As if your job isn't hard enough!
Now the real estate market complicates your recruiting efforts.

By Melanie Chapman, VP Corporate Services, Zeitlin & Co. Realtors Relocation Division

Finding the right talent is always a battle. You have a key position to fill; you've honed the job description, consulted with experts, utilized outside recruiters, and now you've got some great candidates, some or maybe all of whom live outside Nashville.

However, those candidates may have more on their minds than just the job. Since a large percentage of relocations involve selling a home, that may become a big concern. In today's market, homes in many areas of the country are lingering on the market for months, and owners must lower their price to make a sale. Areas with higher rates of foreclosure are particularly hard-hit.

Your candidate may face extended double housing payments, creating financial stress on top of the already stressful relocation process. Perhaps he or she may feel it's not worth it, and decide not to take the job at all.

What can you do?

First line of action: Develop a relationship with a local real estate company's relocation department. They will give your candidate cost comparisons and a tour of neighborhoods during their interview visit. Your candidate needs to have a clear picture of what they can buy if they make the move, and there's no better way than to see it in person.

Second line of action: Ask your relocation provider to contact a real estate company in the transferee's home area to provide expert assistance in selling their home. They will send two top-selling brokers in the specific neighborhood to provide a market analysis, giving your transferee two opinions on how their property will fare in the current market. Both brokers will also give the homeowner a complete marketing strategy, to include staging, virtual tours, Internet and perhaps broadcast advertising, realtor luncheons, open houses and print advertising. The top 10 percent of brokers sell 90 percent of the housing in any given market, so selecting the right broker is critical. Some sellers are using newer media -- YouTube, eBay and craigslist.com can be successful avenues to advertise homes.

Third line of action: Consider a more comprehensive relocation package; perhaps simply extending your normal temporary housing limits will help. Or, have appraisals made of the transferee's property and offer to make the transferee "whole" in case the house sells for less. Corporate buy-outs have not been common in recent years, but with the changing market, the industry has seen an increase in this strategy. Sources are available even for one transaction.

Of course, you just have to weigh the factors. How rare and valuable are this person's talents and experience? How much are you willing to invest to bring this person on board -- or, what might you lose by not doing so?


Visit Zeitlin & Co. Realtors' web site, www.zeitlinrealtors.com, and click on "Relocation" to learn more about solving all your relocation challenges.