Are telecommuters changing the face of real estate? (3%, agent, sales)
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We had an interesting thread about the milineals not buying homes, I thought it would be interesting to hear comments about how telecommuting is changing people's buying habits, and one would think the minerals would be a big part of this, as they would benefit more from living in a lower cost area. The tech companies are quite young. However, based on housing costs in the big tech hubs, it looks more like everyone wants to live within five miles of HQ. What are your experiences with this? Do you see buyers showing up in obscure locations not at all concerned about work, but making sure there is good broadband? Is poor rural broadband a nail in the coffin for some very cheap, half abandoned communities? Is it just a trickle of folks doing this, or is it a rapidly changing dynamic?
100% telecommuting is still pretty rare overall, the more common form is telecommuting a few days a week, and having a shared space with someone who has a different telecommute schedule.
As for the impact, not sure as the 100% telecommute is rare, whoever, having to physically go to work one or two days a week would allow someone to tolerate longer commute times, so possibly live further away.
A good Internet connection is something many people want, not just telecommuters.
I work from home 100% of the time, but I choose to live in the city, in a condo.
As a retiree wanting to live in a cozy scenic area, i am in competition with a good number of “work from home” folks with good incomes. Where once i would have had an easier time finding a nice house, now availability is being diminished, particularly by those telecommuters without children who don’t need impressive school systems.
Many young professionals want to live in a hip area with lots of amenities, dining, nightlife etc - and they aren’t finding that in rural areas. Of course some people want a quieter lifestyle, but they’re nowhere near the majority.
Depends on the work and on the person I think. Some work pretty much all the time it looks like. Others like a cool place to get a little entertainment at break time and also a good place to have a work out of some sort.
One guy I know wants a divorce seriously or a bigger house. (Some of these people can be 'sheldons' too.) Either way is okay with him at this time. He lives in his own world in a separate room and has work that takes a lot of time and quiet, which he feels he doesn't get with a young child around.
Another situation...I know the wife and she and her husband decided they would stay together if she can find a house where he could have a very separated and quiet office away from the kids and daily flurry of normal activity. He doesn't have time to look. His own kids actually live with their mom and rarely visit dad. And now he is okay with sort of the same situation in his next home except that he, his wife and his two kids with her will be in the same house. They are looking at a two family living type of situation and they have actually been able to find a small few of those.
Last edited by petsandgardens; 11-16-2019 at 10:23 AM..
We had an interesting thread about the milineals not buying homes, I thought it would be interesting to hear comments about how telecommuting is changing people's buying habits, and one would think the minerals would be a big part of this, as they would benefit more from living in a lower cost area. The tech companies are quite young. However, based on housing costs in the big tech hubs, it looks more like everyone wants to live within five miles of HQ. What are your experiences with this? Do you see buyers showing up in obscure locations not at all concerned about work, but making sure there is good broadband? Is poor rural broadband a nail in the coffin for some very cheap, half abandoned communities? Is it just a trickle of folks doing this, or is it a rapidly changing dynamic?
Both myself and spouse work at home. Well, at least my spouse does, right now, I’ve taken time off in anticipation of a move next year. Even so, it’s not difficult for a licensed P&C, L&H agent to find a job working from home.
About a dozen or more years ago, my spouse was working in a beautiful office, next to Tempe Town Lake, a big fancy office, killer view, but the office was almost always empty, since the guys already had the option to work from home. Corporate closed down that expensive office and told the engineers to work at home permanently. If his company realized that they could save a lot of money by having the guys telecommute, other Corporate offices realize it too. The future is the rapidly changing dynamic that you mention. I was one of the first work at home employees in the office in my last job in AZ. Those of us who were interested filled out a form and they chose people based on sales volume, being dependable and so on. I heard that some people who wanted the work at home program would never get it, because the company thought they’d take advantage. There will always be people in offices who need regular guidance from their supes.
It’s a good feeling to not worry about living in a particular spot to be close to work. Unfortunately, we went too rural, and really dislike this area. The broadband is barely adequate here. There are none of the city amenities that we enjoyed. At first it was great, a beautiful house with land, but after getting to know this area/people/drugs, the novelty wore off a long time ago. What’s the use of having several pot stores close by, if you don’t smoke? That’s the thing about having so much freedom to choose a place to live, you have to tread carefully. We would have been better off moving to a certain area to commute, because it would have meant living closer to a city. On the positive side, the horses love it, so it’s not all bad.
Telecommuting is the future, because employers can still keep track of your hours by noting the time you log into your computer, breaks, lunch and signing off. If local, they can always have you come in for meetings. The company can save money by renting out smaller office space, so it’s a benefit to them too.
Our Millennial daughter daughter has just relocated to a very rural area of California and is now telecommuting. The internet is good because of presence of the military. Her husband works for the DoD and he needs to be in this area. There are very few jobs for college grads except for engineering, medical, and education. She had been on her job 9+ years and is in a niche position, so she was able to do this.
Her main concern, other than work, is meeting friends in a new place. There is a group for young professionals (up to age 40), and many community organizations for a small isolated town, probably because there is a highly educated population living nearby. Sadly, some established organizations discourage young members because they hold their meetings in the daytime on weekdays, but there are enough others that do offer evening meetings so working people may be able to attend and potentially join. There are also churches and musical organizations in the nearby community, and sport activities.
Incidentally, they did buy a home and plan to remain for some time.
I get rental applicants that are telecommuting. I'm in a lovely recreation area so it is a desirable place to live.
I would guess that the telecommuters are either working close to the home office so they can go into the office when needed, or else they are packing up their bags and moving to highly desirable places to live. They aren't getting scattered evenly around the country.
Last edited by oregonwoodsmoke; 11-16-2019 at 01:39 PM..
Highlights from The 2017 State of Telecommuting in the U.S. Employee Workforce report include:
*3.9 million U.S. employees, or 2.9 percent of the total U.S. workforce, work from home at least half of the time, up from 1.8 million in 2005 (a 115 percent increase since 2005).
*The average telecommuter is 46 years of age or older, has at least a bachelor’s degree, and earns a higher median salary than an in-office worker.
*Roughly the same population of women and men telecommute.
*Telecommuting is more common among employees over 35 years of age and most common among Baby Boomers.
*In more than half of the top U.S. metro areas telecommuting exceeds public transportation as the commute option of choice. It has grown far faster than any other commute mode.
Maybe if there are a few larger employers who allow folks to telecommute, and a significant % of their workers do, then around their main office there would be a real estate effect.
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