Housing market complicates relocation for work

As people around the country deal with low and unstable housing prices, it's left many workers with a difficult decision - lose money on their home or let a potential job opportunity slip away.

The New York Times reports that the situation causes many people to second-guess their opportunities, wondering whether the job is worth the loss - especially in an economy when they could soon be laid off.

"It's hard for the husband to look his wife and children in the eye and say, 'We're making this move but our house is going to be 30 percent smaller,' " Jim Carpenter, managing partner at a Connecticut recruiting firm, told the paper.

The paper also reports that many people have chosen not to sell their home at all. Some people, when asked to move, have chosen to rent out their old home while also renting in their new location as they wait for things to settle down.

Much of this hesitancy comes from the difficulty of selling a home for what it was worth just a few years ago due to the bloated inventory of homes. The Wall Street Journal, citing data from RealtyTrac, recently reported that the number of homes for sale was 13.5 percent higher last month than the year before.