Remote Workers Affecting the Housing Market in 4 Ways

Full Video Transcript Below

[00:00:00] Alice Lema: Well, good morning, real estate fans. Alice Lema here, broker John L. Scott, beautiful Southern Oregon with another edition of my weekly podcast. Really interesting topic this week, how remote workers are impacting the buying and selling process. I've got four things to keep in mind whether you're buying, selling, or just watching what's going on with your friends and family and your neighbors.

[00:00:24] So stay tuned. It's going to be a great, a great podcast. Before we get started, want to give you a chance to please subscribe to the channel. That's very helpful. Also give us a, like a thumbs up, send it to your friends and family. We'd love some questions and comments. It is educational endeavor. I say that every week and it is seeming to help. So yay. Super excited about that. Love to hear the stories during the week.

[00:00:51] Okay. So enough of that let's get on to four things to keep in mind. Remote workers are impacting our buying and selling process. So the first thing that we notice is that people are choosing now their dream location, dream location.

[00:01:09] So all of a sudden you can imagine and we saw the first wave or two of this actually during the shutdown when nobody was supposed to be going anywhere. We saw people just getting on Google or already knew if they could live anywhere in the world, where would they go anywhere in the U S where would they go?

[00:01:28] And they picked it and they did it, and it all had to do with lifestyle. So if you're a seller in one of these dream locations then you need to be aware of that mentality. These buyers are more picky because they have a certain life vision in mind. They're not just moving to move. They're not just moving to get a bigger house, a smaller house.

[00:01:49] They want the whole enchilada. They want the whole lifestyle package. So if you're selling, keep that in mind. If you're selling in a more urban area and you're competing with the folks that are migrating out. Then it's, it's harder on the regular person because those sellers in those areas that are leaving to go to their dream location, they're super motivated.

[00:02:14] They have a purpose. You got to understand the mindset of your competition if you're selling. And if you're buying, we're going to talk more about that in the number three and four, but you just gotta be aware. That's what's going on. You've got, if you live in a dream location and you want to buy in that location, Guess what some of the people you're competing against are coming from outside of the area, different, different set of issues. So that's number one, everybody, whether you're buying or selling, keep in mind. Number one is dream location. The remote workers that's what they want.

[00:02:50] Number two, the remote worker wants more rooms. They want another dedicated or two rooms. They want more square footage, but they want a door. Or a room withdtwo doors because dedicated home office and dedicated school room or both.

[00:03:10] So this is different because the three bedroom, two bath is now being purchased by people who normally would have purchased a two bedroom, one or two baths. The people that are buying four bedroom, two or three bath normally would have bought three bedroom, two bath. This is a change that's happening right under our nose, whether you're buying or selling, keep that mindset because the remote worker is ratcheting up the demand for more square footage.

[00:03:38] They also are ratcheting up the demand for high speed internet. We talked about that and number one, dream location has to have high speed internet. These people can't get their job. They can't keep those high paying jobs unless they've got that handled. So if you're buying, then you're probably looking for that too. And if you're selling. You better be offering that or you're not going to be very appealing to those remote workers.

[00:04:03] Okay. Number three, they're doing a cost of living analysis because all of a sudden location doesn't matter anymore. Isn't that interesting, ponder that. Location, location, location used to be the real estate mantra.

[00:04:20] Now, if you take a location out of the mix, that's a completely different mindset. It impact on us sociologically, economically, and it also affects the physical kind of dwelling people are going to want and the location they're going to want and the location they're going to pick. For a lot of reasons has to do with taxes, how business friendly the state or county or area is.

[00:04:49] It still has, you know, schools still matter a little bit, but I'm telling you more and more people are going into these homeschool or kind of neighborhood homeschool situations. And they can cause they have bigger house. So, but it's all having to do with the money they're bringing in from their high paying job that used to be in a bigger city or a more urban area.

[00:05:08] And they're bringing it to these lower cost parts of the country, parts of the world with high speed internet and they get the best of both, which I think is really fun. I mean, who doesn't want that? However when they have lower expenses and more affordability in their housing and just their lifestyle, then what does that do to the local community?

[00:05:29] So think about that. If you've got people like in our area, in Southern Oregon we average a salary between 50 and a hundred thousand. That's pretty common, 50 to 80,000. Well in the big city, starting. Starting salaries are a hundred or 150,000. If those people start coming here and they're competing for jobs, businesses they're competing for houses. Then that changes, you know, that changes the whole playing ground for the locals.

[00:06:00] But the interesting thing is they really want that lower cost impact on their budget. And actually it's brilliant. Yes, there are side-effects pros and cons, but if you think about it, it's brilliant. And again, I'll say it who doesn't want lower cost of living a nicer home, a community that they enjoy more. And the job somewhere else with that same salary. I think it's brilliant. So, but do you know these remote workers regularly have much higher incomes than the locals?

[00:06:31] So that brings us to number four, which is the permanent changes on our society, on our communities, on our occupational behaviors. And the employers seem to be down for it. They're actually benefiting too. If anybody watches the commercial market, a lot of these big companies that had lots and lots of office space, they're downsizing too. They're saving money too. If all they have to do is maybe pay for somebody's internet or, you know, a thousand people's internet and they don't have to have 10,000 or 20,000 square foot building that helps the companies as well.

[00:07:07] But our poor commercial market, I think we should keep an eye on that and maybe start talking about the impact of that. But the point is number four, probably permanent. These changes are probably permanent. So because the pandemic is becoming more normal. It's being normalized. It's being ingrained into our daily life, both the employees and the employers, and we're comfortable with it. Therefore these changes are becoming permanent and we're seeing more and more people take the leap.

[00:07:37] So during the shutdown, probably just the more adventurous I can get my hands on some money, I'm out of here kind of mentality people. Now, two years later, It's very, very common. It's a much more mainstream idea. And if you're buying or selling, you need to be aware that that's going on in the neighborhood you're buying and selling in. It's also going on with your family, your friends, and maybe in your own office.

[00:08:01] So this is something you would like to talk more about and maybe put together a plan for your life and how to get your dream location and keep your job. Give me a call because I do a lot of relocation, both into Southern Oregon and out of Southern Oregon.

[00:08:17] I was a relocator as well. I think we looked at 17 houses in one or two days and we bought one. We went home and got the kids and boom, here we were.

[00:08:26] So and I remember even though that was decades ago, I still remember what it was like and want to be helpful in that situation. If that's something you're trying to achieve. So give me a call, give me a text Alice Lema broker, L. Scott here in Southern Oregon. 541-301-7980. I'm around all weekend. So don't be shy have a beautiful weekend and we'll see you next week. Bye now.