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Relocations are stressful, but hundreds of thousands of people take the plunge every year.
By SUSAN S. CHEUNG
Published in Spotlight Newspapers
Lifestyles in the Spotlight
Aug 6, 2008
Page 20
Trends & Technology
After eight years in Guilderland, the writer has relocated to Nashville, Tenn., to experience Grand Ole Opry, southern hospitality and her husband’s exciting new job. Comment on this story at her Coffee Mates blog on spotlightnews.com. Catch her final Coffee Mates posts in August on acclimating to southern culture.
There’s a song from one of my favorite movies, “The Sound of Music.” The lyrics go “So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, good night./I hate to go and leave this pretty sight.” It ends with, “Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye” and, sadly, I’ve said goodbye to the Capital District.
I’ve swapped my snow boots for the humid subtropical climate of Music City, USA, Nashville, Tenn.
My husband got a job at one of Nashville’s most prestigious research institutions. We considered; we debated and decided to take the plunge. With recent events fresh in my mind, it seemed fitting to write about current trends in U.S. relocations.
What clinched it was that the representative who worked with us, Robb Campbell of Schaap Moving Systems in Albany, had experience of living and working in the area we were moving to. You weigh up the costs and services moving companies promise you, but in the end it can boil down to gut feeling.
Packing up and saying goodbye was stressful and emotional, but we weren’t the only ones taking this journey: 794,000 was the average number of domestic transfers in 2008 according to Worldwide ERC, the association for workforce mobility.
Where is everyone moving to? Every year Atlas Van Lines analyzes data on interstate moves. States are classified as inbound if more than 55 percent of shipments are moved into the state; outbound if more than 55 percent moved out of the state and balanced if inbound and outbound represent 55 percent or less of total shipments.
People continue to move westbound in 2007 with Washington, Nevada, Oregon and Alaska being the most popular destinations for inbound traffic. California saw its lowest number of outbound moves in 10 years.
The Southwest is in demand with inbound moves to Texas, Colorado and New Mexico. Midwest economic woes mean significant outbound traffic from Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana and Ohio.
New Hampshire is the Northeast’s only inbound state for the seventh time in 10 years. The least popular? New York and New Jersey; second- and fourth-highest outbound states respectively.
On the whole, the Southeast is balanced with the exception of Alabama, which registered as inbound for the fifth time in six years.
Campbell said he has noticed a big increase in families moving from Florida; up 120 percent from summer 2007. He thinks it’ll continue to rise through fall of 2010. Many tell him their jobs are construction-related, and they’ve been hard hit by the present economy.
Many others are moving to the Southeast hotspots of Carolinas, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia.
And the place I’ve moved to – Nashville -- was ranked second in Best City for Relocating Families in large markets (metro areas with over 1,250,00 populations) in 2007, according to Worldwide ERC and Primacy Relocation a top employee relocation provider.
To move or not to move. Atlas Van Lines reports one of the top reasons for deciding against relocating is family resistance/ties (62 percent).
“Quality of life issues are increasingly important to transferees, and the employers who move them are recognizing those requirements. Being able to meet the needs of the entire family will be increasingly critical as the labor market grows tighter” says Cris Collie, Worldwide ERC CEO.
According to Atlas Van Lines, more companies in 2007 offered employment assistance to the spouse/partner (42 percent versus 33 percent in 2006).
But more so in 2007 and continuing in 2008 the top reason for deciding against relocation is slowed appreciation/depressed housing market at departure (71 percent), according to the research carried out by The Talent Buzz Recruiting and Human Resources blog.
What are companies doing for new hires? Some reimburse/pay for home sale costs (50 percent) and reimburse/pay for home purchase costs (48 percent).
Even with declining house prices, the numbers of relocations will increase in 2008 because of corporate growth and lack of qualified people locally, according to The Talent Buzz and Atlas.
An unhappy family, a victim in the relocation process is not a recipe for success.
It can be exciting to move, but for many it comes as a shock, and adjusting is a grieving process. I keep hearing I’ll make friends. That may be so, but first I want to mourn.
Adjusting becomes frustrating. You don’t want to move things out of boxes or waste a day driving around and waiting in lines to get a new license and register the car.
I’m in culture shock. Each new place has its own rhythm, rules, customs and subtleties. Your reaction will be shaped by your prejudices; a filter through which you see things. I admit I had certain expectations of the South.
Lessons learned so far – grieve; accept my feelings are normal; look forward one step at a time; learn all I can about my new home; be brave, ask questions and reach out.
I don’t want to be an unhappy statistic so I’m going to give Tennessee a chance as I did with the Capital District. After all, it turned out fine in Guilderland; I made wonderful friends and left with good memories.
