My “Personal” Approach to Relocation

I always enjoy the opportunity to visit with transferees and clients who are moving to Houston.  Whether their relocation is employment-based or for other reasons entirely, personal counseling is an invaluable part of the process.  While this counseling is often initiated through their employers and/or their relocation management companies, there is still a significant amount of counseling that we do in real estate Relocation Departments.  

As soon as I receive a new relocation referral, the very first thing that happens is that I reach out to the transferee or client.  In the case of someone who is moving to Houston, this is that crucial conversation in which I am able to gather pertinent, personal information about the transferee’s priorities and those of his or her family, their familiarity or not with the Houston area, the timing of their move, what they are looking for, whether they need to rent for a while first…and so much more!  It also gives me guidance in selecting the agent on our Relocation Team who will be most appropriate to assist that transferee and his or her family. 

While this conversation is most often done via telephone, I recently had the opportunity of visiting in-person with several transferees and their spouses who will be relocating to Houston from Oklahoma as part of a corporate group move.  One of the relocation management companies that I work with on a regular basis had requested my presence and services in speaking directly to the employees and their spouses.  This offered an even more personal approach to the process.

As with any relocation, there are always those people who are excited about making the move, and those who are more than a little apprehensive, and of course, those who are downright hostile about it.  Luckily, this group seemed to be happy about their relocation, at least for the most part.

But their excitement about moving wasn’t without a certain degree of stress and anxiety, caused by a fear of the unknown.  And my job was primarily to ease their fears and answer questions that they had  about Houston, our real estate market, various neighborhoods and areas of interest, and other more specific questions that were unique to each transferee and family situation.  You could almost see the questions on their faces:  “How long will it take me to sell my current home?  Where am I going to live?  Where are my kids going to go to school?  What if my spouse has trouble finding a job in Houston? Will I ever find my way around in a city so large?”…and so on and so on…

Being able to visit with these transferees and their spouses face-to-face provided me with a deeper level of understanding and  personal insight into what they were really thinking and feeling, and how I can best assist them and make them feel more comfortable about their relocation.

Relocation is much more than boxes and moving vans.  Transferees are uprooting their families and often leaving the city where they grew up and all the things that are familiar to them.  It’s always my goal to be the calm in the storm and hopefully remove some degree of stress from the process. 

We need to always remember that as relocation professionals, we are ultimately in the people business.  Yes, it’s business, but it is also VERY personal!

For more on relocation and moving to Houston, I invite you to click here often:  Houston Relocation

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