Bay Area

[Siliverskies]

A new listing hit the market this week and we went and saw the home and the sellers agent stated that it was a Relo sale, so we looked it up and this is what we gathered

- The owner of the house is moving for his job

- The corporation the owner works for is assisting the owner sell their home by employing a relo company.

What confused us is that the sellers agent mentioned that

- The seller does not have any say in countering the offers

My questions are:

- Why does the seller not have any say ? Is it still not the sellers house?

- Who is the agent working for? Is he working for the corporation (The company the seller works for) or is he working for the seller?

- This is most likely going to be a multi offer scenario, What are the things specific to a Relo sale that we can do to make this go in our faviour?

- Any recommendation on specific strategies for this case.

Thanks for your time

- Siliver

[Jil]

This is news to me as I come across a "Relo Sale" now. Having said this, I do not know anything but googled few links, it may be useful to you

http://www.bankrate.com/finance/real-estate/homebuying-relo-company-benefits.aspx

http://realestate.msn.com/relocation-sales-offer-bargains-to-buyers

http://www.realtor.com/blogs/2010/03/11/can-i-buy-a-relocation-company-owned-home-ask-a-realtor%C2%A...

Are you looking at Gilroy area?

Good Luck!

[Dukey]

I sold an out of state house thru corporate relo arrangement and bought a house from family going thru corporate relo in 2011.  I also sold a house back in 2001 thru corporate relo.

Basically the seller is under full control in terms of sale (including iterations of counteroffers) and relo company arranges the paperwork.  Relo company also arranged listing RE agent interviews and seller choose who he prefers to work with.  This rule can be bent depending on what relo company as I sold a house thru a friend who refunded me 95% of his 3% commission (with a 1099) back in 2001.  Relo company also recommend a buying agent to work with (I had no say back in 2001 and 2011).

My last relo agreement called for the relo company to buy my house if not sold in 6 months and also gave decent bonus paid to me IF I sold the house on my own (which I did in 10 days).  Relo company overlays a lot of additional documents in addition to the mountains of typical RE documents.  My relo company "bought" my house 2 weeks before the close of escrow and on the paper the real "seller".  This was nice as I got paid well before the escrow closed.

Relo companies are bit **bleep** in extracting all conceivable issues/disclosures with the house and even sent a home inspector to idetify any and all issues before I listed the house (not to mentional long q&a disclosure form).  This is in case they get stuck with the house and not get sued by buyer since relo company is often the seller on the record.  The house I bought went thru detail soil testing by drilling many feet in front and back yards as the owner disclose bit of unstable soil near backyard fence (was 4 yr old house with steep grade to neighbor's house below).  Never mind the builder fixed it but - well you get the idea.  Owner didn't mind since relo company paid for it.

All RE agents involved in selling and buying (both relo related deals) acted as though their primary interest was to appease the actual buyer/seller and not the relo company.  What worked for us was that both selling and buying agents (who were very experienced to get prized relo clients) worked for same high end reputable firm in different cities working for different relo clients and at the ended helped us seal the deal when there was an impasse after 6 week of going back and forth - I walked away after 1st offer, seller came back 3 weeks later and 3 more rounds of negotiating).

[sheriff]

The seller may not have any say in counter offers because the house is underwater.  If the company is picking up the tab on the relo they may want to decide how much out of pocket money they are going to lose on the sale.

[Dukey]

---

sheriff wrote:

The seller may not have any say in counter offers because the house is underwater.  If the company is picking up the tab on the relo they may want to decide how much out of pocket money they are going to lose on the sale.

---

NOT true as many relocation assistance deals involve bailing out employee (new hire or transfer) IF underwater. 

My relo agreement called for up to $XXXk to be paid out by new employer IF I was underwater and therefore not able to join the company - it was those rare moment I wished (for a few min) I was underwater. 

Relo assitance to bring candidates to the BA area also include XX% COLA (cost of living increase) adder to the base salary to compensate for higher housing price for X years.