3 ms·
In its heyday HP did this. Look at places like Roseville and Fort Collins. Essentially company towns. And while the going is good, and the quarterly numbers kee
by jra_samba 9y ago
In its heyday HP did this. Look at places like Roseville and Fort Collins. Essentially company towns. And while the going is good, and the quarterly numbers keep going up, everything is great.
But eventually the bad times come, and the employees living in these places are cast off like so many worn shoes, along with their families.
I've seen this. I'm never moving out of the SF Bay Area until well after retirement (and maybe not even then :-). Going to a Kansas City HQ is a gamble that whatever company will always do well. Do you want to gamble your future on that ? Do you want to gamble your family on that ?
- pfarnsworth 9y agoRisk vs return. That's okay that you prefer the Bay Area. I would have no problems if I knew that Google were committing to a permanent HQ in Kansas City. If they close down, they close down. I have no control over that, but I do have control over saving money and still maintaining a high quality of life because I'm not obsessing over property prices, private school for my kids because the public schools are so terrible, etc.
- s73ver_ 9y agoYou don't think Google moving to KC would have a huge effect on property prices? Not to mention, if they close down, you'll likely have a harder time finding another job than you would somewhere with a lot of tech places.
- Apocryphon 9y agoI think the hope of such a move (ditto Amazon building HQ2 somewhere outside of the usual SF/ATX/NYC tech hubs) is that if one giant did it, other companies would follow, tech workers who leave the giant go and build startups, wealth and talent attract VCs, etc. The hub self-reinforces itself, much like how SF and Seattle have done it. It would be a very interesting economic experiment to see if a cycle can be created in new areas.
- akgerber 9y agoThe tradeoff is that if you make anything resembling Bay Area wages in Kansas City, you can pay off a lovely older house in a walkable neighborhood in two years or so.
- s73ver_ 9y agoThe first wave might. However, I'm guessing housing prices would adjust.
- Apocryphon 9y agoDepends on the geography of the region. Probably easier to expand and densify the KC metro area vs. the Bay Area or SeaTac.
- akgerber 9y agoA midsized city, when willing to sprawl, build upward, or both, will have housing prices that max out around the cost of construction. Have you ever looked at real estate listings in Houston? Plus the supply of cheap walkable neighborhoods in the Midwest is very high.
- Apocryphon 9y agoAmazon seems intent on attempting this. It's incredibly doubtful that they'll build HQ2 in the Bay Area (though the backlash from such a decision would be incredibly hilarious).