[luckylion]

I wonder when it'll shift that people that can do remote work move to these towns specifically for the lower cost of living.

In my circle of friends who do usually work remote, there are a few that want to move to more rural areas. The number one concern is availability of broadband, which is just terrible in Germany. Further down is friends/family not being close and possibly sticking out very much. I don't think remoteness is an actual issue (because there really isn't remoteness anywhere in Germany, it's very densely populated, and saving a lot on rent & co might well offset the cost for a few hours of driving every other weekend to meet friends.

[ido]

I also live in Germany! We're in Berlin and we only moved here in 2013 so we dont really care about the family/friends angle (we have no other relatives in Berlin & all of our friends here we've made in the last 7 years, so we could probably make new friends elsewhere easy enough).

You also don't have to go rural, there are plenty of mid sized towns with cheap housing prices (and often a university and/or other cultural institutes, like Halle or Cottbus).

My main concern is that while we don't really standout in Berlin, in a smaller town we will be considered more "exotic" & especially for our kids I'm afraid it will translate to mobbing in school.

[rayhendricks]

Hah go to a rural area and find bidirectional gigabit fiber optic internet for $60/mo and a decent house for $200,000.