What will happen with real estate value if downtown buildings are worthless? How much stake does WF have in commercial real estate? I guess it is not small.
Most people would hate to go back to office. If companies decide to reduce the office footprint, this will impact the bank profitability and our jobs. Is this what is triggering the decision to eventually RTO? Collaboration is an excuse.
Good point. I've been meaning to step in a pile of human fe--s or get mugged for a while now. If only I was in a big city I could do that. It'd be great.
Seriously though, I can always visit a city if there's something there I want to do, but there usually isn't. I've lived close to several large cities, and I've lived downtown in a couple of top 25 cities. Thankfully I no longer have to. I go into them when I need to, or for very short periods of time to do something specific. Like visit a restaurant. Living there permanently is a nightmare scenario. To each their own but I don't think human beings are designed to be piled up on top of each other. Or, at the very least, this one wasn't. If you like it, go for it. I'll continue to breathe the fresh air of wide open spaces and nature. Car isn't locked. Front door doesn't really need to be either, but I do it out of habit from my city dwelling days. My dog likes to run the rolling hills of the back yard. I haven't been stuck in traffic in ages. At night when I step out of my back door all I hear is crickets. No sirens, no cars, no drunk guys yelling, no nonsense. I wish I had got out of town sooner than I did.
In big cities like NYC, Los Angeles, San Fran the housing prices have spiked so severely due not only to shortages but investors.
There are entire luxury skyscrapers in NYC that are empty simply because billionaires are parking their money in them. In other second-tier cities like Austin, Phoenix and Altanta investors like Offerpad buy up housing for corporate portfolios.
I'm no Bernie but there needs to be more equitable policies around the basic human needs of food, shelter, health, education and work. Without it the majority is going to be squeezed out of a basic level of quality of life.
Donate the properties to the local "Urban League" and write it off as an investment in housing for "Local Communities" or some such other DE&I related PR bul15hit.
@1boj+1epZ5CZs if you get wfh work while living in a city how is that not a work opportunity? There are other things in cities people find appealing other than corporate skyscrapers. Museums, landmarks, cultural "scenes", performance venues, restaurants.
These things go where the people are, not where the companies are. Folks need to open their minds to the possibilities of people controlling their lives rather than their jobs.
@1boj+1epZ5CZs
Work opportunities - like our Location Strategy which seems to center around major cities even if working remotely
Data infrastructure and cost of maintenance
Visibility - ties into government funding for infrastructure
Schooling
Community
Amenities/things to do
And so on. With businesses abandoning small rural areas en masse, cities will continue to thrive even if the work is done from home.
The problem with that is cities are not viable unless there is sufficient work activity taking place in them. Sure, some people love being piled on top of each other, but by and large it's something most people tolerate because of work opportunities. If there are none, there's a lot less reason to be there. No amount of conversion will make city dwelling economically competitive with living elsewhere unless you can make a lot more $ in the city. Converting office space to living space happens, but doing it on a large scale isn't sustainable.
If they were smart they would get plans to convert them to condos going. There's a housing shortage in many cities and an office space glut. This is simple math and has been done successfully in cities.
An example: https://wjla.com/news/local/as-more-employees-go-full-remote-nw-dc-office-building-being-converted-to-apartments
Why did the comment about being as----ted by the panhandlers in the Charlotte city get blurred out? What other words can I say about the constant harassment from the Charlotte city panhandlers and beggers there in the city, always around the Bank of America and Wells Fargo buildings? They put one in fear for your life. You cannot even stand still around those bank buildings for a few minutes, talking on your cell phone, etc. before someone approaches you to grub money off of you. That is the honest truth of many years of such encounters.
Idk but sure do NOT miss paying a couple hundred dollars per month to park my car near the Charlotte city offices. Working in the Charlotte city offices was pretty "fun", except for the constant panhandler as----ts.
You are completely on point. The collaboration is a cheap excuse. The could raise productivity targets and just make that an excuse but that would require honesty, integrity, and ball$
Was a Frederick MD employee for years. All of you in hubs are never safe. Can be you tomorrow.
The real estate is a driver for businesses that depend on the office workers to sustain their businesses however, Wells Fargo does not own most of the buildings they occupy. WF has hefty leases to pay.
If leadership was really planning to move the company forward, they wouldn't be talking about RTO instead they should've been looking at the future of the workforce outside of brick and mortar, that's true leadership. It's never been about collaboration only attrition.
Better to take the hit on the real estate now, instead of letting it drop in value even more! The future of business is not in brick and mortar!
It's not just WFC. If the commercial real estate industry falters, it would have the same impact as the bank failures in 2007.
I don't think that's why management is pushing though.
The same logic would dictate that those holding sizable WF mortgages/loans/brokerage accounts would be favored in the layoff game due to benefits to banks by retaining them. Consequently, laying off employees with big loans could affect the bottom line.
I hear it's a sellers market... perhaps they should cop a clue!!!
Put the homeless in there as society continues to crumble.
Oh PLEASE! stupidest frigging thing I've ever heard.... you spend your holiday feeling bad for the poor executives whose golden parachute might not carry their great, great, great grandchildren through life with a silver spoon in their mouth - I'll spend mine being grateful that I don't have to worry about inadvertently ki----g someone. 😉
Probably a d-mb question. Please be kind. Is Wells really losing money on their vacant real estate? If they were paying "x" to lease and operate a building pre-pandemic, wouldn't it be cheaper to operate that same building now? Less water, electricity, gas, office supplies, copier maintenance, coffee, etc.
Now eventually the question becomes whether or not holding a vacant building is the best use of money. But if anything I would think they're saving a bit every month. Or maybe I have that all wrong.
*What will happen with real estate value if downtown buildings are worthless? *
Ultimately, the office workspaces will be demolished and used for apartments/housing/other projects. Prices may dip some but the land is still worth something. Office work is not sustainable in the long term - I am talking 10+ years until we see that tipping point - the world is changing and global workforce technologies allow people to collaborate from anywhere, in real time. Time zone issues aside, its just like working next to each other.
How much stake does WF have in commercial real estate? A fair amount, but not as much as other banks coughBOAcough. They are getting hit hard over their Evergrande ties.
Ultimately at some point it will need to be written off or decreased in value in the books. It's going to take some forward thinking to plan for the massive job loss due to automation and some shifting of jobs into international locations, so I am hoping that is on the radar for our leaders to plan for in the next decade.
Wait, people don't want to work in riot zones filled with contagious disease? Who'd have thunk it!