We’ll get back to happy-happy, joy-joy next week at KnowHR. Meanwhile, this is economic reality weak, and by that I mean “economic bummer week.” Times are getting tough, especially in the housing market.

I met yesterday with a senior exec who worked in housing derivatives at one of the big houses . That business has dried up. Companies are calling their equity loans. And she says that we won’t see the bottom for another 18 months. So what’s a company to do when they want to relocate employees during an economic downturn?

Fortunately, Bill Strahan at HumanMarkets offers a solution. In a post titled Loss on Sale, he writes about the housing downturn and the need to move employees:

One issue of concern for everyone involved is what to do for an employee who is asked to move for a new job and has to sell their home in a down market. If someone bought a house for $300,000 and can only sell it for say $225,000 before they have to pick up and move, should the new job/employer pay the difference?

His solution after considering input from many professionals around the country? A multi-tiered approach. Click here to read Bill’s proposed solution (and some pretty dang funny side observations).