4 ms·

I'm certainly daydreaming about this, as someone living in SF right now. But IMO things are still too uncertain to pull the trigger on making a huge move. And I

by cactus2093 6y ago

I'm certainly daydreaming about this, as someone living in SF right now. But IMO things are still too uncertain to pull the trigger on making a huge move. And I wonder if the likeliest scenario, is that everyone strongly considers doing this, but then we all slowly get used to the "new normal" and by the time it's clear one way or the other what the future is starting to look like, we're past the peak of the virus (maybe it's early 2021 and there's a vaccine starting to roll out) and everyone just kind of settles back into mostly the same life they previously had due to inertia. And anecdotally I've heard very few people say they now want to stay fully remote forever. What I've heard instead is people talking about how they hope that 2-3 days a week in the office might become the new normal. That might open up your options a bit, maybe that makes you willing to commute 1 - 1.5hrs instead of 30 min - 1 hr. But that wouldn't allow anyone to leave the metro area. In fact, maybe this scenario actually increases cost of living because now you need to both be close enough to downtown to commute a few days a week, and have enough space for a dedicated home office so you can work from home productively the other few days a week.

FalconSensei 6y ago
> In fact, maybe this scenario actually increases cost of living because now you need to both be close enough to downtown to commute a few days a week, and have enough space for a dedicated home office so you can work from home productively the other few days a week. I agree completely. Like, I decided to live in a small apartment downtown Vancouver because the office is really close. To be comfortable working from home, I need a bigger place with an extra room. Either I go back to the office, or I move away from downtown and don't go back to the office.
ghaff 6y ago
The Bay Area arguably doesn't lend itself as well to a part-time WFH situation as other cities do. Given that it's not just the core city that's expensive but the whole peninsula where most of the jobs are located and even most of the surrounding areas. You can get out of it with a long enough occasional commute--though then you're probably also too far out to regularly take advantage of urban culture, etc. By contrast, somewhere like Boston assuming the jobs are even in the city (many aren't), a drive that's 60-90 minutes depending on time of day puts you into pretty reasonably priced exurbs.
asdff 6y ago
Would be nice if a lot of these soon to be vacant commercial properties from small businesses become botique office space a la wework, but direct from the landlord so there isn't any additional parasite to feed. I'd love to have a desk right in the neighborhood I could walk to from my apartment with my laptop and plug into a couple of monitors, I'd make my boss pay monthly for that. All I need is table space (which I lack in the apartment) and a couple $100 screens, maybe a printer and fax machine to use once a month and once a year, respectively.

FalconSensei 6y ago

> In fact, maybe this scenario actually increases cost of living because now you need to both be close enough to downtown to commute a few days a week, and have enough space for a dedicated home office so you can work from home productively the other few days a week. I agree completely. Like, I decided to live in a small apartment downtown Vancouver because the office is really close. To be comfortable working from home, I need a bigger place with an extra room. Either I go back to the office, or I move away from downtown and don't go back to the office.

ghaff 6y ago

The Bay Area arguably doesn't lend itself as well to a part-time WFH situation as other cities do. Given that it's not just the core city that's expensive but the whole peninsula where most of the jobs are located and even most of the surrounding areas. You can get out of it with a long enough occasional commute--though then you're probably also too far out to regularly take advantage of urban culture, etc. By contrast, somewhere like Boston assuming the jobs are even in the city (many aren't), a drive that's 60-90 minutes depending on time of day puts you into pretty reasonably priced exurbs.

asdff 6y ago

Would be nice if a lot of these soon to be vacant commercial properties from small businesses become botique office space a la wework, but direct from the landlord so there isn't any additional parasite to feed. I'd love to have a desk right in the neighborhood I could walk to from my apartment with my laptop and plug into a couple of monitors, I'd make my boss pay monthly for that. All I need is table space (which I lack in the apartment) and a couple $100 screens, maybe a printer and fax machine to use once a month and once a year, respectively.