That's not what the GP is saying though; the employer is not offering a mix (which as what my team almost universally wants) but "we want someone local but will

That's not what the GP is saying though; the employer is not offering a mix (which as what my team almost universally wants) but "we want someone local but will consider remote as a second-place option". The later is the worst scenario for remote as it says there are two classes of employees: co-located, then remote. In this case, RUN!