RELOCATION FRUSTRATION

The economic slump has hit residential relocation specialists hard, particularly in weak housing markets. With relocation leads from the Internet posting big declines, realty firms increasingly must reduce the number of relo specialists on staff and restructure their businesses. Large companies are transferring fewer employees, and they want brokerages to offer more than property sales – such as rentals, guaranteed buyouts and lease-to-own arrangements – even as they scale back the amount of assistance they provide to transferees. Since more relocating buyers use online discount operators to save money, traditional brokerages are sending relocation specialists to the Web, hoping to forge relationships with consumers through blogging and other social networking tools. As brokerages wait for the economy to rebound, experts say relocation specialists can put their property management expertise to use by assisting in real estate owned (REO) transactions.

Source: Realtor (01/09) Vol. 42, No. 1, P. B2; Freedman, Robert
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