MMP offers personal white glove service for relocating physician families
By LYNNE JETER
On any given day, especially after Residency Match Day, Amanda Baron may pick up transferring physicians from the airport, have welcome baskets waiting at their hotel with local goodies, give them a tour of the area and help them with relocation.
Across the country, the scenario is repeated by select realtors who are married to physicians and understand the specifics needed for a successful move via Moving Medicine Partners, a national network of professional realtors that specialize in physician and family relocations.
“Our agents have been there, done that,” said Baron, whose husband, Chris Baron, MD, is a pediatric interventional radiologist at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital in Nashville, Tenn. “We not only help find a home for these families but help them get connected to their communities from the very beginning. We know how important that is.”
Baron, a realtor for Compass Real Estate in Nashville, Tenn., led the effort to create a network by seeking other professional real estate agents within Compass Inc. (NYSE: COMP), a real estate brokerage company founded in 2012 with more than 25,000 agents nationwide. Zoe Cangas, a realtor at the St. Louis location, helped Baron comprise the original dozen members, then set the managing teams, which ultimately resulted in an ally team.
The founding members hashed out details at a luncheon at the annual Compass Retreat last August. By the end of February, MMP had 45 realtors representing numerous states, including Alaska and Hawaii.
“Our goal is to have all states represented,” said Baron. “We’ve had an overwhelming response from realtors across the U.S., wanting to join the MMP team. While we’re still interviewing applicants, we’ve had close to 60 interviews in the first two months of the year.”
A map with MMP locations is located on the website, MovingMedicinePartners.com/Nashville.
“Having first-hand experience of being ‘married to medicine’ helps our agents connect to physician families on a different level,” said Baron. “We understand the lifestyle, long hours, and demands put on the family to make moving even that much more stressful. We have systems in place to help connect the physician family to other agents nationally and feel at home right away.”
Baron moved from Texas to Tennessee 18 years ago for her husband’s residency.
“He had no time off to come look at houses, so my mom and I came with a 3-month-old baby,” she explained. “We looked Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I bought a house on Sunday, and he never saw it until we moved, lol.
“I try to help my clients with this challenge. Many times, they must do things virtually or I’m dealing with the spouse. I try to streamline as much as I possibly can.”
MMP is expecting a rush of business after Match Day (March 17), by helping on both ends to make a smooth transition. Last year, nearly 47,675 applicants registered in the Main Residency Match, according to the National Resident Matching Program.
“When residents receive their respective ‘match’ for the next step in their medical specialty, there’s a short window of time to leave one area and report to the next seamlessly, generally state to state,” said Baron. “We offer help immediately after connecting with the physician. We can help them connect to an agent in their area to make their moves seamless. We can also help with rental properties if that seems to fit their needs over a purchase. Our end goal is to connect physician families into their community and make the transition as stress free as possible.”
A recent assignment called for a family to be moved into a home, while getting their current home rented until it was sold.
“It involved a lot of moving parts but ended up turning out well,” she said.
Many realtors in MMP also belong to local, regional, and national chapters of American Medical Association-Alliance for spouses.
“Connecting into the medical community is very important,” said Baron. “They have instant friends and support. My husband had to do a fellowship in Cincinnati while I lived in Nashville with our then 5-year-old and 3-year-old. Having a good support system is what carried me through. Being married to medicine can be very lonely!”