May 27, 20087 Update

IMPACT Group's Founder Announces her Retirement

Laura Herring a pioneer in the career counseling field, has announced that she will retire in January of 2009 and turn the responsibility for the growing business over to her daughter. Over the past four years they have added 26 new locations to their operations. Lauren Herring has been the guiding force behind many of the changes in the organization so she was a natural to take the helm going forward.
As a vendor Partner of DBAI, we wish Laura the best going forward and look forward to working with Lauren where the IMPACT Group can benefit our clients.

Pennsylvania Charging Transfer Taxes on Deeds-In-Blank

Worldwide ERC has announced that they have learned that the State of Pennsylvania has begun to treat transfers of residences to relocation management companies as taxable transactions in these transactions. There is nothing in writing as of this time, but new regulations state that in situations where there are two transactions covered by a single document, transfer taxes are due to both transactions.

New Transformation

From the Desk of the Consultant

We have for the past seven years published a monthly newsletter which has gone out to over 200 individuals. It has been our goal to be a resource for information that maybe was not available elsewhere. We have tried several formats and each seems to have problems for certain of the subscribers. After much thought we have made the decision to move the newsletter to this blog for several reasons: a) we can update it as news happens rather than waiting several weeks; b) it allows the ability of subscribers to add their comments as they wish and post their job openings where appropriate. This issue is actual a combination of May and June 2008. Due to the scheduling of the CRP review class we were teaching when this newsletter was supposed ot go out to the subscriber list. Please let me know if there are other changes that you would like to see.

Changing of the Guard

According to the May issue of Mobility Magazine, the family of Arthur Lederman announced that Arthur had passed away in February. For those of us who knew Art from his days at RRI, Coldwell Banker and DeWolfe, he will be sorely missed.

We are Not Alone

The Canadian Employee Relocation Council announced that it will host cross Canadian meetings to bring together business and government representatives to discuss how each will deal with the pending skilled labor shortage that is brewing in Canada. The same issue is appearing in every major economy in the world.

Keeps on Growing

The Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce have announced that they are in negotiations with 39 businesses considering relocating operations to Nashville and surrounding areas. If they are all successful it will add 9440 new jobs to the marketplace worth $722,000,000. The businesses represent back-office, headquarters and manufacturing operations.

Mortgage Crisis bring About Further Changes

Alaska has joined a growing number of states requiring that mortgage professionals be licensed by the state to offer services within the state.

Manpower Releases Results from Talent Shortage Study

In the results of a recent study of the employment marketplace, Manpower revealed that thirty-one percent of employers worldwide were having difficulties filling open positions due to a lack of suitable talent. In an associated study, Manpower indicated that the hardest positions to fill in the United States were Engineers, Machine Operators, Skilled Trades, Technicians, Sales Representatives, Financial staffs, Mechanics, Laborers, It staff and Production Operators. These were similar to the 2007 hottest job list.

Fox Relocation Management Changes Name

Fox Relocation management based in Boston has decided to change its name to reflect its move into the project management arena. The new name for the organization will be Fox RPM Corporation. It is not affiliated with any relocation operation run by Fox Roach Real Estate in Philadelphia.

If it Smells Like a Rose, is it a Rose?

Re/Max International in proceedings surrounding a lawsuit against First American Title for pulling out of an exclusive right to market title insurance to Re/Max Agents, stated that it was not liable under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act clause prohibiting kickbacks of any sort. Their reasoning was that it was not a real estate company but a marketing company which maintains marketing agreements with 123 companies that want to pitch their services to the Re/Max agents across the country.

Relocations

• Wachovia - Phasing out A.G. Edwards brand and moving Wachovia Securities headquarters from Richmond, VA to St Louis, MO . Several hundred families involved. Move complete by February 2009.
• RainDance - Moving operations from Guilford, CT to Lexington, MA as of May 2008. Affects 30 families.
• Del Monte - Moving 100 marketing and related jobs from Pittsburgh to Headquarters in San Francisco.
• Inergy Automotive - Relocating from Ontario, Canada to Adrian, Michigan
• Spring Air - Relocating it's corporate headquarters from Chicago to Tampa, FL. In addition the company is moving it's St Louis manufacturing operation to Columbus, OH.
• RTI International - Moving its headquarters from Youngstown, OH to Pittsburgh creating at least 35 new jobs after the move.
• Brown Shoe - Transferring 300 employees from it's Madison Wisconsin Famous Footwear division to corporate headquarters in St Louis, MO.
• Freightliner - Moving selected positions from corporate headquarters in Portland, OR to South Carolina.
• James Hardie Industries - Moving its total operations from the Netherlands to the US. It's Australian and New Zealand operations would be separated from the US company and either sold off or incorporated as independent local companies.

Industry Position Openings

Flextronics - Seeking a Mobility Specialist who will spend 80 percent of their time in relocation and 20% devoted to international assignments. The individual will be the primary point of contact for the relocation program and will work closely with the Global Mobility Manager. Candidate needs strong computer skills and be able to work with minimal supervision.

Industry Events

2008

• September 16-17
• Equus Software
• 6th Annual Global Tax Seminar
• Denver, CO

• October 29-31
• Worldwide ERC
• Global Workforce Symposium
• Washington, DC

2009

• May 13-15
• Worldwide ERC
• National Relocation Conference
• San Diego, CA

• October 7-9
• Worldwide ERC
• Global Workforce Symposium
• Chicago, IL

2010

• May 19-21
• Worldwide ERC
• National Relocation Conference
• Orlando, FL

• October 27-29
• Worldwide ERC
• Global Workforce Symposium
• Seattle, WA

Inside DBAI

Too Much Material, Too Little Time

DBAI will again present its annual CRP review seminar in San Diego tentatively scheduled for May 10, 11 and 12 in San Diego. Now in it's 19th year, the seminar will provide an overview of the material for the examination. Over the prior 18 years, over one thousand relocation professionals from every segment of the industry have attended this successful seminar to prepare for the examination. Costs for the 19th Seminar will be announced in January pending an assessment fo the increased postage for mailing manuals to attendees. There will be a major rewrite of the material as some primary components are rewritten.

SEND US YOUR NEWS ITEMS

Currently over 200 subscribers from all segments of the industry receive this newsletter distributed by e-mail to each subscriber on the first of each month. If you have some news you would like to have included e-mail it to us by the 20th of month and we will try and include it in our next issue.