"remote" can just mean "far enough from the financial district that I can afford a little space" as it turns out. You're not WRONG but just being in the same time zone as your coworkers gets you 90% of the in person benefits and, realistically, it's too hard to work with a team that is on a vastly different tz.

Local can still be better than global while still allowing people to work from home and convene in meat space as needed