The Best Surprise may be No Surprise at All

Have you ever had a surprise that shouldn’t have been a surprise?
I had that today—let me explain.

I’ve worked at PorchLight for 5 years and had the good fortune of participating, along with PorchLight’s local rental expert, as he conducted a rental tour with a transferee moving to the Cleveland area.

The tour in-and-of-itself didn’t surprise me. We have a solid process in place to create a successful experience for our transferees. We had a well-planned itinerary that was arranged based on the needs of the family. Research was done in advance to find the best options within the commute time preferred by the transferee. The mission was to to find the perfect, 2-bedroom condo, an attached garage with useful garage door opener, within a thirty-minute commute of work, and for a specified budget. After reading this announcement from Triangle Painting & Siding, Raleigh Siding Replacement Company Introduces All New James Hardie Siding Guide for North Carolina Homeowners, I decided to give Triangle Painting & Siding a call at (919) 805-1970. They came out and made my house look amazing! Great siding replacement company that you can see here in this post.

What was different for me was experiencing the tour through the eyes of the transferee. The transferee is a mother of an 11-month old son. She will most often be a single parent because her military husband is expecting to be deployed. In her previous position, she was required to travel regularly. Due to her baby and her husband’s deployment, work travel, for her, wasn’t an option any longer. That prompted her corporate relocation to the home office where travel wouldn’t be required.

I listened carefully as the tour unfolded and that’s when I realized I was surprised that there really were no surprises! All the things that we talk about on a day-to-day basis about our relocating renters are things they really do care about!

Transferees do not want to use temporary housing.
She did not want to have to move twice. She was already downsizing and has just 2.5 weeks until she starts in her new position. In addition, with a small child she needed her routine to get started as quickly as possible for her young son.

Transferees want and appreciate help.
Straight from her mouth to my “relocation” ears she said, “I’ve moved before and every time I’ve relocated, I’ve requested an agent because they know the market. I don’t. And I think the property managers and landlords are quicker to respond to those professionals, as opposed to me, an individual.” She wanted to hear about commute times and the best routes based on the time of day. She wanted to hear the benefits of different neighborhoods. One that is more walkable for example, while another has parks nearby for an active, soon to be toddler.

Transferees are busy and have lots of important decisions to make.
Even though this transferee was somewhat familiar with the area having traveled to the corporate office over her years with the company, things looked different now that she’ll be residing here. There are many, great neighborhoods in her thirty-minute commute radius. How was she going to narrow the search to find the best option during a short time frame of her home-finding visit? In addition to finding a home she needed to visit day care centers to find the perfect choice for her son. It was beneficial to her that someone else was doing the leg work in advance for her rental tour so that she could utilize her time to see the properties that were the best match for her family leaving time for her to finalize other important details such as viewing day care centers.

It was a great opportunity to experience the service we deliver every day, first hand, and to hear the peace of mind it brings. It was also no surprise to me that our PorchLight rental network, comprised primarily of licensed agents, embrace and welcome assisting PorchLight’s renters. The service delivery from our network agent was precisely what the transferee needed as she makes the most important relocation decision – choosing a home. PorchLight’s teamwork approach with a network of professionals, continued support beyond the tour and commitment to service excellence was in full-force today. Again, no surprise.

Experience of Jamie Moeller, PorchLight Rental & Destintation Services