon has burned through thousands of employees trying to keep their dumber managers in power. Amazon HQ is not American friendly either. Americans can quit and therefore are less valued there. Amazon has a large population of immigrant line and middle managers. It is dumb to think those people are going to move east to a red state. And its large population of immigrant workers at its HQ will not work under non-immigrant line managers. Economic conditions in India and China have improved a lot since 1994 as well, so not so many people are eager to become visa slaves in Seattle.

9 points by SQL2219 9y ago

pinewurst 9y ago

They need a new headquarters also because Amazon has such an evil local employer reputation that most new hires are moving in from cheaper real estate markets.

Finnucane 9y ago

Cities are gonna fall all over themselves offering Amazon all kinds of corporate welfare giveaways, but in reality, they should be demanding that Amazon pay for housing and transit improvements. Any mid-size city that takes them is going to have all of its infrastructure stressed.

rrggrr 9y ago

Chicago has a fairly stalled housing market, three two top notch universities churning out cheap smarts, and its the multimodal freight capital of North America. The weather would keep me from moving there, but otherwise i yhink its a great choice for Amazon.

Matt_Mickiewicz 9y ago
Except that it's the state closest to bankruptcy... and has the most underfunded pension system in the country. The state can't go bankrupt, and they can't print money, so they are raising taxes and as a result many people are leaving the state (500K emigrated in the last decade).
- jetti 9y ago
  My wife and I bought a house in May and my mom wanted us to move to Northwest Indiana due to how bad Illinois has become and how hard it will be to sell property in the coming years due to the tax increase to pay off all the debt the state has from a lack of a budget for nearly 2 years. It has affected public education as well. The school district my wife teaches at relies on state money (she claims it is the only one outside of Chicago that does) and because of lack of budget and various debts the state owes there is not as much money for education. If things don't change shortly the district will have to shut down in February of 2018. If teachers want to stay past that they can but they just won't be paid. Now, granted this is the far southwest suburbs so it may not be exactly where the new amazon workers may live but it is still a reflection as the state as a whole.

hourislate 9y ago

I wonder if they are considering weather as part of the equation? DFW has very nice summers and the week of winter is pretty nice. Lots of land, plenty of wind power, great highways system, lots of talent. Seriously, why would they even consider any where else when more Companies on the S&P 500 call Texas home then any other state. It's their loss if they go anywhere else.

solotronics 9y ago
some local land developers submitted a plan to locate at the end of Houston street bridge in North Oak Cliff
bradknowles 9y ago
But in Dallas, they couldn’t come in and own the entire downtown. So, clearly that is a non-option. Now, Detroit — they could pretty much buy the entire city for a song, and then destroy whatever they want in order to build the new environment they want to see. But Debt-roit doesn’t have the greatest supply of techies, and they would have to spend a lot of money to make it a nice enough place that people would want to live there.

codeonfire 9y ago

Amazon has burned through thousands of employees trying to keep their dumber managers in power. Amazon HQ is not American friendly either. Americans can quit and therefore are less valued there. Amazon has a large population of immigrant line and middle managers. It is dumb to think those people are going to move east to a red state. And its large population of immigrant workers at its HQ will not work under non-immigrant line managers. Economic conditions in India and China have improved a lot since 1994 as well, so not so many people are eager to become visa slaves in Seattle.