Seattle, the remote work capital of the U.S., is in denial about its effects

[Eastside Get The Money]

Folks here are mad anti social so WFH is a god send. Plus downtown is on 10 right now. There was just a stabbing murder on the Lightrail this summer and just last week a bus driver for stabbed to death.

As someone who frequented downtown I rarely go anymore. It cost an arm and a leg to park and public transportation isn’t safe right now.

 

[AAKing23]

It has its' downsides like any place but I love almost everything about it here. My wife was actually born and raised East of Seattle (Mercer Island) so her family being here and my girls able to grow up with their people is cool, but Seattle definitely isn't for you if you aren't making a certain amount of money. Me & my wife combined bring in right at half a mil after taxes, but we also have three kids, two of which attend private school and have expensive hobbies, which isn't cheap. We also chose a relatively expensive neighborhood for the gated community and low crime rate, so the mortgage is real and the groceries add up, too.


If you're single with no kids but want to be in relative reasonable proximity of the city, definitely look into moving north (Everett, Shoreline, Lynnwood, Mill Creek) or south (Renton, Tukwila, Burien) of Seattle to save yourself some COL. South is typically noticeably cheaper (Burien is going up, though) but I prefer north personally. Keep in mind, coming from ATL, none of these places are cheap, just more affordable than Seattle proper. Avoid east of Seattle past Sammmamish unless you're MAGA, in which case youll be right at home. It's like stepping into the Upside Down if you're living on the West side.

Traffic isn't as bad as Atlanta's on its' worse day, but you may be having PTSD next year since Amazon is sending its' workers back into the office and construction on I5 is set to begin early spring, iirc.

Oh, and I hope you're comfortable with PAWGing or PAAGing.

Preciate it bro, Seattle is one of my options, the only thing that concerns me is the cost of living out there and being so far away from my family on the opposite coast but I love the weather and vibe of the PNW, seems like it would fit me well

I’m also single and childless and will be about 35 if I chose to make the move out there in 2027-2028

 

[blues_funk_reggae]

Another thread where people don't know the difference between "get back to work" and "get back to the office."
Any employee that hasn't been working and needs to "get back to work" would have been fired by now.

People have been at work.
There are work forces and agencies around the country that have been churning out work before, during, and after COVID-19.
In some cases, more work was done during COVID-19 from WFH employees, the studies and surveys were made during and after COVID-19.

This is just my personal belief: these "get back to the office" articles will continue to surface every couple months and it's because these publications are getting pressure from the wealthy to continue this push to get people back to the office for personal gain, nothing more, nothing less.

 

[waltthizzney]

This isn’t an issue if you build homes downtown like most cities in the world do like New York London Paris Toronto ect


This article was probably paid for by commercial real estate firm

In 2025 there is zero point in coming to the office for a lot of jobs

 

[MajesticLion]

The only reason that banks/corporations/city governments have any issue with WFH is that they weren't prepared for the shift. If the hamsters can press their levers and produce the same(or better) results from home, they're not going to care about your corporate expenses nor taxes. You'd have to have a nationwide rethinking of urban policy planning that the current moneymakers aren't prepared to have, because nobody's gong to want to give up an iota of control they believe they should be wielding. All their collateral and hedging, all their projections, are based on those assumptions.

They'd rather stall and try to force things their way by bullying people back to the office. And they really don't have much to work with. You can threaten to cut pay, and that affects everything from mortgage payments to local restaurants/home repair businesses/gas stations/grocery stores in the suburbs. You can dangle increased pay or bonuses, and many won't see any value in the extra hassle of the commute just for an extra 5k a year. And that extra gets eaten up by the gas/maintenance/eating out anyway.


Layer offshore games and looming AI whatever on top of all of that, and everybody's rolling dice blindfolded.

 

[Json]

How did Charlotte get so high with its terrible traffic.

But on the flip side, it really has no historic downtown. It’s mostly new mix use buildings so this study probably would apply to them.

 

[Strapped]

Real estate vacuum

 

[waltthizzney]

The only reason that banks/corporations/city governments have any issue with WFH is that they weren't prepared for the shift. If the hamsters can press their levers and produce the same(or better) results from home, they're not going to care about your corporate expenses nor taxes. You'd have to have a nationwide rethinking of urban policy planning that the current moneymakers aren't prepared to have, because nobody's gong to want to give up an iota of control they believe they should be wielding. All their collateral and hedging, all their projections, are based on those assumptions.

They'd rather stall and try to force things their way by bullying people back to the office. And they really don't have much to work with. You can threaten to cut pay, and that affects everything from mortgage payments to local restaurants/home repair businesses/gas stations/grocery stores in the suburbs. You can dangle increased pay or bonuses, and many won't see any value in the extra hassle of the commute just for an extra 5k a year. And that extra gets eaten up by the gas/maintenance/eating out anyway.


Layer offshore games and looming AI whatever on top of all of that, and everybody's rolling dice blindfolded.

its corporate real estate who have influence over government, all these firms are all in on office space ownership that is now almost worthless, they use the bs argument of stimulating the economy to force people back to the office