SAILSBURY, N.C. – April 5, 2011 – More people are moving to start new jobs as hiring improves, but the slumping housing market is hampering some job seekers who own homes they can’t easily sell.
For more than 11 million homeowners underwater, owing more on their mortgages than their homes are worth, moving can be difficult.
John Nucci moved from Monroe Township, N.J., to Sailsbury, N.C., in May to take a new job almost a year after he was laid off. Nucci was not concerned about selling his home in New Jersey initially, but it has yet to sell, and he is being threatened with foreclosure.
He’s trying to get his lender to agree to a short sale, where the house would be sold for less than the mortgage balance.
“I guess I was naive. I thought between March and May I’d be able to unload my house,” he says. “It’s been very emotionally stressful.”
Although people such as Nucci are moving in greater numbers, mobility is still proving to be an issue.
Shad Bogany, a Houston area real estate agent, says the situation is improving. Texas in particular saw job growth in 2010, and the same is expected of this year.
“It’s not where it was before, but it’s getting there,” Bogany says. “We’re beginning to see an improvement.”
Today it’s more likely that a family or individual picks up and moves independently without the assistance of a corporate relocation package, he says.
Sixty-nine percent of workers who turned down a relocation package last year did so because of housing and mortgage concerns, Atlas World Group’s latest relocation survey found. That’s down from 77 percent in 2009 but well above the 2006 figure of 30 percent.
“Especially in the last two years we’ve noticed a significant reluctance and fear to sell houses,” Atlas CEO Glen Dunkerson says. Relocations “will continue on a slow upward movement in 2011,” he says, adding that he thinks relocations will remain depressed until the housing market fully recovers in 2012 or beyond.
Economist Marisa DiNatale, a director at Moody’s Analytics, says relocations in 2009 fell to their lowest levels since the 1950s, and last year’s level was likely low as well.
“We haven’t seen the bottom of the housing market,” she says.
The number of corporate relocations was up 6.8 percent last year, a huge improvement over the 26.7 percent drop in relocations from 2008 to 2009, according to data complied by the American Moving and Storage Association.
The number of people willing to move has increased, according to data from Monster, an online employment website. Today, 49 percent of workers are willing to move for a job, compared with 31 percent in 2007.
“Previously these levels were not seen since the tech boom,” Jessica Sutera, a Monster spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.
Matt Henson, vice president of public relations at Monster, says the improvement in hiring is partially responsible for the increase.
“People are willing to take risks they may not have taken before,” he said.
One of those is Chris Bates of Omaha, who has been unemployed for 13 months since losing his job in the pharmaceutical industry. He wants to move to Texas or Florida and is using his father-in-law’s Florida address on resumes for employers there to avoid the question of relocation.
“On interviews people won’t even talk to me because they heard I have a house,” he says.
Although Bates says his home would be a profitable sale, employers have told him they do not want to deal with employees trying to sell a house, a process that can be time consuming and unprofitable.
Bates says he is not trying to deceive employers – he could stay in his father-in-law’s house while his home in Omaha sells – he is trying every possible option to get a job.
Using his father-in-law’s address seems to be working.
“I have an interview because I used that address,” he says.
© Copyright 2011 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc., Alicia McCarty, USA TODAY.
For more than 11 million homeowners underwater, owing more on their mortgages than their homes are worth, moving can be difficult.
John Nucci moved from Monroe Township, N.J., to Sailsbury, N.C., in May to take a new job almost a year after he was laid off. Nucci was not concerned about selling his home in New Jersey initially, but it has yet to sell, and he is being threatened with foreclosure.
He’s trying to get his lender to agree to a short sale, where the house would be sold for less than the mortgage balance.
“I guess I was naive. I thought between March and May I’d be able to unload my house,” he says. “It’s been very emotionally stressful.”
Although people such as Nucci are moving in greater numbers, mobility is still proving to be an issue.
Shad Bogany, a Houston area real estate agent, says the situation is improving. Texas in particular saw job growth in 2010, and the same is expected of this year.
“It’s not where it was before, but it’s getting there,” Bogany says. “We’re beginning to see an improvement.”
Today it’s more likely that a family or individual picks up and moves independently without the assistance of a corporate relocation package, he says.
Sixty-nine percent of workers who turned down a relocation package last year did so because of housing and mortgage concerns, Atlas World Group’s latest relocation survey found. That’s down from 77 percent in 2009 but well above the 2006 figure of 30 percent.
“Especially in the last two years we’ve noticed a significant reluctance and fear to sell houses,” Atlas CEO Glen Dunkerson says. Relocations “will continue on a slow upward movement in 2011,” he says, adding that he thinks relocations will remain depressed until the housing market fully recovers in 2012 or beyond.
Economist Marisa DiNatale, a director at Moody’s Analytics, says relocations in 2009 fell to their lowest levels since the 1950s, and last year’s level was likely low as well.
“We haven’t seen the bottom of the housing market,” she says.
The number of corporate relocations was up 6.8 percent last year, a huge improvement over the 26.7 percent drop in relocations from 2008 to 2009, according to data complied by the American Moving and Storage Association.
The number of people willing to move has increased, according to data from Monster, an online employment website. Today, 49 percent of workers are willing to move for a job, compared with 31 percent in 2007.
“Previously these levels were not seen since the tech boom,” Jessica Sutera, a Monster spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.
Matt Henson, vice president of public relations at Monster, says the improvement in hiring is partially responsible for the increase.
“People are willing to take risks they may not have taken before,” he said.
One of those is Chris Bates of Omaha, who has been unemployed for 13 months since losing his job in the pharmaceutical industry. He wants to move to Texas or Florida and is using his father-in-law’s Florida address on resumes for employers there to avoid the question of relocation.
“On interviews people won’t even talk to me because they heard I have a house,” he says.
Although Bates says his home would be a profitable sale, employers have told him they do not want to deal with employees trying to sell a house, a process that can be time consuming and unprofitable.
Bates says he is not trying to deceive employers – he could stay in his father-in-law’s house while his home in Omaha sells – he is trying every possible option to get a job.
Using his father-in-law’s address seems to be working.
“I have an interview because I used that address,” he says.
© Copyright 2011 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc., Alicia McCarty, USA TODAY.
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