What’s Best for Your Mobility Program and Your Employees?

The way real estate is bought and sold is evolving at a rapid pace and naturally, relocation home sale processes are evolving too. Millennials, not Baby Boomers, are now the primary home buyers, which is driving changes in seller marketing strategies. Accelerated processes within some home sale program options are also becoming more common. We asked 53 mobility program leaders at a recent insideMOBILITY event in Miami to identify one area of their relocation program they planned to update within the next two years. The most common answer (along with “Extended Business Travel”), was “U.S. Domestic Relocations.” Now is the opportune time to review the strategies and structures of these types of programs. Here are some practices and trends that mobility professionals should be aware of. Over the past two decades there have been three primary home sale program approaches for U.S. domestic relocations:

• Buyer Value Option (BVO)
• Guaranteed Buyout (GBO)
• Direct Reimbursement (DR)

Most major employers offer more than one of these program types. A less common home sale approach is a Fixed Fee program.

Weighing the Options and Designing a Home Sale Program

As mobility leaders take on the task of reviewing and revising home sale practices and policies, they should consider making all three primary home sale options available to the relocation manager so they’re able to offer the best solution for each situation. Organizations also should be mindful of the clear tradeoffs between the three options in terms of the associated costs and risks to the company and the employee.



For more, download the full insight brief above to get information on: 

• Comparing risks and costs of home sale options
• Program process steps
• Emerging trends