Seacoast NH actual property growth, transferring firms see extra out-of-staters

PORTSMOUTH – A wave of people is moving to the New Hampshire coast from metropolitan areas in the northeast like Boston and New York City, as well as the nearby states of Connecticut and New Jersey.

The observation comes from Pat Breen, the owner of Preferred Movers in North Hampton, who observed the phenomenon along with employees of his moving company.

Big city folks moving to New Hampshire’s Seacoast have been accelerating for years, Breen said, adding that the trend “hyper accelerated” in the era of COVID-19.

Seacoast residents have been hearing about this influx of out-of-staters for many months. Moving companies see it firsthand every day.

In his business, is more people moving in and out of the Seacoast, or is both a balance?

“Definitely in, mostly in,” said Breen. “The only people who try to move out are just trying to make money and move south or west.”

A team of around 20 people, the Preferred Movers employees, contribute to the company’s sales records while the demand for their services is high. This leads Breen to seek more help as the demand for moving services increases every month.

“It was a challenge, let’s just be honest,” he said.

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‘Different kind of busy’

With homes in Seacoast and Rockingham Counties continuing to sell at record speeds and labor shortages taking its toll, local moving and storage companies are trying to keep up with single-family homes and apartment hunters flocking to Seacoast.

Sometimes it was exhausting.

On July 4th, Deb Harrington, co-owner of Wood Brothers Moving and Storage in Portsmouth with her husband Mark, kept her fingers crossed that she would not receive calls requesting her company’s service.

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She would have accepted any deal if it had been needed during the vacation, but she appreciated the respite for her crew. She said they were revised in 2021 and for most of the pandemic.

How much time do moving companies invest? Harrington said employees clock out six, sometimes seven, days a week after working 13 hours. In a single day, Wood Brothers workers rush back and forth between houses to complete five to ten moves.

Every year from April to October, Harrington said, business is booming.

“It’s busier (now), but it’s a different kind of business,” she said. “There is so much to do at the last minute. It means that fewer employees do twice as much work. “

Mark Harrington says he and his wife often arrive at moves to speed up the process and step in wherever they are needed.

“You have to adapt. You just have to adapt to the situation, ”he said.

How high is the current demand for moving helpers?

State and local statistics, along with anecdotes from moving companies, point to Seacoast and Rockingham Counties as a mecca for apartment hunters far and wide.

The latest data from the New Hampshire Association of Realtors shows that single-family homes in Rockingham County stayed on the market an average of 39 days in May 2020. Last May, homes with an average retail price of $ 515,000 sold nearly two weeks faster than the prior year average and stayed in the market for 27 days.

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The Seacoast Board of Realtors collects real estate data on a monthly basis from 13 sample communities: Exeter, Greenland, Hampton, Hampton Falls, New Castle, Newfields, Newington, North Hampton, Newmarket, Portsmouth, Rye, Seabrook, and Stratham.

The May report found that 88 single-family homes were sold, with the average price for those households at $ 625,000, an all-time record for the Board since the data began to be collected.

Not just limited to the Seacoast region, an increase in removals is a national trend. Calling it the “Big Reshuffle,” Zillow stated in an April report that 11% of respondents in a Harris Poll poll had moved in the past year.

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The online real estate marketplace reported last month that Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco were the five American cities with the most outbound movers in 2020.

At Wood Brothers, Deb Harrington said, the company’s crews serve people from areas across the country, as far south as San Antonio, Texas and as far west as Montana. Others are moving in and out of areas along the east coast, such as Virginia and South Carolina.

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IBISWorld, a global industry and research firm, forecast in a March report that the United States would see 1.7% growth in terms of sales in nationwide moving services this year.

“The main positive factors influencing this industry are low sales volatility and 30-year conventional mortgage rates (which are at all-time lows),” the report said.

Breen is certainly seeing growth as its business just had its second highest month in 16 years in the industry, grossing about $ 300,000, and seeing revenue up about 20% from a standard month. His team in the company’s North Hampton division completed between 70 and 80 local and long-distance moves in June.

Trying not to overload his team, which still needs about five more people to adequately meet demand for moving services, Breen said he then turned down “tons” of job offers for July.

“You can’t overwork the guys (because) you’re getting terrible results,” he said.

A June 15 article in the Washington Post reported that the moving industry, along with psychiatrists, veterinarians and garment factories, is experiencing a parched pool of applicants.

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Although weekly wages rose from $ 736 in February 2020 to $ 745 last April, the number of moving industrial workers has declined since last year as demand rises in the US, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

May 2020 BLS data found that at that time New Hampshire had more than 7,240 workers, freight, warehouse and material handling equipment, earning an average annual wage of $ 33,210.

Most Wood Brothers moving companies cannot afford to find properties to buy or rent in the Seacoast area, Deb Harrington said. To keep the workers, Mark Harrington said, he and his wife bought property themselves so their workers could live, so they could be closer to the constant work of their jobs instead of commuting 40 minutes either way from their homes.

“It just shows you the Seacoast value that we all enjoy. COVID just got it out of the box, ”he said.

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Breen said he is fortunate to have “long-time” employees who have helped the company generate staggering revenues.

“It was a fight, but it was very worth it because we are getting the results we wanted,” he said.

“We’re leaving all these options out there”

The local moving and storage business Calling All Cargo with locations in Dover, Greenland and Portsmouth is always overbooked in the summer, said administration specialist Jess Smith.

However, this summer, according to Calling All Cargo sales director Josh Leonard, record-breaking sales numbers are becoming the norm and schedules continue to be overbooked. Calling All Cargo is always looking for more help.

“Unprecedented times are great,” said Leonard about the current market. “They are things that we find it difficult to meet all of the needs. We can’t hire fast enough. “

On the downside of the company’s success, Calling All Cargo repeatedly had to turn away potential customers because they were fully booked three or four weeks in advance.

Leonard said he has a waiting list and has even referred callers to other local moving companies. Last month he turned away about 30 people.

“They stress me, I feel it emotionally because I have to tell people that I can’t help them,” he said.

With crews carrying items for customers traveling south to warmer regions like the Carolinas, Leonard said the company is seeing more people referring to the Seacoast as their home instead of referring to it as their former home.

“I think there is an influx in this area, especially in Portsmouth, Dover and the Seacoast,” he said.

More than 15 movers are usually on staff for calling all cargo, said Smith.

Leonard’s advice for those willing to move is to plan months in advance when hiring moving workers. Failure to follow this advice may be unlucky.

“It’s hard for us from a business development and growth perspective because we’re leaving all of these opportunities out there,” he said. “We’re not used to having this type of demand without the resources to meet it.”