| Page 3 of 4 < > |
Held Back by the House
"If we knew then what we know now, we would have stayed where we were," said Jill Divine, who moved with her husband, Ed Drouhard, to the Washington area from Florida.
(By Lois Raimondo -- The Washington Post)
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
Built into those costs are vacant property insurance and maintenance expenses, said Carmelita Brown, vice president of business development at Prudential Relocation.
"Once an employee turns a house over, they're done with it," Brown said. "It is our job as a relocation company to turn those homes around quickly once we get them so that the carrying costs do not keep mounting."
Also, take into account that an appraisal done for relocation has a different purpose than one done for a mortgage. Relocation appraisals involve predicting how much a house will be worth months down the line if it does not sell. For instance, if home values are declining 1 percent a month in a certain area, then it is reasonable to expect that a house will be worth less in three or four months. The relocation firm values it accordingly, Richie said.
That's where a seller's perception of a home's value often clashes with the estimates from a relocation company. "Very rarely are you going to get what you think your house is worth," said Richie of Long & Foster.
In the past, some companies would make up the difference between the appraised value and what the home sold for, Brown of Prudential Relocation said, but no more. "You really can't count on your employer to make you whole."
Drouhard and Divine, the Florida homeowners, said the relocation firm handling their house determined that it would be worth 66 percent of its value in 120 days and made an offer based on that estimate.
The couple said they rejected the offer because it would not have covered what they owed on the house.
"We knew they were not going to give us the best deal," Divine said. "But we never thought the offer would be that low."
The couple took their home off the market. They're now renting it out at least through year's end.
Mark Fegani, a mortgage banker and president of Olympia West Mortgage in Vienna, said buying a home before selling another can be risky. If that's the route a person chooses, he or she should consider worst-case scenarios.
"You have to be able to afford all the payments because you can't assume your house will sell quickly," Fegani said. "It comes down to how comfortable you are with your disposable income at the end of the day. Do you have enough money left to live comfortably?"
Some people may find they do. For instance, a couple who are paying $2,000 in monthly rent may find that they qualify for a $2,000 mortgage on a new home.
