4 ms·

I think the biggest argument for me against near 100% WFH is the space cost of a dedicated home office. Ideally I would need another room for it to be long term

I think the biggest argument for me against near 100% WFH is the space cost of a dedicated home office. Ideally I would need another room for it to be long term sustainable. Right now I live in a small 400 sq. feet (≈ 35 m²) studio apartment in city center, walking distance to everything (including the office in normal times). Property prices here are at around 1k USD / sq. feet (10 k USD / m²). An apartment with dedicated space for my home office would cost me like 100k USD extra. The only viable option would be to move out from the city, but then I loose all the other benefits from living here. (Of course the total cost is the same or higher today, but it's taken by the employer. It's not compleeetley unthinkable that the employer would compensate me for it, but it get's really tricky really fast. I would probably have to pay taxes for the extra salary, and how much "rent" would they pay? Are new grads supposed to work from their kitchen table, or far away just to afford an extra room?)

dudul 6y ago
How about your employer just paying for a coworking space? I worked for a company that was doing that for remote worker who didn't want to stay home.
gen220 6y ago
One possible outcome of a more normalized WFH culture might be a dramatic reduction in rent prices for the types of living arrangements you describe, precisely because their central locations have lost a principal source of value (proximity to the office), so demand will wane. Similarly, centralized corporate real estate is not going to be as in demand as it once was. This will take decades maybe, but it's easy to imagine some of these buildings getting converted to residences, increasing the supply (and therefore decreasing the costs of rent). Instead of 3-4k/month for a downtown studio in NYC, you might see 2k/month. It'll take us a while to get there. Conversely, one might reasonably expect suburban rents to jump up, as city-dwellers move there.
- nutshell89 6y ago
  Rents might come down due to a reduction in demand, but that demand is part of what makes SF / NYC desirable places to live. For example, part of what make SF or NYC a desirable location for opening a restaurant or bar (despite the high rents) are the respective cities proximity to high income wage earners and companies. Take those factors away and the superstar cities of the world (NYC, London, etc.) become as desirable as your average city in the middle of the country.
mnm1 6y ago
Coworking spaces exist.

dudul 6y ago

How about your employer just paying for a coworking space? I worked for a company that was doing that for remote worker who didn't want to stay home.

gen220 6y ago

One possible outcome of a more normalized WFH culture might be a dramatic reduction in rent prices for the types of living arrangements you describe, precisely because their central locations have lost a principal source of value (proximity to the office), so demand will wane. Similarly, centralized corporate real estate is not going to be as in demand as it once was. This will take decades maybe, but it's easy to imagine some of these buildings getting converted to residences, increasing the supply (and therefore decreasing the costs of rent). Instead of 3-4k/month for a downtown studio in NYC, you might see 2k/month. It'll take us a while to get there. Conversely, one might reasonably expect suburban rents to jump up, as city-dwellers move there.

nutshell89 6y ago
Rents might come down due to a reduction in demand, but that demand is part of what makes SF / NYC desirable places to live. For example, part of what make SF or NYC a desirable location for opening a restaurant or bar (despite the high rents) are the respective cities proximity to high income wage earners and companies. Take those factors away and the superstar cities of the world (NYC, London, etc.) become as desirable as your average city in the middle of the country.

mnm1 6y ago

Coworking spaces exist.