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Today’s best and worst place for business

| August 26, 2014

Today’s best and worst place for businessLooking to relocate? Then head to Raleigh, N.C., and avoid Atlantic City, N.J., at all costs!

At least that’s what Forbes magazine is saying. Annually, Forbes crunches the numbers on 200 metro areas to determine the best and worse business climates. In June, U.S. employers added 288,000 jobs according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the unemployment rates fell to 6.1 percent, the lowest it has been since 2008. Although the overall numbers are looking good that does not mean every area of the country is experiencing gains. Read More

Relocating? Should you rent or buy?

| June 6, 2014

 

Community of mutli coloured paper houses in a circleIf the real estate crash taught us anything, it’s that the old rules don’t work anymore, especially for those dealing with a relocation. Recently, TRC has seen a number of transferees opting to rent in a new location rather than buy. Many more have stopped looking at a house as an investment, but rather the place they call home.

The New York Times recently conducted an analysis that found in many of largest metro areas in the United States – New York City, the San Francisco Bay area, Los Angeles, Boston, Miami and Washington, D.C. – prices have risen so quickly that buying property is beginning to look like a perilous investment, with some experts concerned that a price correction is in the offing. Read More

The dreaded alternative minimum tax: Prepare now for April, 2015

| March 26, 2014

It might seem way too early to think about 2015, but when it comes to taxes, now is the perfect time.

april15
Many of the employees of our relocation clients were hit with a heavier tax burden this year, just some of the 3.9 million Americans that had to pay the dreaded alternative minimum tax, aka AMT. Under our dual tax system, taxpayers have to pay whichever amount is higher – regular income tax or AMT. The AMT does not allow many of the deductions allowed on regular returns – personal exemptions, standard deductions and deductions for state and local taxes paid.

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Qualified mortgages and what they mean for relocation

| February 19, 2014

QMRelocation comes with a lengthy to-do list and its own lingo. Last month, two new words were added to the language of relocation – qualified mortgages – the new rules that now govern who gets approved for a loan and who doesn’t.

So what’s a qualified mortgage, commonly called QM in the world of relocation, banks and real estate?

New rules

The 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which wrote the newly enacted rules on how mortgages are approved. All lenders must now assess income, assets, credit history, other debt obligations and employment status. If lenders do not follow through on these evaluations, borrowers who cannot make their mortgage payments can contest foreclosures on the grounds that the lenders did not properly judge their financial standings and risk. Read More

Involuntary Renters: A Growing Trend in the Domestic Relocation Industry Part 2: How To Handle Your Reluctant Renters

| January 21, 2012

Classic domestic relocation policies clearly distinguish between renters and homeowners. Renters are assumed to be younger, more junior employees, often single or married without children. Since the classic renter has no home to sell at the departure location, no home to purchase at the destination and significantly less in the way of household goods and other encumbrances, he or she typically received a modest package of benefits relative to homeowner transferees.

In part one of this series we discussed a new type of employee relocation situation: homeowners who are able to sell their home but cannot afford to buy another one. Read More

Involuntary Renters: A Growing Trend in the Domestic Relocation Industry

| January 6, 2012

Part 1: Recognizing a Reluctant Renter

In the past, relatively few homeowners became renters. When they did, it was often a lifestyle choice, such as empty-nesters who sold their large suburban home and moved into a city apartment. Today this situation is much more common — and too often an effect of the current housing market and economic conditions.

Why Homeowners Choose To Rent

In the domestic relocation services industry, some transferees cannot sell their departure home and end up renting it out and finding a rental property at the destination. Others expect their time at the destination to be limited. Still others may have been spooked by the volatile housing market in general. The most delicate employee relocation situation centers on what we call “involuntary renters” or “reluctant renters”: homeowner transferees who manage to sell their home but cannot afford to buy another one. Overall, 67% of surveyed companies in Worldwide ERC’s 2010 Transfer Volume and Cost Survey are seeing a “somewhat” to “significant” increase in the number of homeowner transferees who are opting to rent at their new location. Read More

Why Cafeteria Relocation Benefits Are Making a Comeback Part 1: Flexibility

| October 26, 2011

With so many impediments to relocation today, from traditional issues such as spouse career concerns to more recent problems such as “upside down” homes, companies, employers and relocation management companies are clamoring for a more creative, flexible approach. Without creativity and flexibility, many moves simply won’t happen.

This is where “cafeteria”-style relocation benefits come in. A cafeteria approach can help meet employees’ needs for flexibility, control overall program costs, and most importantly, enable companies to achieve their business objectives in a challenging environment. Cafeteria relocation benefits had a flash of popularity in the 1980s and 1990s but faded from the spotlight as more structured, tiered polices gained favor. Read More

TRC Employee Relocation Blog – An Introduction

| June 3, 2011

Welcome to the TRC Global Mobility blog, which is designed to provide the latest insights on domestic and international corporate and government relocation services. Our goal with this blog is to provide useful information to human resources professionals, relocation managers, realtors, appraisers, and other relocation industry professionals.

Drawing on our more than 20 years of experience providing personalized corporate relocation services backed by advanced technology and thought leadership, we hope to provide fresh perspectives to our readers, as well as imaginative and resourceful advice on different situations. Our topics will include best practices, tax changes, service procurement, employee benefits and services, benchmarking, real estate market information and relevant current events, relocation news and trends.

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