[apercu]

Devils advocate:

It's possible that Amazon will be a drain on a region.

The cost of housing goes up for everyone.

The best and the brightest of the region get sucked back to HQ1

The startup ecosystem in the region gets drained to work at/for Amazon

[Robotbeat]

Cost of housing going up also increases the wealth of homeowners in the area. This is not purely bad.

[bufordsharkley]

When something is good for the landed and bad for the landless... it's generally bad.

Now, we could reform our policies so that the landless get a fair shot, but realistically, what are the chances of this happening?

[throwaway1748]

Yes, but Amazon and the companies that spring up around HQ2 will enable many landless people to become landed.

And if that happens to an extreme degree where it becomes unsustainable, maybe an HQ3 would be in order?

[deong]

If you're already landless, Amazon coming in isn't going to help you become landed, outside of a handful of the earliest people to get in before the speculators hit. They'll create high paying jobs, but they'll create equally (or likely more) expensive houses.

Anyone wanting to live in Nashville (just to pick one city from the list) who's capable of working for Amazon is also capable of working for someone in Nashville today. And generally, the economics of being tech talent outside these hotbed markets like SV and Seattle are vastly favorable.

That is to say, you're probably better off buying the cheap house in a smaller market on the salary you can command in that market than you are buying a very expensive house on the salary that the very expensive market offers you. Google would pay me more than my current job, but my cost of living would go up by more than my salary -- massively so.

[bomb199]

Against local companies (like for in Seattle), it also creates an issue of competition for employment. In Seattle, every job I'm applying to is also being applied to by ex-Microsoft and ex-Amazon employees. It's a much harder competition to land jobs, but in the smaller markets you could find work much more easily.

[badlucklottery]

Their property taxes also go up as well so their actual financial situation might be worse unless their non-tech wages keep pace with the market or they just sell and leave.

But you can only sell a house once so it's the rising tide isn't really raising their boat like it is for the tech workers. It's more akin to winning a scratch ticket that also forces you to move and maybe get a new job.

[dylan604]

House prices going up is only a good thing when you are selling your house. Otherwise, it's just a larger tax payment the owner endures. I know several people that lost their house because values went up in the neighborhood, but their salaries did not increase to match the new monthly tax allotment requirements.

[xienze]

> House prices going up is only a good thing when you are selling your house. Otherwise, it's just a larger tax payment the owner endures.

Well then you just pass something like Prop 13. Oh wait...

[apercu]

I guess. I live in an expensive area. My house has gone up hundreds of thousands of dollars in value in the last 2 years.

So what? My taxes go up and so do the costs of all the other houses nearby, so I don't net any more if I sell and buy a new house.

[Chaebixi]

> Cost of housing going up also increases the wealth of homeowners in the area. This is not purely bad.

The local government represents the current residents, not future ones. Raising house prices could be a windfall for current homeowners, but it could negative for the broader group of local residents, which will likely have a lot of renters.

Heavily inflated house prices could also be bad for the current homeowners, who may get stuck in their current home because they could no longer afford the price difference for a needed upgrade. Their kids may be forced to move away because they can't find homes.

[walshemj]

Or it creates its own mini environment of tech companies form by alumni of amazon - one large company tends to do that.

Take games workshop in nottingham there is now a large number of spinoff games and mini companies formed by ex GW alumni