Decentralization of fed govt begins: HHS employees eligible for permanent remote work

[Anonymous]

Let’s just say it, Montgomery county is one of the most diverse, educated, and wealthy counties in the area.

It’s hard to find all three in the DMV (or the country) at a lower COL. NIH’s employees reflect that. They’re not leaving MoCo to go live in Frederick, Carroll, or Washington County.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let’s just say it, Montgomery county is one of the most diverse, educated, and wealthy counties in the area.

It’s hard to find all three in the DMV (or the country) at a lower COL. NIH’s employees reflect that. They’re not leaving MoCo to go live in Frederick, Carroll, or Washington County.

Pfffff......Houston has lower median cost of homes than MoCo and is diverse. Unlike MoCo and MD, TX's economy is booming across the state. TX's overall tax burden is significantly lower too.
This is just one example from many, but look what kind of starter home a family can get in Houston for <$300k:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4342-Bugle-Rd-Houston-TX-77072/28139562_zpid/

What are you going to get in MoCo for under $300k? Some rundown shack? Permanent WFH gives families SOOOOOOOOOO many more opportunities to live elsewhere in order to save on COL. People complain so much all the time about the lack of housing affordability in the DMV. Well, now you are free to address the problem by moving elsewhere while keeping your job!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s just say it, Montgomery county is one of the most diverse, educated, and wealthy counties in the area.

It’s hard to find all three in the DMV (or the country) at a lower COL. NIH’s employees reflect that. They’re not leaving MoCo to go live in Frederick, Carroll, or Washington County.

Pfffff......Houston has lower median cost of homes than MoCo and is diverse. Unlike MoCo and MD, TX's economy is booming across the state. TX's overall tax burden is significantly lower too.
This is just one example from many, but look what kind of starter home a family can get in Houston for <$300k:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4342-Bugle-Rd-Houston-TX-77072/28139562_zpid/

What are you going to get in MoCo for under $300k? Some rundown shack? Permanent WFH gives families SOOOOOOOOOO many more opportunities to live elsewhere in order to save on COL. People complain so much all the time about the lack of housing affordability in the DMV. Well, now you are free to address the problem by moving elsewhere while keeping your job!

Houston is also vastly more important as a bioscience hub than Montgomery County. They have the Texas Medical Center and biotech/science research centers associated with both Rice and Texas A&M.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not everyone likes living out in the country. I tried it for several years. It was not for me.

LOL. The choice here is not DMV vs "the country" necessarily.
There are lots of other metro areas to live in that have a lower cost of living and far less traffic that the DMV.

Actually no, most of those "lower cost" metro have sky rocketed since pandemic -- Denver is now more expensive than DMV for instance. Miami, Phoenix, Houstin, everywhere went up except DC, NYC, SF...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s just say it, Montgomery county is one of the most diverse, educated, and wealthy counties in the area.

It’s hard to find all three in the DMV (or the country) at a lower COL. NIH’s employees reflect that. They’re not leaving MoCo to go live in Frederick, Carroll, or Washington County.

Pfffff......Houston has lower median cost of homes than MoCo and is diverse. Unlike MoCo and MD, TX's economy is booming across the state. TX's overall tax burden is significantly lower too.
This is just one example from many, but look what kind of starter home a family can get in Houston for <$300k:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4342-Bugle-Rd-Houston-TX-77072/28139562_zpid/

What are you going to get in MoCo for under $300k? Some rundown shack? Permanent WFH gives families SOOOOOOOOOO many more opportunities to live elsewhere in order to save on COL. People complain so much all the time about the lack of housing affordability in the DMV. Well, now you are free to address the problem by moving elsewhere while keeping your job!

Well, you certainly won't have schools like that in Moco...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s just say it, Montgomery county is one of the most diverse, educated, and wealthy counties in the area.

It’s hard to find all three in the DMV (or the country) at a lower COL. NIH’s employees reflect that. They’re not leaving MoCo to go live in Frederick, Carroll, or Washington County.

Pfffff......Houston has lower median cost of homes than MoCo and is diverse. Unlike MoCo and MD, TX's economy is booming across the state. TX's overall tax burden is significantly lower too.
This is just one example from many, but look what kind of starter home a family can get in Houston for <$300k:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4342-Bugle-Rd-Houston-TX-77072/28139562_zpid/

What are you going to get in MoCo for under $300k? Some rundown shack? Permanent WFH gives families SOOOOOOOOOO many more opportunities to live elsewhere in order to save on COL. People complain so much all the time about the lack of housing affordability in the DMV. Well, now you are free to address the problem by moving elsewhere while keeping your job!

Houston is also vastly more important as a bioscience hub than Montgomery County. They have the Texas Medical Center and biotech/science research centers associated with both Rice and Texas A&M.

Yup, tons of brainpower in Houston. And diversity. And economy. MoCoites are delusional thinking they have a monopoly on that stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s just say it, Montgomery county is one of the most diverse, educated, and wealthy counties in the area.

It’s hard to find all three in the DMV (or the country) at a lower COL. NIH’s employees reflect that. They’re not leaving MoCo to go live in Frederick, Carroll, or Washington County.

Pfffff......Houston has lower median cost of homes than MoCo and is diverse. Unlike MoCo and MD, TX's economy is booming across the state. TX's overall tax burden is significantly lower too.
This is just one example from many, but look what kind of starter home a family can get in Houston for <$300k:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4342-Bugle-Rd-Houston-TX-77072/28139562_zpid/

What are you going to get in MoCo for under $300k? Some rundown shack? Permanent WFH gives families SOOOOOOOOOO many more opportunities to live elsewhere in order to save on COL. People complain so much all the time about the lack of housing affordability in the DMV. Well, now you are free to address the problem by moving elsewhere while keeping your job!

Well, you certainly won't have schools like that in Moco...

With the massive cost and tax savings differential, you can go private and still come out ahead. Plus, you can get away from the out of control crime in the DMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Before we talk about a mass exodus, read the agreement carefully.

The condition for granting remote work is "The employee’s duties require less than 16 hours per bi-weekly pay period at the agency worksite."

And you know who gets to decide that? Management. There is nothing in there about clear criteria for when "duties require."

I think maybe wait and see how many people actually get approved.

Eh. For HHS, who needs to go to the worksite except for people in a lab? They're office jobs.

I'm not taking a position on what jobs require onsite presence. I'm just pointing out that management has full discretion to make the call. And we know that MANY organizations have decided that "office jobs" still require a certain amount of onsite presence.

I wouldn't expect the floodgates to open based on this union agreement.

+1 I just read it and for my particular agency I wouldn't expect much change from where we are now. Maybe NIH but it's not that hard to say your job requires you to meet for in person meetings two days per pay period. This is supervisor discretion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s just say it, Montgomery county is one of the most diverse, educated, and wealthy counties in the area.

It’s hard to find all three in the DMV (or the country) at a lower COL. NIH’s employees reflect that. They’re not leaving MoCo to go live in Frederick, Carroll, or Washington County.

Pfffff......Houston has lower median cost of homes than MoCo and is diverse. Unlike MoCo and MD, TX's economy is booming across the state. TX's overall tax burden is significantly lower too.
This is just one example from many, but look what kind of starter home a family can get in Houston for <$300k:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4342-Bugle-Rd-Houston-TX-77072/28139562_zpid/

What are you going to get in MoCo for under $300k? Some rundown shack? Permanent WFH gives families SOOOOOOOOOO many more opportunities to live elsewhere in order to save on COL. People complain so much all the time about the lack of housing affordability in the DMV. Well, now you are free to address the problem by moving elsewhere while keeping your job!

Houston is also vastly more important as a bioscience hub than Montgomery County. They have the Texas Medical Center and biotech/science research centers associated with both Rice and Texas A&M.

Yup, tons of brainpower in Houston. And diversity. And economy. MoCoites are delusional thinking they have a monopoly on that stuff.

as someone who has wfh for 10 years and had the opportunity to live anywhere in the US, Houston was not on the top of the list. And I have cousins who live there.

Massive sprawl, even worse weather than DC, and their property taxes are double MD property taxes.

Also, saying that Houston is so much cheaper than the DC area is not the pro that you think it is. There's a reason why Houston is cheap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s just say it, Montgomery county is one of the most diverse, educated, and wealthy counties in the area.

It’s hard to find all three in the DMV (or the country) at a lower COL. NIH’s employees reflect that. They’re not leaving MoCo to go live in Frederick, Carroll, or Washington County.

Pfffff......Houston has lower median cost of homes than MoCo and is diverse. Unlike MoCo and MD, TX's economy is booming across the state. TX's overall tax burden is significantly lower too.
This is just one example from many, but look what kind of starter home a family can get in Houston for <$300k:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4342-Bugle-Rd-Houston-TX-77072/28139562_zpid/

What are you going to get in MoCo for under $300k? Some rundown shack? Permanent WFH gives families SOOOOOOOOOO many more opportunities to live elsewhere in order to save on COL. People complain so much all the time about the lack of housing affordability in the DMV. Well, now you are free to address the problem by moving elsewhere while keeping your job!

Well, you certainly won't have schools like that in Moco...

With the massive cost and tax savings differential, you can go private and still come out ahead. Plus, you can get away from the out of control crime in the DMV.

DP.. you have to be joking

https://realestate.usnews.com/places/rankings/most-dangerous-places

Houston #15

DC area is not even on there.

[Anonymous]

We will probably go full telework and plan to stay here in MoCo. The main thing telework is doing for my agency is allowing newer / younger people a choice of staying where they are or moving to the DC metro. I'm surprised at how many move here, even though they don't have to now.

In fact, just had one move here from Houston. Yes, they are teleworking.

[Anonymous]

Spouse and I are both full time WFH and we live in the DMV (admittedly, in VA) with no plans to move. I'm from the CA Bay Area, and the COL and school issues mean I'll never move back. No desire to move to NC or wherever people think they'll flee to. I've posted elsewhere that this area is a good value in terms of amenities, schools, etc.

Increased WFH may be bad for the DC core but I don't think it's a problem for the metro area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s just say it, Montgomery county is one of the most diverse, educated, and wealthy counties in the area.

It’s hard to find all three in the DMV (or the country) at a lower COL. NIH’s employees reflect that. They’re not leaving MoCo to go live in Frederick, Carroll, or Washington County.

Pfffff......Houston has lower median cost of homes than MoCo and is diverse. Unlike MoCo and MD, TX's economy is booming across the state. TX's overall tax burden is significantly lower too.
This is just one example from many, but look what kind of starter home a family can get in Houston for <$300k:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4342-Bugle-Rd-Houston-TX-77072/28139562_zpid/

What are you going to get in MoCo for under $300k? Some rundown shack? Permanent WFH gives families SOOOOOOOOOO many more opportunities to live elsewhere in order to save on COL. People complain so much all the time about the lack of housing affordability in the DMV. Well, now you are free to address the problem by moving elsewhere while keeping your job!

Houston is also vastly more important as a bioscience hub than Montgomery County. They have the Texas Medical Center and biotech/science research centers associated with both Rice and Texas A&M.

Yup, tons of brainpower in Houston. And diversity. And economy. MoCoites are delusional thinking they have a monopoly on that stuff.

I lived in Houston. Great ethnic food. Very diverse. Horrible weather most of the year, completely bonkers politics at the state level, terrible infrastructure, very scary crime, most blah architecture….I would 100x rather live here in Montgomery County.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Spouse and I are both full time WFH and we live in the DMV (admittedly, in VA) with no plans to move. I'm from the CA Bay Area, and the COL and school issues mean I'll never move back. No desire to move to NC or wherever people think they'll flee to. I've posted elsewhere that this area is a good value in terms of amenities, schools, etc.

Increased WFH may be bad for the DC core but I don't think it's a problem for the metro area.

+1 another former Californian. We didn't have to move to the DC area. We could've actually moved to Austin or RTP NC but we chose the DC area for many reasons.

We hope to retire early in the next 5 years, and we've been looking at where to move. We have a list of must haves, and basically, the DC area ticks the most boxes. It kind of annoys me, though, because I was looking forward to exploring other areas, but DC area has most of what we are looking for. So, looks like we're here to stay.

Obviously, everyone has different values and prioritizes other things, so YMMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s just say it, Montgomery county is one of the most diverse, educated, and wealthy counties in the area.

It’s hard to find all three in the DMV (or the country) at a lower COL. NIH’s employees reflect that. They’re not leaving MoCo to go live in Frederick, Carroll, or Washington County.

Pfffff......Houston has lower median cost of homes than MoCo and is diverse. Unlike MoCo and MD, TX's economy is booming across the state. TX's overall tax burden is significantly lower too.
This is just one example from many, but look what kind of starter home a family can get in Houston for <$300k:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4342-Bugle-Rd-Houston-TX-77072/28139562_zpid/

What are you going to get in MoCo for under $300k? Some rundown shack? Permanent WFH gives families SOOOOOOOOOO many more opportunities to live elsewhere in order to save on COL. People complain so much all the time about the lack of housing affordability in the DMV. Well, now you are free to address the problem by moving elsewhere while keeping your job!

Houston is also vastly more important as a bioscience hub than Montgomery County. They have the Texas Medical Center and biotech/science research centers associated with both Rice and Texas A&M.

But for many of us, a red state is a non starter. No way in hell Im' moving to a red state, period.