Property Values and Telecommuters

[Caroline]

Greetings, all:

Very generally speaking, it seems that the closer one lives to a big employment center (Silly-con Valley in my case), the more one will pay for home / cost of living, etc.

However, I've gone from communting 30 miles each way on the freeway to telecommuting from my home (30 feet each way.) Depending upon the source, that makes me one of up to 44.4 million Americans doing the same.

It occurs to me that we 44.4M could all move anywhere in the country with DSL service and still keep our jobs, in theory. And this has got me to wondering...

What does this mean for property values, which again, seem to be higher near employment centers and lower where jobs are more scarce? If we "knowledge workers" start to move to less urban areas we could shift the normal pattern...

For example, someone on this site has bought a home on the outskirts of town and is expecting property values to go up as commuters spread out from the city center to find affordable homes and good schools. That makes a lot of sense now, but will it still make sense as telecommuting grows?

Has anyone with real estate experience given any thought to this? Any opinions out there?

Many thanks,
Caroline

 

[Mr._johngalt]

In the near term (whatever that is) I do not expect the "telecommuters" to have any real impact on property values or related issues.

JG

 

[tryan]

I agree with John ... tele-comuting affects too small of a workforce to sway the RE market.

Will also add that the telecomute experiment I did with one employee was a disaster ... never there when I needed her. I think this only "works" with commision based employment.

 

[Traveler]

Regarding telecommunting. I'm moving full time to Arizona from California but will continue to work for the TV station that has employed me for close to nine years. Normally I'd have to be in the office as the head producer/manager, but I'm shifting into writing for our various web sites full time and can do that from my home office (I'm thankful that this company is so flexible and open-minded).

It's an experiment that we all hope will work, at least for awhile. Several employees already work from home and so far there hasn't been a problem. Always being accessible by phone or email is one of the keys to success. But since out of sight can quickly translate into "out of mind" (and out of a job that I need to keep for another year or so) I plan to come back to the station for several days every three weeks. That'll cost me a few bucks but I think it'll be worth it.

Anyone else tried telecommuting? I can figure out the pluses and pleasures but what about unanticipated pitfalls?

 

[johnlw]

I've been telecommuting for about 3 years now and it's working very well.

With regard to abuse, there will always be employees who take advantage of a situation. If they are lazy in the office, they will be lazy at home. Those who are productive will be productive wherever they are.

Not having to deal with the daily time wasting (life wasting) commute is wonderful. I've noticed on the infrequent days that I go into the office, I have to deal with interruptions from coworkers that I don't have to deal with at home.

For me and others I know who telecommute, it's a more productive environment. The down side is that any telecommuting job can be moved overseas.

I agree with John: I don't think it will affect property values. Unfortunately, not many employers embrace telecommuting. They still have an old school mentality of "wanting to see you sweat".

John

 

[haha]

My feeling is that our whole work-live-commute systems may have to change radically, if in fact energy and especially crude oil and gasoline continue to increase in price. Yesterday I put 10 gal of Hi-Test in my Integra GSR and it costs me $27, with my club discount. 10 gal wouldn't get a lot of SUVs around the block.

Either telcommuting increases its penetration, or many suburbs are toast.

OTOH, a lot of urban areas are lethal in the ol' USA.

 

[grlcndream]

My experience has been that it's extremely hard to find an employer willing to let you telecommute.

 

[Caroline]

According to my multinational employer, 70% of its managers have at least one telecommuter on his / her team. My own team includes one in the SF Bay Area (me), one in Denver, one in Austin, two on the East Coast, and another in Argentina, if you can believe it. I've never met ANY of these people face-to-face, though I've "known" them for years in some cases.

So... if you think it's hard to find a telecommuning job, go with the big companies who get a lot of cost savings out of pushing office expenses (rent, utilities, security, computer hookups, telephones, etc.) onto their workers.

Having worked at home for two years I can say that it gets VERY lonely at times. Saves a lot of money on the commute, clothes, lunches out, etc., but you have to force yourself to get out of the house every day or you'll go ga-ga.

On the other hand, maybe it's a good test of how you'll manage in retirement without a place to go to every day.

Caroline

 

[deserat]

I telecommute for a portion of my job - my cubicle is in Berkeley, but I can go to sites of my employer much closer to my home and still be connected and use the corporate phone system - cuts the commute time from 45 min-1.5 hours to 10 min. If I'd get off my cheap butt and install a DSL I would commute 0 min - but haven't done that yet

I've also found that the Amtrak train stops about 200 yards from my office and is only a 15 min drive from my house - that's also been an option for commuting, allowing time for reading and other pursuits while someone else hassles over the transportation - I do that one or two times a week (usually on Monday).

I feel lucky I have so many options and it adds variety to my day - something I enjoy.

Bridget

 

[KB]

I've been telecommuting for 2.5 years, my 'office' is 3000 miles away. I like it, it 's less stressful and I get more done. I do keep in touch with my co-workers using instant messaging instead of the phone.

I don't miss working with a bunch of people and don't need to leave the house everyday. I like being able to take short breaks and do laundry or work in the garden here and there.

I'm sure it saves gas, clothing costs and only adds a little to my utility bill. My employer pays for my DSL so using my splitter, all our laptops are connected.

It works for me.....Less stressful than working in a large noisy office.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I was pondering on this topic when I started doing some telecommuting a few years before my ER.

A good multi-line phone and an ISDN line and I honestly couldnt tell much difference between working from home and working in my office. 95% of the people I dealt with were on the phone, in conference calls, or via email. I was a little disconnected at times from the political miasma, which was a pretty good thing.

In looking at the really, really dense packed, high priced real estate markets like manhattan and silicon valley it made perfect sense. The vast majority of those workers dont need to drive two hours a day and sit in a cube farm to do their jobs. Sort of like outsourcing to India, only a lot shorter phone line.

The only problem is that while it makes perfect sense, american management simply wont accommodate it at any time in the near future. You can get a buy-in on isolating a function, cutting it out, and shipping it to another country for a specific fee. For workers you're paying a salary to, the management wants them on-site from 8-5, M-F. At least.

To be fair, a majority of workers arent mature and responsible enough to telecommute. Be real...look at the ten people sitting near you and tell me how many of them could be counted on to put in the time and get the work done in a self-motivated manner?

Funniest telecommuting moment? Forgetting to hit the mute button on my phone during a huge very late afternoon conference call before punching the button on the blender...

Energy costs, pollution and congestion may force such a strategy some day. But current factors suggest not short selling real estate in those congested areas right now

 

[kayelem]

My experience in the working world is much different from what TH notes above.  I work for a very large, extremely conservative multinational corporation.  We are moving as many people to home office as feasible all over the world and cutting back on formal office space.  Still plenty of office jobs, but way fewer than before.

This has been a trend that has accellerated greatly at my compnay in the last 2-3 years. I am home based for the first time in 17 years with this company. I think our experience is that people generally work as hard or harder from home. It has enabled us to cut out a lot of adminstrative overhead as well (Kinkos, anyone?)

 

[lets-retire]

My wife was able to alk her way into telecommuting 2x with the same company. The first was telecommute light. She still ahd to go to the office everyday to pick up files and paperwork, but she could chose the time. She normally went at lunch when most people were gone and she could get in and out in a matter of minutes. She also had to go in once a week for a staff meeting that one was normally about 2-3 hours.

The second time she worked for the same company but a different boss who was mostly forced to take her. She would travel for a day or two then return home write up reports and submit them. The system worked fine until she had a run in with the boss who then made her report in person to home office every week to do temp-employee work. She figured what the heck I get free food, free hotel room, free flyer miles, and networking time with senior managment for future promotions. She only traveled about 4 months then her bank opened a new branch and she had to go in the office everyday.

 

[grumpy]

While I was still working for NASA (Goddard Space Flight Center) in 1998 my wife had neck surgury that required a long and difficult recuperation. GSFC had a pilot program for telecommuting going on. I had to fill out some paperwork and demostrate that I had a dedicated workspace, adequate computer and phone resources, etc. I worked at home full time for two months while caring for my wife. It was a great experience. Since the project I was working on was being conducted jointly with other NASA centers, there was little need for face-to-face interaction. I found that I was more productive at home than at the office since there were no distractions and NO MEETINGS!! I was careful to keep in close touch with my supervisor by phone and email. It was somewhat of an adjustment when I went back to commuting to the office.

Grumpy

 

[fletzie]

I would love to telecommute on a regular basis I thought until I become an ER...but my current company (we contract at a govmint agency) won't let any of us unless we are dealing with a home disaster (I have to wait for the n ew refrigerator to be delivered..) or bad weather mainly because the client is not allowing their staff to do so.

Your observations apply to the East Coast as well. I live in the Baltimore- Washington DC - Northern VA corridor and people commute from as far away as 50 - 70 miles a day..in large part because of property costs. Me too.. SInce they won't let me telecommute an important current requirement for any job includes availability of public transportation for which they must pay. And even on a commuter bus (a comfy bus nevertheless with a bathroom) that commute is 1hr and 10 - 45 minutes depending on traffic.

An independent software recruiter I know lives on one of the islands of the Outer Banks...he bought his property years ago and custom built. He has a great computer and communication system setup and comes to work in shorts (most of the time)! Now that he is semi-retired he only works when he wants to and travels to all those important IT conferences (the ones he chooses) and writes them off! I think that is spectacular telecommuting!

 

[Spanky]

My experience has been that it's extremely hard to find an employer willing to let you telecommute.

That's for sure. They want to see you at the office so that you can attend meetings, solve unxpected daily problems, answered phones, etc.

 

[vic]

As my boss says: if I can''t see you, you are probably not working

Vicky

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Huh...when I was doing sales work I had the opposite suggestion. I used to walk out to the sales floor and see a bunch of people sitting at their desks and I'd loudly proclaim "I dont think anyones going to come in here and try to buy anything from you people!". In fact, once cell phones started weighing less than a brick I bought one for everyone and told them I didnt want them coming into the office unless they were filling out paperwork or meeting a customer for a meeting. I think a few hid out at home for a while but then the spouse noticed that they were there and increased the honey-do list. After about a month of that our sales numbers went through the roof. Guess faced with the honey-do's at home or getting out to a customer and selling something, they chose the latter.