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I need to decide to sell my house via relocation company (no guaranteed buyout offer) or on my own (direct reimbursement w/ gross up).
I believe if I use relo, they told me I can close with them AFTER buyer's inspection and agreement to repairs. I have to remove all contingencies except for financing (lender's appraisal). They will close with buyer directly after I verbally agreed on all prices/repairs. This potentially can save me how much time? What's the typical holding period for relocation company? The closing date is of my and buyer's choosing and appraisal date is lender's choosing -- inspection period is typically 10days and another a few days to potentially reach agreement. Then relo will close with me. Then I'm out. Well, as you can imagine this involves a lot of going back and forth among 3 parties (relo, me and buyer). This relo company has ZERO REVIEWS and they claim to have excellent reputation (high satisfaction rate). With this method, no outlays of $$ at all.
Direct reimbursement is just normal sale process. I submit HUD1 and get all closing costs including commissions reimbursed and also tax-assisted.
Which method would you choose that potentially can make the process smoother? I read some horrible reviews working relocation company (especially Cartus), so now I'm mulling whether I should use relo to assist me w/ the sale of my home or not.
What other factors do I need to consider in choosing to go one way or the other? Thanks for your help in advance. Have a great day.
Personally, I would sell with the relocation company. First, you don't have to outlay any funds which IMO is always a plus in any situation. Next, the relo company will close with you prior to closing with the buyer. That mitigates some risk. Even if all the contingencies have been released a buyer can still flake out. I've seen it happen. In this scenario, you still get your money. Time-wise, you probably only get your money a few weeks earlier than you would if you sold directly but the mitigation of risk is huge IMO.
Personally, I've worked with a few different relo companies from both sides of the transaction and none of them have been bad. More likely than not, the bad reviews are because of bad real estate agents assigned to the file. Remember though, the power to choose the agent is yours. If you don't like any the relo company sends your way, feel free to pick any agent you want. In the end, you're the client and the relo company wants to keep you happy and despite any grand standing you may see from them they will let you use the agent of your choice.
Thank you MikePRU. Your advise makes me feel better. You're absolutely right on the $$ about the time saving and risk involved. There are of course pros/cons to anything, but in this market the pros outweigh the cons I think.
Youre also right about relo company would let me choose a different agent, (not without some resistance). I put my foot down. They said it's not their normal policy -- I told them then I'd just do direct reimbursement route, so they conceded and let me choose more agents to interview. '
The problem now, however, I'm thinking I need to sit down with 1 more agent but I don't know how to tell relo company I want to see 1 more agent since they didn't like the fact that I already looked at total 4 agents. Normal is only 2 agents (their picks to begin with so they shouldn't count those against me). Well, I'm still feeling a bit uneasy (not sure my fault or the agent's fault) so I kind of want a third opinion (5th agent). I don't count the firs 2 b/c those agents didn't offer anything valuable. So I only had really interviewed 2 agents...
What to do? Am I making a big deal out of choosing a listing agent? Should I just take a leap of faith and sign with one b/c in the end the house sells itself mostly right? What are your thoughts -- how did you know you chose the right agent?
The problem now, however, I'm thinking I need to sit down with 1 more agent but I don't know how to tell relo company I want to see 1 more agent since they didn't like the fact that I already looked at total 4 agents. Normal is only 2 agents (their picks to begin with so they shouldn't count those against me). Well, I'm still feeling a bit uneasy (not sure my fault or the agent's fault) so I kind of want a third opinion (5th agent). I don't count the firs 2 b/c those agents didn't offer anything valuable. So I only had really interviewed 2 agents...
What to do? Am I making a big deal out of choosing a listing agent? Should I just take a leap of faith and sign with one b/c in the end the house sells itself mostly right? What are your thoughts -- how did you know you chose the right agent?
Actually the only time I've ever had to choose a listing agent, I chose the agent who sold it to me. I thought she did a good job although now that I am an agent myself I look back and think she didn't do all that wonderful of a job.
As for picking an agent . . . interview as many as you want. Really good agents are in short supply so you may have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find a prince. If you don't like the agents you've interviewed to this point, just tell the relo company how you feel and that you want to interview more. Always remember, you are the client in this situation. The relo company was hired to make you happy.
Ditto what Mike said about the agents, that IMO is the biggest pitfall of working with a relo company. In our area, the relo listings/buyers tend to get shucked off to the new agents or the ones with very little business, as you have to give the relo company a huge percentage of your commission (most I've seen are 40-45%). So you can end up with either 1. An agent who has no clue what they are doing or 2. An agent who will not do very much in regards to marketing your home because they are already losing almost 1/2 of their commission.
Watch the relo company as well and what they are wanting you to sign. Ours tried to pull some "fast ones" over on us on a few occasions. When we were signing our docs for the sale of our house, they included things like my refrigerator, washer, dryer....those items were considered "personal property" in our area and were negotiable but NOT considered a part of the sale. The relo company stated the appraiser included them in value, which they DID NOT...they never do. I absolutely was not leaving those, and went round and round for about two weeks with Weichert until finally they corrected my docs and resent, very begrudgingly. AND after I had our company representative (DH works for Boeing) CALL the relo company to help straighten it all out. READ YOUR COMPANY DOCS. They also tried to get away with just hiring one appraiser to do our valuation for our buy out....our relocation docs stipulated that we have 2 appraisals that would be averaged to get our buy out price, and if the values were outside of 5% of each other then a third was called in, and all three of the appraisals averaged. The second and third appraisal were much higher than first, which significantly increased our buyout.
The relo company is hired by your company to handle the sale.....yes, they are SUPPOSED to be working for you but in the end they are there to make money off your transaction, period. If you have ANY issues, do not hesitate to contact your company....we had to MANY times.
Ditto what Mike said about the agents, that IMO is the biggest pitfall of working with a relo company. In our area, the relo listings/buyers tend to get shucked off to the new agents or the ones with very little business, as you have to give the relo company a huge percentage of your commission (most I've seen are 40-45%). So you can end up with either 1. An agent who has no clue what they are doing or 2. An agent who will not do very much in regards to marketing your home because they are already losing almost 1/2 of their commission.
That's a pretty hefty referral fee.
Quote:
Originally Posted by LCTMadison
Watch the relo company as well and what they are wanting you to sign. Ours tried to pull some "fast ones" over on us on a few occasions. When we were signing our docs for the sale of our house, they included things like my refrigerator, washer, dryer....those items were considered "personal property" in our area and were negotiable but NOT considered a part of the sale. The relo company stated the appraiser included them in value, which they DID NOT...they never do. I absolutely was not leaving those, and went round and round for about two weeks with Weichert until finally they corrected my docs and resent, very begrudgingly. AND after I had our company representative (DH works for Boeing) CALL the relo company to help straighten it all out. READ YOUR COMPANY DOCS.
My experience with relo companies is that they are national companies and often use national policies and documents. Real estate however is local and not all the policies/procedures/documents the relo companies want to use are applicable to every situation. So, you have to keep your eyes peeled for that.
Weichert took 45% from our buyer's agent when we moved and they didn't even refer him, I found him on my own. He just caved easily and agreed to it. I've done a bunch of Boeing relos for friends (husband works for Boeing) and EVERY TIME they call me wanting that referral fee and every time I tell them where to stick it.
Unfortunately, my chosen agent already signed the referral doc and at this point if I want to work with him, he's stuck. I can do direct reimbursement and I think that will be ok, but I believe there is some advantage working through relo (at least my relo/employer). I hope he doesn't mind and I hope he will get more business from my neighbors and co-workers. I actually found him myself so I felt a bit weird that he has to pay relo but this was before I knew he didn't have to sign. I will verify w/ my employer later of this "practice".
Anyhow, I hope he will do a great job regardless (1% less). As for my relo, I am hopeful that it will be all right. I have a good relationship w/ my employer so I will be sure to get to report any incompetence.
You're all correct regarding relo's generic sale of contract which WANTS everything (down to light switch, lol). Needless to say, I'm going to cross out all those items, except for all ll the appliances -- everything else, I may/may not leave them but I won't have them in the contract.
Any other experiences, pls share or keeping them coming. I will be listing my house next week. Please wish me lots of luck. Thank you all and good day.
Yeah, they don't always tell the chosen agent. They usually have a few agents they recommend, though, who do know the deal and make money with the relo company only by getting several of these. With that hefty referral fee a friend who is an agent in the former home area cannot refer you to the agent in the new area because there just isn't enough money to go around (With realtors I know...30%/50%/0 but a monthly office fee to the broker which often includes the franchise fee but not always; they are additional, sometimes includes fees for copies and faxes but not always they can be additional; 40% to the relo company; 20-25% usual referral fee to another agent out of town; open house ads if the house is to be sold; the usual annual realtor fees and required continuing ed, signs, gas, etc. etc.)
Sometimes the newer agents will do this to get a start.
As far as choosing an agent, I have seen it allowed but more along the lines of "we'll give it a try and if it doesn't work out you have to use ours". Other people feel they have to use the company's choices in order to be considered a company man or woman and a good player with the group. That's according to agents and people moving in and out of areas I've lived in.
Hi we are buying a house from relocation group. Do we get any document that says that seller sold the property to relocation group?
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