buying a home from relocation company

[flowerboy]

has anybody bought a home from a relocation company? How did it turn out? Did you pay above or below appraisal. What ddo we look out for? Our realtor is no help seems to think it is no different then buying a regular home.

 

[golfgal]

We have never bought one but have had several friends that have had their home bought by a relo company. Typically what happens is that the house is on the market for x number of days (typically 3 months). If it doesn't sell in that time the relo company buys it from the owners and relists the house. Usually they pay fair market value or whatever the house appraises for. You can look up in the county records to see what they paid. Often you won't get a deal because this is an investment for the company and if it takes a year to sell and they get a good price they have made money. You can probably get it for what they paid for the house and not much less.

 

[golfgal]

We have never bought one but have had several friends that have had their home bought by a relo company. Typically what happens is that the house is on the market for x number of days (typically 3 months). If it doesn't sell in that time the relo company buys it from the owners and relists the house. Usually they pay fair market value or whatever the house appraises for. You can look up in the county records to see what they paid. Often you won't get a deal because this is an investment for the company and if it takes a year to sell and they get a good price they have made money. You can probably get it for what they paid for the house and not much less.

 

[Nickimouse]

I think some of how it will work depends on the Relo company.
When my husband's company transfered us they eventually bought our house and paid us the average of three appraisals.
Right after they took possession they dropped the price and then not long after that sold it for 16,000 less than the appraisal.

The house was still listed with the realtor we hired and she continued with the Relo company. I don't think you will see much difference buying a house this way. The big up side is the house should have just about everything the inspector found fixed. Our relo was VERY picky and we paid big $$$ in crazy repairs to get the deal done!

 

[Martha7]

Ten years ago, we bought a home from a relo company in the Ft Lauderdale area. The house was gorgeous, and had sat empty for a full year. It was priced out of our range, but we made a lowball bid on it, (since we figured we wouldn't be hurting anyone's feelings, as it was corporate-owned by then.) We ended up getting the house and lived there for six years. The only problem was that they stopped cleaning the house and pool once the deal was struck, so when we arrived, it was full of dead bugs and the pool was green! I don't remember what the house had appraised for, etc., but I know it was a great deal for us. Of course, the market was different back then. We have good friends who just sold their house here in the Minneapolis area and went through a relo company. They did end up dropping their price substantially, but got a kick back from the relo company for selling it themselves first. Once the relo company takes charge of the deal, the seller can concentrate on their move. The buyers wanted to walk through the house again, take measurements, etc., but the relo folks said that it'd be in violation of the contract, which was great for my friend, who had no time to deal with any of that. I think the actual process of buying the home isn't much different from any other sale, as far as the buyer's experience goes. I hope whatever you decide works out for you!

 

[megthewonderful]

We have both bought a house and sold a house with a relocation company. It was really no different. When buying the house, we had to first negotiate with the owners of the house and once we came to terms on the sales price, they sold their house to the relo company at that price. And then we bought the house from relo company at the same price. The relo company was a bit slow in signing the contract with us. I think it took about 10 days for them to sign the contract on the house after we signed it. So, we had a bit of a lag before we had to do the inspection and apply for the mortgage. Otherwise, the process was really no different. It was the third house we bought, so we would have noticed any major differences.

Relo companies definitely work differently. When we were selling a house with a relo company, there was no option in our agreement with them to ever have them buy our house even after a certain amount of time. We were worried that my husband would have to start his new job without us, but thankfully the house sold quickly.

 

[swkmom]

We bought our house from a relo company in 2002. It sat on the market for a while and when we made a low ball offer they took it. We paid about $30,000 less than the appraisal. We still live in the home and have been quite pleased.

 

[Nik's Mom]

We were relocated last year through dh's job and a relocation company ended up buying our house. We lived in California and the housing market is horrible there. The way it worked for us was that our house was on the market for 90 days, then it was purchased by the relocation company since it had not sold. In order for them to purchase the home, we had to have the house inspected and any necessary repairs made. They had the house appraised and we were given a purchase price. I do know our house was sold about 3 months after the relocation company bought it from us. They ended up getting the same amount that they bought if off of us from.

 

[flowerboy]

Hi thanks for the reponses. That really helped that it should not be so bad like buying a foreclosure. I made an offer and they refused but have been bugging me to up my offer. Is there some kind of bonus that the owner gets if they sell soon. It doesn't help that the interest rates went up so I am a little nervous of continuing.

 

[JoyG]

We bought our home from a relocation company 10 years ago. It had been vacant for almost a year. We lowballed them too and our bid was accepted. It knocked about 12% off their asking price. We actually paid LESS than what the previous owners paid for the house (and they'd lived there 3 years).

 

[tOSU]

We bought our house 18 months ago from a relocating company. It was actually easier than dealing with an individual - They view it as a business transaction, so no emotional issues to deal with. House was ready to be moved into on the day we closed, so we didn't have to wait another x days for owner to move out. Nothing left behind by previous owner that we had to get rid of!!

 

[malibuconlee]

In my experience there are two ways I'm familiar with a relocation company and house selling/buying.

In both cases the owner of the home is relocated by the company they work for.

In some cases they will buy it outright right away or after a set number of days on the market. Generally they purchase it at a certain percentage of the appraised/market value. My friend's parents got 80%. Anything over that amount they were given after the final sale of the house. Lets say the house was appraised for $100,000. They got $80,000 when they sold it to the relcoation company. The final purchase price to new homeowners was $95,000. The relocation company then gives the employee the otehr $15K

The way we've always done it... Put the house on the market. Once we have a contract on the house we the homeowner/employee sells the home tot he relocation company for that price. It's basically a tax shelter so you don't have to pay taxes on the closing cost /realtor fees since the employer will pay them thru the relocation company.

 

[Andtototoo]

We tried to buy a home from a relo company. Tried. The price was X. We had seen the house at an open house and came back for an appointment. We spoke with the realtor about it, indicating our serious interest. He asked our budget, which was X minus a few thousand -- you know, the way you do when you dicker, over say, oh I don't know.... real estate? (I think maybe the difference was $5K, because we felt the house was fairly priced, but the carpet needed replacing.) He basically told us to leave and stop wasting his time. He didn't try and dicker with us or "sell" us on the house. He refused to even begin paperwork. He just ushered us to the door. The house was on the market for about 4 more months and ended up selling for less than what our opening conversation was.

 

[Robinrs]

I'm willing to bet the OP doesn't need this advice 2 years later...