Archive for the ‘Relocation’ Category

They say change is hard.  There is no greater change in real estate than the relocation process of uprooting someone from family, friends, school mates and connections in their current church, community and way of life.

When I started working with transferees back in the late 1960’s, it was quite different from how it is now.  The process was alot more complicated without virtual tours, http://www.realtor.com/, and the speed of email communication and faxes.  Ninety-nine percent of the time it was the husband that was transferring and the family followed.  I met my first “house husband” in the 1980’s when he transferred with his engineer wife and it was he that did the housework and took care of the children.  When they sold, I remember feeling odd when I would tell him how nice the house looked after a showing.  But he was proud!!  Soon after trends changed and the multitude of transferees were both working parents and the new challenge was finding a position for the other spouse in their field.

Today, transferees begin the process from across the country through www.realtor.com and individual Realtor websites.  They use the power of the internet to investigate local schools, churches and community amenities.  By the time we meet these buyers in person they are already quite knowledgeable about the Bennington area and southern Vermont.

What hasn’t changed is our understanding of how difficult it is to be uprooted.  We take great care to understand the needs of the whole family (including pets) when we start our relationship.  The house they choose is actually the last part of the process.  First we want to say “Welcome to Bennington! What is it that we need to help you find here – is it a sports or academic program that your child excels in, or is it a doctor with a specialty in a particular field? What kind of shopping needs do you have – do you need a list of attorneys, physicians, builders?”, and so on.  It takes a while to settle in, but nothing gives me more joy than meeting a member of this family a year later and to hear them say “I LOVE IT HERE!”