In our experience in selling with the assistance of a relocation company, we had two of their appraisers come through the home and give the relo company a price. The relo company averaged the two appraisals (as long as they were within 3% of each other) and offered that to us. We were given 60 days to decide to take the offer. Our home was required to be on the market with a realtor for 30 days before we could sell to the relocation company. However we were given an advance on the equity of our home to allow us to purchase a home in the new community immediately. Keep in mind the appraisers are hired by them and will most likely be lower than a refinance appraisal or real estate marketing appraisal. In our experiences the realtors listed our homes (without knowing the buyout price) for about $20-30,000 more than we would receive from the buyout. Some companies also offer a bonus if your home sells and they don't have to buy it. There are many different relocation companies and each works a little differently so I'm not sure what in our experience will translate to yours.

Good luck. I hope you are able to find a home you love and settle quickly!

Thanks so much for the information! If they forward us equity I guess we can move reasonably quickly, plus we'll have some idea of what we will get for the house. Although it doesn't sound like it will be as high as we had expected (the real estate marketing appraisal), correct?

We used Cartus on our last move. It probably depends on your husband's company relo package. In our case, Cartus assigned a realtor to us (I think you can change realtor if it doesn't work out, but has to be approved by Cartus). The realtor will market the house just like any other realtor would do. Of course, there are papers to sign from Cartus and the real estate company. When we got an offer and we agreed on the price and contingencies like repair and inspections, we signed some more papers stating that Cartus will buy our house from us after they checked all the paperworks and finances in place. Once we signed the papers, Cartus is now the owner of the house and sent us the check. If the buyer defaults or if the deal fell through, not our problem anymore since we already tranferred the ownership to Cartus.

Be careful not to sign anything that your realtor asks you to sign. Everything needs to go thru Cartus. We signed the offer coz the realtor asked us to sign if we accept the offer, and we almost lost our relo benefits! Your realtor will contact you about everything, and you need to confirm this with Cartus.

Good thing about relo, they pay the realtor fees, taxes, transfer fees, everything in our case. So whatever equity we had in the house is all ours:) And when we bought our house here, they also gave us a realtor, and relo paid for our non-recurring closing cost.

I heard in some cases that they'll buy your house if you didn't have an offer after a specific period of time, but they'd buy it for 5-10% below appraised price. Again, it all depends on your husband's relo package.

Good luck on your move.

We've been relocated so many times and each time the package has been different. The common denominator in all of our moves was that we had to market the home for 30 days, sometimes with a realtor of our choosing, sometimes with a realtor of their choosing. We always sold the home before the 30 days was up and received a bonus of 3%of selling price from the relocation company for selling it without the aid of the relo company. If we had not sold each home so quickly, the relo company would have purchased the home at an appraisal value they determined. Each time that amount was lower then we ended up receiving from the buyers of our homes. There were also bridge loans available to us if we needed, but we didn't need them. Like I said, each relocation package varied in regards to little details so it's best to contact the relocation company with any questions that would be particular to your case.

Thanks everyone! This is a huge help. Cordovamom -- we will definitely ask the relo company for our specific details when we get connected to them. I think my main concern was that we wouldn't be connected to the relo company until about 4-6 weeks before we have to be completely moved! I was starting to panic as to how all of that could happen so fast, if we had to sell our house first (even with their assistance).

As a Realtor, I am one of the people in my office that is certified to work with Cartus clients. (FYI--Cartus handles over 52% of all relocations nationwide. They are connected with 3 RE franchises which do the majority of their work--C21, coldwell banker, and ERA. It's likely that the agent on the buying end will be part of one of these companies) Cartus requires it's relocation agents receive special training every 2 years. Cartus makes part of it's money by charging agents a referal fee. As you've heard here, each relocation package is different. I am currently working with a government employee. They must market the home for 60 days before the buyout will occur. Then Cartus will purchase their home based upon the analysis done by the Cartus contractor---could be the average of two or three appraisals, but I've also worked some relocations that used the CMA's of two/three realtors for their price. Sometimes people get a bonus for selling themselves.

I am a bit surprised it will take that long before you hear from your relocation person though. You should also anticipate a call from an agent in your new hometown.

Once you decide to sell to them though, it goes quickly! You find your new house and move!

Those that have delt with them before, is the OP "allowed" to call a few realtors in their area to start getting a feel for what their house is worth and possibly interview realtors?

Did a google for the company, link is below. Maybe you can find some info out now?

Here is a link that might be useful: Cartus

Thanks again! My husband will not officially get "boarded" until next Monday - thus the reason we haven't connected with the relo company yet. But I'm anticipating that we will hear from them next week. We had been planning on our house buying trip to be the week of May 15th (the very next week -- because I can't imagine being able to close on anything if we go much later than that, in time for my husband to start work and kids to start school). Is it unrealistic to expect that we'll be able to get connected with a selling agent that fast?

My husband just talked to another govermnent employee where he works who is transferring out so she sent us the contract details she got on Cartus. She also noted that she's had a terrible time trying to get communications with them, and everything is moving very slowly. So that has me in a panic right now.

According to what I read in the contract, we have to market for 60 days but after that time the relo company will give us the guaranteed offer, which we can accept or refuse as long as we take no longer than 60 days from that date to decide. There is a 2% incentive if we find a buyer (amended sale) and if they don't have to buy it out from us. BUT it says we will get a "95% equity advance" at no cost to us, in any event, so we can buy something there and get settled. What I'm not sure about is if that equity advance will be given to us quickly enough so that we can close on something and be in it by early July. It would seem they would have incentive to do this since then they would not have to pay for temporary housing, but according to the employee my husband talked to, things still seem to move slowly.

This is a great forum - thanks SO much for your info and experiences!

My relo went very smoothly and now DW is spoiled. My company used WHR. We were given a choice my company could immediately buy the house at an appraised value and we could sell right away or try and sell up to 90 days

if we sell within 90 days we get a 4% bonus. this was July 2006 and we sold within 3 weeks. they paid all RE commisions plus the 4% to me. if we sold after 90 days we got 2%. you have to consider that even if you chose to sell to the relo company you are not paying a RE commission. In my case that saved me $24k. as long as the buyout is within that range you are still ahead.

we could also take up to 95% equity but we only needed $20k for the downpayment.

i never want to sell a house and move w/o relo. all companies are different. My RE agent told me my company seems to have the cadillac of benefits.

good luck

Now my question is this: how, if they use "their" appraisers, can the appraisals be independent? It sounds like usually the appraisals (and therefore buy-out price) come back lower than the current market value of the home, so how can they then say that the buyout price is the current market value of the home? (which is what it says in the info we have). If the relo company appraisals tend to be thousands lower than, say, refinancing or RE marketing appraisals, then which is the true market value? I don't get it.

Does Cartus tell you right away what the appraisals/buy out price on the home is, or will they make us wait until after the 60 day market period to tell us the amount? Since we have to buy in our new location well before the 60 days of marketing will be up, if we don't know what the buyout price will be, we won't know how much money we'll have to put into purchasing a new house.

I'm concerned now that our $425k appraisal done in 2004 might be high, and they might come back $50k less or even lower with their own appraisal given the current market. We live in a very unique acreage and comps are going to be very hard to find for this house.

has anyone experienced a situation where cartus said they would only buy your home if repairs where done but we the owners can't afford all the repairs? will they find another way or do you just lose your job because you can't sell your home?