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T-Mobile Sale to AT&T: Another Hit to Local Real Estate?

Posted on March 21, 2011March 21, 2011 by The Tim

As you have no doubt read or heard by now, news broke yesterday that T-Mobile’s German parent company Deutsche Telecom will sell T-Mobile USA to AT&T for $39B.

While I’m certainly not enthused about what this will mean for my cell phone bill and customer service, my bigger concern is all the well-paid jobs in Factoria that may become redundant once the merger is complete.

I have a particularly personal connection to the Magenta Monster, as a number of my friends from college work there, and about a year ago I nearly got a job there myself. Considering that their headquarters spans at least six large buildings in Factoria, I think it’s safe to say that it’s not just a story that interests me. There are a lot of good jobs that are going to be affected by this acquisition.

T-Mobile HQ
T-Mobile Headquarters in Factoria via Bing Maps

I spoke with a T-Mobile manager who has been shopping for a home about how this news affects his homebuying timeline.

We have better than 20% saved and were looking to buy this fall, but now that won’t happen until I have a solid future with AT&T or somewhere else. There will certainly be workforce reductions at some point, but none of us have any idea how much.

Things will work out just fine for those who haven’t bought yet, but I imagine it might be a little more tight for those who already own if they find out that they’re going to need to sell.

All-in-all, I see this news as another hit to the Seattle-area housing market. Not a huge factor, but not a negligible one, either.

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