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I simply can't afford enough space at home for a comfortable working environment in addition to enough space for the kids. I'd have to move MUCH farther away f

I simply can't afford enough space at home for a comfortable working environment in addition to enough space for the kids. I'd have to move MUCH farther away from the city (think 1 hour of driving), to get a space where this would work, I've been looking into it for the last 3 months, but so is everyone else, meaning the price where there is broadband available is skyrocketing in my area. In general the pandemic has decimated the quality of life I used to enjoy in my downtown office, and to get that back I have to rebuild my life from scratch, 2020 and the move to WFH has been terrible in that regard for our family.

inglor_cz 6y ago
The broadband problem could be soon solved by Starlink.
- Roritharr 6y ago
  "soon" in Germany might mean 2022
  - jack_pp 6y ago
    Could consider moving to a cheaper country for a few years if you're in the EU, 200k could buy you a very big house in eastern europe
  - inglor_cz 6y ago
    Not great, not terrible. This means a year and a half. If it saves you 300 000 eur on purchase of your home, it paid for itself. I am a Czech; property prices around Prague are hopping mad, but top German cities like Munich are just beyond belief. Buying a house in an expensive region means debt slavery till the end of your days. Waiting to 2022 does not sound as bad in comparison. You can probably have a big, even though unkempt villa somewhere in Sachsen-Anhalt for the price of a garage in Munich.
    - Roritharr 6y ago
      For this reason I don't plan on buying in Germany unless I hit the proverbial lottery. But rent slavery is not much better, having my entire extended family living in this High CoL environment makes moving hard on the kids aswell... Atm I have a hard time being happy with any of the combinations of tradeoffs we could make.
iso947 6y ago
So the company was subsidising your lifestyle by paying for expensive real estate. They should be able to offer a pay rise if the same work is being done but they don’t need the office space.
- Roritharr 6y ago
  The company still has to pay for the office space for three years, I know because I was part of negotiating that at end of 2019. We're a small company with healthy finances, but the salary increase necessary to offset the higher rent requirements in this housing market, due to the heavy tax burden would amount to an increase in absolute numbers nearly a third of what we pay for in rent for the whole business, and that's just for me. Seeing it from both sides is mind-boggling to say the least.

inglor_cz 6y ago

The broadband problem could be soon solved by Starlink.

Roritharr 6y ago
"soon" in Germany might mean 2022
- jack_pp 6y ago
  Could consider moving to a cheaper country for a few years if you're in the EU, 200k could buy you a very big house in eastern europe
- inglor_cz 6y ago
  Not great, not terrible. This means a year and a half. If it saves you 300 000 eur on purchase of your home, it paid for itself. I am a Czech; property prices around Prague are hopping mad, but top German cities like Munich are just beyond belief. Buying a house in an expensive region means debt slavery till the end of your days. Waiting to 2022 does not sound as bad in comparison. You can probably have a big, even though unkempt villa somewhere in Sachsen-Anhalt for the price of a garage in Munich.
  - Roritharr 6y ago
    For this reason I don't plan on buying in Germany unless I hit the proverbial lottery. But rent slavery is not much better, having my entire extended family living in this High CoL environment makes moving hard on the kids aswell... Atm I have a hard time being happy with any of the combinations of tradeoffs we could make.

iso947 6y ago

So the company was subsidising your lifestyle by paying for expensive real estate. They should be able to offer a pay rise if the same work is being done but they don’t need the office space.

Roritharr 6y ago
The company still has to pay for the office space for three years, I know because I was part of negotiating that at end of 2019. We're a small company with healthy finances, but the salary increase necessary to offset the higher rent requirements in this housing market, due to the heavy tax burden would amount to an increase in absolute numbers nearly a third of what we pay for in rent for the whole business, and that's just for me. Seeing it from both sides is mind-boggling to say the least.