When middle management is transferred, the families are often put in the position of having to learn the housing market on a national level. Why? The price for the same home could differ by as much as $711,875 depending on the employee's new destination. That is what Coldwell Banker learned in its most recent home-price comparison survey.

Compensation package issues aside, home price issues are a big topic with companies who transfer employees or are moving headquarters to a new locale. For that reason, Coldwell Banker has created a Home Price Comparison Index that can tell you exactly what your home would be worth in another city.

The index covers 300 markets across the nation, and is designed to give the transferee a quick approximation of what their present home might cost if it were transplanted along with the transferring family. For example, if you live in Akron, Ohio in a home valued at $140,000, the same home in Washington, D.C. might be $271,385. Each of the city is given an index number and an average sales price. You multiply the market value of your current home by the index number of the destination city, then divide that number by the index number of the market where your home is currently located. Your equation would look like this - $140,000 X 126 divided by 65= $271-385.

The Index was developed from a survey conducted by Coldwell Banker on homes and neighborhoods that are typical for corporate middle-management transferees. The information was submitted by experienced local market specialists and represented a specific subject property. The data also revealed the percentage change in the increase or decrease of average home prices per market from 1996 to 1997.

The data was gathered as part of a customer service initiative designed to assist relocating families. The company also learned that that most middle management transferees prefer homes they know they can sell quickly.

According to Regina Coia, a broker with Coldwell Banker Caparo who contributed data to the index, " Nine times out of ten, they (transferees) want to live in a development. You get to meet your neighbors quickly and are able to tap into their expertise to find doctors, dentists, supermarkets, schools and other services.

Coia says, "Probably 70 percent of transferees are looking for new construction and not an older home." What little time they have in an area, they don't want to spend "fixing up" or be in the middle of a renovation and have to transfer again."

Kim Rudolph, manager of corporate relocations for luxury builder Toll Brothers concurs that transferees prefer to decorate to make a home theirs rather than build or add design elements that they can't take with them.

Published: July 29, 1998

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