Jamie Biesiada
When the cat's away, the mice will play - and the same is true, it seems, for parents whose children leave for college.
Empty-nesters can be a valuable client base for agents: They have the time and money to travel. And some agents already catering to the group are seeing an uptick in empty-nester travel in recent years, which they attribute to factors like a healthy economy and social media.
"There's a definite trend I'm seeing for this empty nest kind of travel," said Diane Frisch, a home-based Nexion agent in Frisco, Texas.
Frisch attributes an uptick in such travel largely to social media.
Clients see their friends' vacation photos, which gets them thinking about a vacation themselves, she said. They also see a vacation as something positive to look forward to in contrast with their children leaving for college.
"People have a really hard time with this," said Frisch, who has seen two children off to college in recent years. "It's akin to grieving, and it sounds stupid because obviously your child is not dead and this is what you want for them, but there's this empty spot and your life has changed forever."
Empty-nesters are taking bigger, more bucket list-style trips, she said. This year she has one couple spending a month in Europe, another headed to Bermuda with three other couples whose children just headed to college, and a client adding onto a business trip to spend time in Australia.
She also has recent empty-nesters planning trips that their children had no interest in, like river cruises.
Barbara Movelle, owner of Southport, N.C.-based Empty Nest Travel, said her clients are taking bigger vacations, with Europe being an "extremely popular" choice. They have often traveled, but want to experience new and different things.
"They're taking it up a notch to something that's more curated, customized," she said.
Despite her company name, when she started her business 12 years ago, Movelle had more family clients. Now, that client base has shifted to empty-nest couples and multigenerational trips. Like Frisch, she has noticed more empty-nesters traveling, but she attributes it to the economy.
"I think folks are getting more comfortable pulling the trigger, or at least starting the dialogue," she said.
To identify potential empty-nest travelers, Frisch recommended leveraging personal relationships with clients.
If they mention a child going off to college for the first time, she suggests a vacation.
"I chat pretty personally with my clients," she said. "You get to know each other."