I was recently contacted by a recruiter helping out a company in an area in the south that wasn't in a very hot market talent wise. So they were expanding their search for senior level developers for a 6mo contract. A few emails were sent back and forth, and obviously the recruiter always wanted to know my rate, but I kept deferring until I had more info...
eventually it seemed like a pretty good fit, so I gave them an hourly rate I'd expect that was reasonable - It was about market for my area (DC) and below some of my other contracting rates.
I got a curt response from the recruiter explaining the company was only offering an amount that was over 30% below my quote (A pretty good tell this is a recruiter I don't want to work with anyway). The message mentioned my rate was quite high for someone not on site. (It was very clear this was for a remote position, and I would not be relocating)
If you are going to hire remote, does it make sense to expect a discount? Especially when you are reaching in to more expensive markets?