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Corporate Relocations, Real Estate Market Contribute To Memphis' 'Best Cities' Ranking

ROSALIND GUY | The Daily News

Memphis is being touted as one of the best cities for moving families.

Last month, a study by Memphis-based Primacy Relocation and Worldwide ERC ranked the city 19th among metro areas with more than 1.2 million people.

Cities were selected for the joint list based on cost of living, crime rates and climate, among other factors. This year's report also placed an increased emphasis on the real estate market, which currently is one of the most significant issues in relocation nationwide, officials said.

Prove it

Skeptics might say, "It's one thing to say Memphis is a good place to relocate, but quite another for people to actually make that decision."

But within the last year and a half, people seemingly have been doing just that.

One of the major reasons for those relocations is the fact that major companies such as International Paper Co. and ServiceMaster Co. have chosen to move their corporate headquarters here.

Eileen Cherny, director of the relocation division at Marx & Bensdorf Realtors, said much of the company's business comes from people moving to the city because of their jobs. She said the business roughly is split evenly between corporate and individual moves.

"We do a lot of corporate business as well as individual relocation business referrals that come one-on-one, or group moves," Cherny said.

Marx & Bensdorf, which began in 1868, is a member of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, a network of independent residential real estate firms with 650 members representing 4,700 offices and 120,000 associates across the U.S.

Selling points

Cherny said when people come to Marx & Bensdorf seeking help with their moves, they also are looking for good schools and areas with good neighborhoods, parks and other amenities.

"And most of those people being relocated don't have time to custom build," Cherny added. "Some of them will do it (themselves) or they'll find (a home) that's just about done and they'll be able to finish it out with the custom features that they want. But I would say it's pretty even as to whether they're getting new construction versus existing homes."

Keith Grant, president of the Memphis Area Home Builders Association (MAHBA), pointed to a number of other factors that contribute to Memphis being a prime locale for people looking to relocate.

"One is the fact that we don't have a state income tax," Grant said. "If you're looking at it from a national perspective, the state of Tennessee not having an income tax, it makes a lot of people want to retire to Tennessee. That's not just Memphis, but it's across the whole state, with Memphis included."

Another factor, Grant said, is the Memphis area's housing market.

"Housing in Memphis is more affordable than just about any other part of the country on a cost-per-square-foot basis," he said. "Our land values are less than in other parts of the country, the cost of living in Memphis is less in general, and the labor's a little bit less expensive.

"(In) California, for example, you're going to pay a lot more for the land for individual lots out there than you will in Memphis. The land in California or the land in the Northeast or the land in Florida is going to be a lot more expensive than in the Memphis area. So that's going to drive the cost up in other parts of the country. And in Memphis, you don't have that situation, so it helps keep the cost down."

Choices

Cherny said she's found that people moving to the Mid-South tend to choose neighborhoods in Germantown, Cordova, Collierville and Bartlett.

Grant also pointed to the large inventory of houses in the Memphis area. The large inventory, along with a market that's offering stable prices, is a combination that makes investing in a new home now a good move.

"There's a lot of inventory out there where people can choose from the current houses on the market - a lot of houses where people can move in within 30 days," Grant said. "And from an investment perspective, you would want to get in now when housing prices are stable before they start going up again."

MAHBA offers a number of resources for people who are moving into the city. The Change of Address magazine, which can be found in local grocery stores and Blockbuster locations, shows maps of the metropolitan area. It also shows where all the new communities are.