Advice for negotiating relocation packages (profit, payment, temporary, company)

[Parisa]

My company will be relocating to another location and they have a very generous relocation plan. They pay for all closing costs of selling my current house and buy down 1point off my new loan. I don't want to sell my house because with the current market, I will lose money on it. Instead I want to request my company to give me an interest free bridge loan to purchase a new house that I don't have to pay any monthly payment for another 3-5 yrs on it. I was also thinking of asking them to pay $60000 towards the down payment of this new house that I want to pay to compensate for the closing cost that they had offered to pay for my current house if I wanted to sell it

[therewego]

I'd say with those demands you must be pretty high up in the chain. Let us know how that works out for you. Good luck.

[JTGJR]

I don't have a good answer for you, but let's do a little math. You want a bridge loan for, presumably, a $300K home assuming you're asking for the $60K because you're putting 20% down. That's $60K. Further, you want a 3-5year bridge loan at 0%. Just to use a number, I'll put your mortgage payment at $1500. So your asking for an additional $54-90K. Is this money that you intend to pay back to the company? You're up to $114-150K in relocation money. Probably, you'll add the additional moving expenses associated with a relo so tack on another $15K or so for moving and shipping expenses.

That's a pretty steep ask that is typically reserved for Sr. Execs, one of which you may be. You're basically asking them to pay the mortgage on your existing home for 3-5 years with the hope of building equity to enable you to sell it for a profit. I wouldn't think it was outrageous if you were contractually obligated to repay your bridge loan by a specified date.

A quick google search for "negotiating a relocation package" may give you some good information. One article listed these as a general, mid-level, relo package:

• Costs to sell the old home and buy a new one
• A 1% origination fee
• One six-day home-hunting trip
• For renters, the cost to break a lease and rent a new apartment and a four-day apartment-hunting trip
• Shipping for household goods, including packing, shipping and partial unpacking and temporary living expenses for a month or two (plus storage for your stuff), for those who can't get into the new home right away

Here's another CD thread about negotiating relocation

In any event, good luck to you.