One of the benefits of being in business for yourself is that you can showcase your designations, awards, titles, and other accolades any way you please in your printed promotional media. But when you call yourself a relocation specialist, just what are you really advertising you can do? Aren't all agents relocation specialists?

You personally may have taken the time, trouble, and upkeep to pursue and maintain any number of designations offered by the affiliates of the National Association of Realtors (N.A.R.). Your print advertising can have a string of initials after your name -- designations you have worked hard to earn. You can announce in your local newspaper that you are number one in your office, city, state, company, or nation; you can say you were rookie/manager/agent of the year; or you can say you are an elected/appointed officer of your company or an industry organization.

What all of these accomplishments have in common is that they are quantifiable. You are number one because your company's accounting department said so. You have the certificates to prove you are a CRS (Certified Residential Specialist) or an ABR (Accredited Buyer Representative). And there is a board of governors to affirm that you did, in fact, receive an award or special appointment.

But no such qualifiers exist for the relocation specialist. You didn't win an award. You don't hold a designation or a certificate. You weren't crowned, elected, or appointed. You didn't complete a course or accumulate a tenure of experience. In other words, your expertise as a relocation specialist can't be measured or qualified by any known criteria, because it doesn't exist. So does the term have any meaning? And does its use enhance or cheapen the image of Realtors and the industry?

One of the most criticized aspects of the real estate profession, which the industry has taken great steps to remedy over the years, is the relative ease with which people can become licensed as Realtors. Although the industry is attracting more and more professionals from a wide number of fields, the relative educational/background requirements to become a Realtor still are not very strenuous. To improve the professional image of Realtors, trade associations offer various special designations which convey to other industry professionals as well as consumers that you, as a Realtor, not only know your stuff, but that you take pride in maintaining your edge with continuing specialized education.

Therefore, the term "Realtor" and its designations stand for something. Consumers as well as other industry professionals recognize a Realtor as someone who is knowledgeable or an expert in assisting buyers and sellers in facilitating the real estate transaction. But does that qualify them as "relocation specialists"?

Neither N.A.R. nor its affiliates recognize the term. The exception may be the Women's Council of Realtors, which offers the "referral and relocation" certificate to assist qualifying members in establishing a referral and relocation business. This certificate is conferred after the completion of a two-day course covering topics such as building corporate relocation business and developing referral and transferring business.

But another industry-related trade association sees relocation as a more complex issue. The Employee Relocation Council (ERC) does recognize one type of relocation specialist -- the relocation professional. Not a N.A.R. affiliate, the ERC is comprised of companies and people (including Realtors) who have a role in the relocation process, either relocating employees or providing services to real estate-related firms. According to the ERC's definition, a relocation professional is a person who is knowledgeable about a large body of relocation issues up to and including the real estate industry, family issues, tax and legal issues, appraisals, and corporate relocation policies and issues, among others.

The ERC offers a designation, the Certified Relocation Professional (CRP), which requires two years of experience in a relocation-related field, the passing of the CRP exam, and attendance/completion of a number of conferences and programs, along with continued membership in the ERC. Before the test, study covers a wide range of materials from which test questions are drawn by corporate participants. The test questions cover five principle areas: relocation appraising, residential real estate, corporate relocation polices and issues, tax and legal issues, and family relocation issues. Anyone who is a ERC member and has met the background criteria -- whether they are Realtors, movers, appraisers, or human resource personnel -- may sit for the exam. The ERC administers the CRP exam only once a year in approximately five locations throughout the United States, and recertification is dependent upon the recipient's completion of continuing education credits.

What are a few relocation issues? Transferring an employee opens a Pandora's box of psychological, legal, and service issues. Family issues may include the complexities of the dual-income couple and the psychology of transferring children. Karen Reed, vice president of education for the ERC, says, "Let's take a look at company relocation policies, for example. Some companies offer to buy transferee's homes, or they outsource the sale of the home to a relocation management company. They may offer spouse employment assistance, mortgage assistance, or give a cost-of-living allowance. A relocation professional needs to be familiar with these policies. Generally, that is why many large brokerage firms have a relocation department. The heads of these departments are often members of our organization and have obtained their CRP designation.

"The real estate agent's job is to know what kind of assistance the transferee is needing, but it is not his job to interpret corporate policy. This is especially important when working with a corporation as a client," Reed adds. "The important thing is that all of our members are learning something beyond their own field. That stimulates and improves services to the customer. "

What does the ERC gain by offering the CRP designation? "Over the years, the volume and significance of the relocation field has grown significantly," Reed says. "Our members wanted a program that would indicate that these people have mastered this large body of knowledge and to provide a guide for self-development. The CRP designation accomplishes this goal. It is a formal recognition, and it prepares the designee to communicate better with other segments of the relocation industry. The advantage is that other members, who have also sat for the test or are familiar with the kind of background and knowledge we require, will know and appreciate the expertise of an agent with a CRP designation."

If the CRP designation conveys a body of experience and knowledge about relocation issues, is there a comparable designation specifically for Realtors? According to Doug Richards, CCIM, CRS (1998 financial vice president of the RS Council), the nearest designation that conveys relocation expertise is the CRS designation. "'Relocation specialist' is a term that doesn't mean anything," Richards says. "The closest definition I can come up with is that a relocation specialist is someone who has established a relationship with a relocation company and serves their needs. They have a connection with the company, and there is a consistency that the company can look forward to by using the same person's services. But it doesn't mean that that person is any better at listing or selling a home than some other agents. What it does mean is that the relocation company has developed some confidence in that person. It is a means to generate business with the company as opposed to the general public.

"If I were going to hire someone, I would want to know what I was getting," Richards continues. "With a CRS [Certified Residential Specialist], you would get someone who has helped people relocate. Only 5 percent of all Realtors have this designation, and they account for 25 percent of the transactions. The question is, when you send a referral to another agent, do you get paid? When that other agent is a CRS, almost without exception, a home will convert and you will get paid. A company needs to know which agents are going to help them accomplish their goal of successfully relocating that employee, from selling his home to finding him a new one, and the odds are higher with a CRS."

The CRP and CRS designations are complimentary but not interchangeable. The CRS does not have the formal training and background in a wide range of corporate relocations that the CRP has, and the CRP is equally not as well-versed in expediting a real estate transaction on the front and back ends.

Until the time when N.A.R. or one of its affiliates offers a comparable designation to the CRP, Realtors such as RE/MAX's Jim Abell, CRS and chapter president, will continue to call themselves relocation specialists. Abell has no designations affirming his expertise as such, but he considers himself a relocation specialist nonetheless. He believes he speaks for many Realtors when he says, "By calling myself a relocation specialist, I am saying that I can work with corporate buyers and be sensitive to their needs, and that I can help them make the transition from a comfortable sphere to their new cities. It is a way of communicating directly with transferees." ..

Published: March 6, 1998

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