Conference 7.286::digital

    Digital does not handle the real estate transactions; they are farmed
    out to companies like Homequity, to whom Digital pays a fee.
    
    I don't understand your comment about Digital purchasing homes for SOME
    employees.  The option is open to *any* employee who relocates out of
    reasonable commuting distance from his/her current home. Some managers
    have tried to negotiate relocations without the home purchase service,
    but Personnel has shot them down.  If it's available to *any* employee
    who meets the requirements, then it must be available to *every*
    employee who meets the requirements. 
    
    As far as whether it's showing favoritism to a small subset of
    employees, I can only speak for myself.  If Digital asks me to
    relocate, and refuses to guarantee me the ability to get rid of my
    current mortgage in a reasonable period of time, then I simply won't do
    it.  Period.  Not because I'm being obstinate, but because I can't
    afford it.  To turn the tables on your argument, employees who aren't
    being asked to relocate aren't burdened with that expense, so why is it
    fair to burden employees who *have* been asked to relocate?
    
    							Pat 

    The rules for this program are described in the PP&P book, section
    5.05.
    
    I don't know who actually fronts the cash, but the transferring
    employee is paid a fair market value, as determined by licensed
    appraisers even if there is no buyer immediately obvious. This results
    in an inventory of homes. If another DEC transferring employee wants to
    buy one of them, then there is a price advantage because there are no
    brokers fees involved. A $150K house at 7% broker fee would be about
    $10K. 
    
    I think the advantage to Digital is in making it easier for an incoming
    cost center to attract critical employees. That's the only advantage to
    Digital I can think of, but it may be an important advantage. I believe
    the incoming cost center pays whatever charges there are as part of the
    price of recruitment. I don't think it comes out of some general fund
    that could be used for broadly-based benefits. 

    When I relocated to Colorado, the market was not great in Maynard.
    Because of this, I signed up for this particular benefit.  Without
    being able to sell my home in a timely way, I would have been up
    a creek.
    
    As it happened, the average of the appraisals was below market so
    I listed the house (the rules usually allow this) and sometime after
    I moved into my house in Colorado, I got a good offer.  Now here
    is another benefit.  The company handling the thing for DEC took
    the offer and ran the whole show - the sale went through like a
    dream.  At one point, the realtor and I didn't see eye to eye but
    the relocation company told me to do it my way since I'd get more
    money.
    
    Anyway, if you ever transfer during a slow market time, you will
    bless DEC for this one.
    
    By the way, some companies will offer the service to new-hires as
    well as transfers.  "Third party buyouts" like this are quite usual.
    
    Chuck

    While transferring, is it possible to look at ex-DEC houses at the
    new location and maybe get a great deal, i.e. a win-win situation.
    I agree that this benefit is a great one for those of us in jobs
    that could entail transfers out of slow markets.
    
    ........ Suchindran

    A few years back I worked for a subsidiary of Control Data.  CDC
    had a similar program only they offered CDC employees a 15% reduction
    from the asking price for homes in their inventory!  Such a deal...
    Unfortunately most of their homes were in the Midwest and since I was
    located in the Northeast I didn't get to take advantage.
    
    Valerie

>     -< Maybe Digital could list empty houses available to incoming folk >-

>    While transferring, is it possible to look at ex-DEC houses at the
>    new location and maybe get a great deal, i.e. a win-win situation.

	And these houses are available to *any* Digital employee, not just
	those who are relocating.  See the VTX entry for all the details.

    < Note 756.3 by HIBOB::SIMMONS "Tristram Shandy as an equestrian" >
                      -< If you transfer, its a Blessing >-

    It can be a mixed blessing.
    
    If you accept the home purchase company's offer, or assign to them an
    offer that you've received, then you do get your money very quickly. 
    
    On the other hand, it's a very complicated process, and there are
    many pitfalls.  You must read the PP&P relocation policy carefully.
    Also, you need to recognize that your interests may not be the same
    as Digital's.
    
    For example, when I relocated in 1987, I discovered that before
    you can get a firm offer from the home purchase company you must allow
    them to do a very thorough home inspection.  Based on the inspection,
    they may ask you to do repairs at your own expense before they will
    accept your house.
    
    In my opinion, the home purchase program is an unalloyed benefit to
    those with plain vanilla, easily salable houses.  But if your house is
    at all unusual, you should balance the obvious financial benefit
    against the costs (financial and mental) of altering your house to suit
    the requirements of the program -- and doing so while you are busy
    handling all the other aspects of relocation. 
     
    Disclaimer:  My relocation experience was in 1987.  I have heard that
    Digital no longer uses the same home purchase company I dealt with.

    There's more discussion of the home purchase program in note 195.
        
    Bob Leigh
    

    Re. .8
    
    Yes, the exact contract you get for the Home Purchase depends on
    the company doing it.  Mine was very easy to deal with - no inspection
    and 60 days to list.  It was in the area of Bank required repairs
    that the home purchase company advised me to make my own decision
    and not listen to the realtor.
    
    As far as DEC's interests are concerned, I was told that the cheapest
    for DEC is for you to sell the house yourself.  Second cheapest
    is go for home purchase but find a buyer anyway.  Last is you don't
    find a buyer but have home purchase.  In any case, I would always
    decide based on the market.  If the market is good, always handle
    the thing yourself if you can - you keep all of your flexibility.
    
    Chuck

    re .9

    Which one did you deal with? (send mail)

    I was trying to relocate last October and the company I was dealt to
    made it so difficult, that my wife and I decided to drop it in order to 
    maintain our sanity.  They got a detailed home inspection and would not
    give me a definite offer until I fixed some things.  Some of the things
    they asked me to fix were violations of current code, but were code
    compliant when the house was built (i.e. GFI Receptacles in the
    Bathrooms, kitchen, laundry and back porch, now what grounded
    appliances do you use in the bathroom??).  Another problem I had was
    that they dealt with me out of an east coast office, and that cut the
    amount of time that was available for haranguing in half.

    One word of warning, Digital requires that any asbestos in the house be
    removed, and most houses over ~18 years old has asbestos.  The
    environmental inspector noted in his report that even though I had
    asbestos in the house, he would advise NOT removing it as that would
    actually create a greater hazard.

    Larry

    re .9 (DEC's interests)
    Example:  the asbestos insulation on heating pipes.  The inspector
    recommended leaving it alone, since it was in good shape.  Neither
    the home purchase company nor DEC would hear of that.  They wanted
    it OUT.  At my expense.  Within 30 days.  Period.
    
    That's to DEC's benefit from the liability point of view.  It was
    certainly not to my benefit.  I got very annoyed at having to work
    two jobs:  one in CSSE and one in managing my relocation.
    
    In general, I feel very strongly that the description of the home
    purchase program in the PP&P falls somewhere between false optimism and
    false promises. 

        Re: .11
        
>    Example:  the asbestos insulation on heating pipes.  The inspector
>    recommended leaving it alone, since it was in good shape.  Neither
>    the home purchase company nor DEC would hear of that.  They wanted
>    it OUT.  At my expense.  Within 30 days.  Period.
        
        That certainly seems like an unreasonable demand, especially the
        30 day limit.  When I had asbestos removed from my house, I was
        told that Massachusetts required 30 day notice before work
        began, and that can start until you choose a company and have
        them come out an look at the job. 
        
        					B.J.

    re: .11
    
    In California, it is really ridiculous to try and remove the asbestos. 
    Houses here are not built with basements so to remove the asbestos, the
    contractor has to get into their environmental protection suit and
    crawl around through a two foot (at the best, there are places under my
    house that to get through, I have to lie on my back and suck it in)
    crawl space removing this stuff.  If I had the heating pipes wrapped
    with insulation (without removing the asbestos) no one would know as
    the inspectors would see new heating work and wouldn't look any
    further.  A friend of mine told me it would probably be easier to torch
    the house, get the insurance money and beat a hasty retreat.  If I try
    to move again, heres hoping I sell the house before all the inspections
    are in.
    
    Larry
    

    When I moved from Massachusetts to Illinois in '86, I went through
    the third party purchaser. Their offer was lower than my realtor's
    figure, but close enough that we took it.  I found then entire process
    a great benefit to have.
    
    There are some rules about what a home must have to be sold in
    Massachusetts, but complying with them was not a burden for me.
    Maybe we were lucky to NOT have asbestos.
    
    PLUSES:
    
    Fast turnaround of cash. We got 95% of sales price upon agreement with
    company, even though we didn't move for over a month later) Not having
    to worry about selling fast. (in fact, the house didn't sell for
    several months - and then at a much lower price!) 
    
    MINUSES:
    
    Lots of paperwork. Hassle of working from two ends (I was in Illinois,
    rest of family still in Massachusetts.)

   -----
    
    On balance, it came out VERY plus. 
   

I have dealt with Home Equity twice, once in Massachusetts and once in 
California. In MA, they made me a reasonable offer and I took it. Theyblater 
sold the house for 3% less than what they paid me. In CA, I got got another 
reasonable offer, but I found a buyer on my own for about 3% more. They ere 
always prompt with inspections, and payments. My MA house was 10+ years old;
CA one was 25+ years old. Both were in generally good condition.

I found the security of the Home Purchase program valuable. I would not have 
moved without it.

Dileep

    I AM DEALING WITH THEM RIGHT AS I AM WRITING THIS NOTE AND FOUND
    THEM TO BE SLOW AND  INCONSIDERATE. THEY DID NOT TELL UNTIL IT WAS
    TIME TO MAKE AN OFFER, THAT I NEEDED TO GET A STRUCTURAL INSPECTION.
    I ASKED WHY THEY WAITED SO LONG AND THE ANSWER I GOT WAS WE MADE
    A MISTAKE. FOR ME IT IS A COSTLY ONE. THIS WILL AFFECT MY CLOSING
    DATE IN MY NEW LOCATION BACK A MONTH. I MAY EVEN LOSE OUT NOW BECAUSE
    OF HOME EQUITY. SO THIS IS THE PROBLEM I AM HAVING RIGHT NOW.

    I have just gone thru home purchase with Equity. Judging by
    responses in other conferences on this, I am in the minority
    opinion. I was EXTREMELY satisfied with Homequity. They were
    always prompt with information and i received MORE than I expected.
    I had a realtor come out and do a market anaylsis on my condo before
    entering in the program.....she wrote down 80K. Homequity's
    appraisors submitted 82.5K and about 86K. That averaged to 84k
    and change. On the hold-back for the "broom clean", I had just
    written that off, to be frank, since our dog ate a hole in the
    carpet, red stains on carpet, louvered door off track and marks
    on the walls. I got the entire 1000 back, plus water/serwer and
    condo payment refund. 
    
    IMHO: Working with Homequity was the SMOOTHEST part of my relo!
    
    pat

    Re: .0; There is a misconception that the inventory of homes
    is being held for purchase by Digital employees only.  That is not
    the case.  If the home is not sold by the time an employee relocates,
    and is able to reach a deal with the 3rd-party company, the property is
    turned over to the 3rd-party company.  They continur to offer it on the
    open market.  The VTX HOMES program is just another marketing program
    for them.  They will give a discount to a Digital employee that happens
    to purchase it. That's all.
    
    As to whether it is money that should be spent more "globally", 
    I would think of it just like being asked to fly accross the country
    to do business for Digital: I will buy tickets and rent hotel rooms and
    whatever is necessary, but I don't expect it to cost me money to do
    work for Digital in the long run.  So with relocation: it is a business
    expense.  I am moving because it is in Digital's business interest for
    me to move.  As such I am going WAY out of my way to accomodate
    Digital, and I don't expect it to also cost me thousands of dollars to 
    do so.  Like Digital, I cannot afford to run in the red.
    
    As to experiences with 3rd-party companies, the determining factors
    seem to be:  
    *	age/condition of the house being sold
    	The older the house, the more inspection/repair hassles hou will
   	 have.
    *	local market conditions
    	If the market is good for selling real-estate, then having a 3rd
    	party come in is not so much of a benefit.
    *	Proximity of the selling house to the 3rd-party companie's home
	office
        These companies seem to set up their guidelines based on the local
    	(where they are located) laws and customs.  Unfortunately, between 
    	Connecticut and California, real estate laws and customs are VASTLY
    	different.  So you end up getting  inappropriate requests forced
    	upon you.  As an example, in California, a house does not have to
    	meet CURRENT code in order to be sold.  In Connecticut it does.
    	If you buy a house, then get relocated two years later without
    	having made major modifications in between, it is unreasonable to
    	be asked to bring the entire structure up to code.
    
    	Bottom line is that I probably lost $4000 by being involved with
    	a 3rd party company.  In other cases it would be invaluable.
    	Its your call, but make it carefully.
    
    Kevin

    re:  3
    
    You mentioned similar services for new employees.  Any idea what
    they are ?  Companies that will buy houses ?  I'm still confused
    by the whole process but, after 1.5 years with Digital, and still
    having a house on the market (1.5 years later, thanks to a depressed
    housing marking...)  I'm beginning to get a little worried.  Digital's
    response (which I understand is according to policy) is that they
    can't do anything.  So what other options are there ?
                                                       
    Thanks -
    
    Todd

    New employees can be hired with relocation, in which case they get the
    same "benefits" as old employees.
    
    Larry
    

    re: .20

    The last time I looked at the relevant policies, which was several
    years ago, only a subset of the relocation benefits available to old
    employees were available to new hires.

    Which is the way it is now.  Given that I was in the "hired with
    only partial relocation", which doesn't include Digital buying the
    house, what are other options ?  .3 mentioned house buyers...  can
    someone elaborate ?
    
    Todd

    I am sure someone will post the relevent policy to confirm this
    and the last couple of replies, but my recollection is that the
    home purchase aspect of the relo. policy has never applied to new
    hires.  They probably do get the appropriate misc. allowence (used
    to be 1-3K) but since it has been awhile since I had my own orange
    book, we'lll leave that one to others to confirm.
    
    rene

    rene,

    The orange book is on-line through VTX now for everyone.  I 
    would assume it to have everything the "real" book has.  I 
    would have to sit with my copy and go through it side by 
    side to check though.

    Your manager or manager's secretary would most likely have
    a copy....which should be updated on a regular basis.  Check
    with that source or your PSA to actually "look" at the book.

    justme....jacqui

    As far as I know, .23 is correct.  The relocation office even publishes
    two different booklets to describe the relevant policies.  One is
    given to new hires, the other to current employees who are relocating.
    
    Not only isn't the home purchase program (where DEC purchases the
    old home) included, but the new home purchase program is also not
    included.  Could you imagine how much it would cost if DEC agreed
    to pay the points for all the college hires buying homes when they
    moved?  (Of course, few college hires have the down payment needed
    to buy in New England, but they're not all in New England, and they're
    not all penniless.)
    
       Gary

        Section 5 of the Personnel Policies and Procedures manual deals
        with relocation.  As indicated in an earlier reply, you can read
        the on-line manual (which is often more up-to-date than the copy
        your manager has, because it's *kept* up-to-date) through VTX; if
        you've got VTX set up right on your system, you should be able to
        use the command "VTX ORANGEBOOK" at the DCL prompt to get directly
        to the infobase.  You can find all the policies that deal with
        relocation by using the subject index.
        
        There are different specific policies for new-hire versus current
        employee relocations, and the policy for current employees has
        changed recently (January of 1989). 
        
        Tom

    The misc. expenses allowance of $ 2000 DOES NOT apply to new hires
    either.  I know this from personal experience.  The relo subset
    applicable to new hires is quite stripped.  I was fortunate to have
    sold my house in TN in one day.  Probably will never happen again
    in my lifetime.
    
    ..... Suchindran

    While you guys are still at it, I'll throw in another one.

    Even in internal relocations, group relocation is slightly different
    and I think has little more benefits than a individual relocation.

    I've started my relocation from Littleton, Mass. to Colorado Springs.
    I'm using Merrill Lynch. I talked to them for the first time yesterday,
    and it certainly sounds like they are trying to be helpful: no
    indication to the contrary. 
    
    They have a new wrinkle I hadn't heard about before. If I, as the
    seller, manage to find a qualified purchaser, either on my own or
    through a real-estate broker, then Merrill Lynch will give the new
    purchaser a $3000.00 "rebate", and I will get $1000.00. (I don't know
    the exact details yet.) The purpose of this is to encourage getting the
    house sold quickly and thus reducing the carrying expenses. (Anybody
    wanna buy a lake-side, 3 bedroom house in Littleton, Mass?  Send mail.
    This much is legal in notes since Digital is sponsoring it and paying
    the costs.)
    
    I'll post more notes as this saga develops.

    Merrill Lynch has scheduled my house for a radon inspection by
    Radonics, 617-769-6929. They will come Monday morning to leave some
    electronic equipment in my house for 24 hours.
    
    I'm to keep the doors and windows closed (except for normal entry and
    exit) for 12 hours before the test starts and for the 24 hours of the
    test. Also, I'm not to run the furnace electronic dust filter or any
    air-conditioning equipment. 

    I don't suppose M-L will buy the house if it flunks the test.What
    will DEC do in that case? I wonder if DEC will just say:"tough cookies"
    and leave you on your own? Hmmmm,could be a bad situation for someone
    with an un-saleable house.Is there any federal protection?

    I expect DEC would say "tough cookies" as well.  If the house doesn't
    pass the radon test, I guess I'll have to get it fixed, however that's
    done. (I think, by sealing up the basement and increasing the outside
    air exchange. Please, let's not digress into how one cures this
    problem.) Since one house a block from me did get hung up on this test,
    the concern is real.
    
    But I'll worry about it iff a positive radon report comes in. 

    Just as an aside: I don't know how others feel,but,I personally
    would hesitate to buy a house that had been "Radon corrected",no
    matter how good the deal was.I suspect that M-L may feel the same.
    Good luck Tom.

    We just got the second of two appraisals today.  We're selling a
    condo in Marlboro, and moving to CXO.
    
    We're listing at 78,900 with a local agent, only time will tell
    what the appraisers (and HomeEquity) will offer us.  We too will
    clue you as events warrant.          
    
    The radon inspector was a really nice kid named Tom.  We (of course)
    pumped him for information. (strong coffee, bright lights, etc.)
    If you *have* unacceptable levels of radon, you (seller) need to
    remedy the situation before HomeEquity will touch it. 
    
    btw.  I relocated (a group move) in '86.  At that time, there was
    the $3k buyers incentive described in a preceeding reply, but also
    a $2k employee incentive:
    
    "When an employee brings an outside offer to the third party
     company equal to the appraised value or up to 3% lower"
    
    No mention of the employee incentive in the current relo package,
    but the $3k buyer incentive is still in effect if the buyer exceeds 
    HomeEquity's offer.  Hmmmm... sounds like the program is reflecting 
    the slow market - or maybe just a function of a 'group' vs.
    'individual'move...  
    
    more later, after the offer from HE
    
    /jeff
                       

    I passed the radon test, or rather the house did. The measurement
    was 1.6 picocuries (or something like that). The upper limit is
    4.0.
    
    The machine inhales air and blows it through some filter that advances
    with a time clock every 15 seconds (or 15 minutes?). What they get,
    therefore, is a trace of radon decay products versus time for a 24 hour
    period. The filter is then analyzed by the "engineers" to come up with
    a single number. The guy doing the test wasn't great on details. He did
    say there can be very large fluctuations.
    
    The machine plugs into a "laptop" computer. The operator types in a
    rough description of the house, like how many rooms and doors and
    windows and the kind of heating system. As usual, I asked too many
    questions, and this immediately got interpreted as "worry" over whether
    the house would pass, and, "Do you have any reason to believe it won't
    pass?" I shut up.

    update, as promised:
    
    condo purchased 1/86 for 80,900
    
    HE offer: 66,000
    --> copies of appraisals forwarded to me, the appraisers seemed
        to feel that in comparison to like property sold 3/89, my
        condo should be devalued by from 12 to 15%.  Like ok, the
        market has deteriorated, but that much?? 
    
    HUMBUG!
    --> the offer from HE came Thursday 5/18 at 11am
    --> the property has been listed since Monday 5/8
    --> and I'm looking at a FAX'ed copy of an offer for 71k, and
        plan to counter offer and eventually settle at about 75k
    
    so if it all goes well, I'll get 76k and the buyer gets it for
    72k.  so don't rely on the 3rd party (in this case Home Equity)
    to get your best price!    
    

    re: basenote
    
    The SMARTS project (Seattle) is trying to get together all the people
    who have relocated and dealt with Home Equity, and have had unpleasant
    experiences. 
    
    There is that many of them!!!  In my opinion, Home Equity is a great
    psychological support, but in reality, they are a pain and I would not
    deal with them. Paraphrasing what I've heard around the project, it
    would be: Yuch, what a bum steer. Some of the people even lost money
    due to H.E. causing a foul-up with the open market offers!!! 

    Re: .37
    
    What was the foul-up on the open-market offers?  Please tell me so I
    can avoid this pitfall in the next couple of weeks? 

    I watch the real estate market a bit (have a license to sell real
    estate in MA, but things are pretty standard all over the US). I would
    strongly recommend calling a couple of local real estate offices for a
    free market evaluation. The market evaluation will show a list of
    similar homes in your area that sold within the last few months. You'll
    find the evaluations are generally very close if the market is neither
    too cold nor too hot. You could also ask a certified appraiser, which
    would cost $2-300 probably. If Digital's relocation agency's evaluation
    is $5K or more lower than of the local angencies' or appraiser's
    evaluations, then I wouldn't accept their estimate. You *might* be able
    to use the market evaluations to negotiate with Home Equity or other
    agency of Digital.
    
    FYI: I don't sell residential properties, nor do I make recommendations
    about who might be good residential real estate agents.
    
    -George

	... we here in Atlanta heard from Personnel that the home-buying service
will price your house based on a 60-day-to-sell assumption.  Therefore, it could
be well below "local values" if those house took longer than 2 months to sell!

    re: .38  what happened with H.E. so I can avoid it.....
    
    Well, you see -- the fellow couldn't avoid it... it turns out H.E. did
    a fair market evaluation about as low for California as you can
    imagine, so the owner puts it on the open market. A third party shortly
    thereafter made an offer contingent upon pest inspection. It is done
    and rated at about $300 (which, if you know the market in CA, is always
    about $300!!  :-) 
    
    About this time, H.E. pest inspector arrives on the scene (without
    notifying the owner), and performs a "sight-unseen" inspection --
    all the parts they couldn't see to inspect, they recommended be
    torn up/fixed/fumigated/rebuilt. Total estimate was $4000.
    
    Somehow, the third party hears about this, and backs out. There
    were 3 offers at the time, but because of the H.E. fiasco, the owner
    had to accept an offer $4,000 less than was previously available!!
    
    (I have seen this house, and know it to be in sound condition. This
    coupled with another H.E. incident that also happened in CA makes
    me suspect they "lowball", and stall). So far, I have
    a very low opinion of H.E. and will not use them, their services,
    or recommend them to anyone.

    re .41:
    
    Having been through a couple of house transactions her in California, I
    have a few points.  First - recomendations are recomendations and not
    required work.  It is usually the Bank that requires a Certified
    Termite Inspection but they don't require the recomendations be
    performed unless there is some additional evidence to merit the expense
    (such as the dry-wall has water stains at the floor line).  The second
    point is that if a second inspector finds additional work that is
    required to be done, the first inspector has to do the work for free,
    gratis and on the house ;-).  If it were my home, I would of refused to
    let the other inspector into the house, as I did not request that they
    be brought in and I was not informed that they were coming. 
    
    I tried to relocate last fall and was assigned H.E.  I consider that
    they are the one and only reason I am not in New Hampshire today.  If I
    decide to try to relocate again, I will inform Corporate Relocation
    that I will not deal with H.E. and that if they are assigned to me, I
    will drop my relocation at that time.
    
    Larry

    	I can only say that I had a good experience with Homequity.  I
    	did my appraisals, and had my realtors do market analyses.  I was
    	told by different realtors that I could list it for $179K, $169K,
    	and $159K.  But all of them told me to expect HE to offer $150-155K.
    	I went with the C21 realtor who wanted to list at $169K.  I sold
    	for $164K.  After I got several offers on the house, I contacted
    	HE to see what they were going to offer (on the outside chance
    	that their offer was going to be higher).  Since the offer was
    	not complete, they could not give me an exact number, but could
    	tell me if the private offer was higher or lower than theirs.

    	In the end HE came in a $156K.  Considering the risk reduction and
    	simplification that HE offered if I could not have sold, I consider 
    	their offer more than fair.  I still sold to the outside party. 

    	In the process the HE inspector did find some minor items and 
    	assessed estimated prices to repair.  HE did not require me to
    	repair these items.  If I had sold to them, their offer would
    	have been reduced by those amounts.  Initially they did want
    	me to do these repairs (in the event that they did have to buy
    	the house), but I simply worked my way up the chain of command 
    	until I got a waiver of the repair requirements.

    	They were easy to deal with.  I simply kept on top of them and
    	did not allow surprises to occur.

    	Joe Oppelt

    re: .43
    
    The recommended listing value will vary much more than the recommended
    market value. In other words, they may vary a lot in what the home
    should list for, but will all be fairly close in the guess at to what
    it will probably sell for. Listing value is the personal guess of the
    realator. The market analysis is based on comparable homes sold
    in your neighborhood in the last couple of months. All realators will
    have the same comparison data and therefore the market value estimates
    are generally pretty close. The market analysis will show you the
    list of homes used in the comparison. A realator would be pretty stupid
    to suggest a much higher price or much lower price unless the market
    is very hot or very cold. In eastern MA, housing prices have fallen
    $20K to $30K in some areas -- a very cold market.
    
    Before taking a much lower price from HomeEquity (just because Digital
    recommends them, and they'll buy the house if necessary), go to ERA and
    other national franchises that offer to purchase a home. It can pay to
    shop around.
    
    -George

	Damn, George, you may have really hit on something!

	If I understand my management correctly, any internal reloc hits the
receiving CC for upwards of $40K mostly due to costs around buying the old home.
Carrying cost + some fee, I would assume.

	When trying to sell my house last year, I looked into ERA's program.
They have something like 120 days from the time they accept the house to sell.
Acceptance involves assesment, inspection, etc, and you have to put some money
up front.  If memory serves it would have cost me $2500 in outlay up front to
get the program.  Some of it I would get back, I forget how much.

	If DEC would allow individual cases to contract with ERA under the guar-
anteed sale program, then the up front $5K (?) they give for "incidentals" could
cover ERA's charges.  Then DEC would only have the new location side to pick up,
considerably less risky, IMHO.

    Re: .41,
    I am the person described in .41, and feel that a few points
    need clearing up:
    First, I was dealing with Merrill Lynch , NOT HomEquity.
    Second, The $4000 figure was for termite clearance, that is generally
    required for financing.  As .41 stated, this included ripping up
    a bathroom floor "in order to better inspect it" and replacing it.
    There were no signs of damage.
    Third, I did know they were coming. I was not given a choice. I
    was told "If you want us (ML) involved, you will have this inspection."
    
    Fourth: the inspection company screwed up by sending the report
    to me rather than just to ML.  From that point on, I was legally
    required to disclose the $4000 report to any potential buyers, even
    though I thought it was a load of crap, and probably taking advantage
    of a remote relocation company.
    
    Fifth: I blame Merrill Lynch for not being more careful about the
    subcontractors that they choose to inflict upon their customers.
    
    Sixth: Every time someone made even a tentative offer on the property,
    ML stopped the inspection/appraisal process cold, cancelling any
    appointments already made.  Then when the offer fell through, it
    took a week or so to get it restarted.  This seems like a stalling
    technique to me.
    
    Kevin Farlee

    	re ERA guaranteed purchases:

    	This is not the panacea you might envision.  This type of program
    	will list your house for 120 days at some price, but the guaranteed
    	sale price is deeply discounted from the listing price.  (Perhaps
    	by as much as 25%).  If they couldn't sell it at the list price,
    	how can they be expected to make a profit by buying it at that
    	price when you take into account their carrying costs and sales
    	cost to sell it when they eventually do sell it.
    
    	Just seeing the term "gurarnteed sale" may look attractive, but
    	when you look into it further, you will see that it is not all
    	it is stacked up to be.  If you were to list it at the price for
    	which they want to buy it from you, then you could sell it in one 
    	day.  Guaranteed.
    
    	Joe Oppelt

    I have a reply in note 195 about my unpleasant experience with Meryl
    Lynch, but since then I found a book in the book store which one
    can figure out the cost for construction per square foot.  It takes
    into consideration the area of the country you live in, whether
    you have a 1, 2, 2.5, or 3 story house, electric, hot air, or oil
    heat system, factors for additional fireplaces, gagages, kithcen
    cabs, extra baths and other factors.  The only thing it cant do
    is factor the value of the land.  After I went through that exercise
    I came to the conclusion that Meryl Lynch was offering me well below
    the replacement cost unless I could find 5 acres of land in
    Massachusetts for free.

	... that I never got to the contract stage with ERA because of the up
front cash flow I envisioned.  I could have probably used that money, a package
from one of the "you-sell-it" services, and a good advertising plan to sell it
myself, if I desired.

	I guess my thought was that DEC, if it were more flexible about the 
reloc packages, could give employees more incentive to move internally.  Right
now, its all the benefits (home-buying, etc), or none of the benefits.

< Note 756.47 by CSC32::J_OPPELT "Change is the only constant." >


>   	re ERA guaranteed purchases:

>   	This is not the panacea you might envision.  This type of program  ...

    I talked with the local ERA office a couple of years ago about this program.
    
    Another factor not mentioned so far is that in order to qualify, the
    Seller of Home_A must subsequently become the Purchasor of Home_B, both
    transactions to be made through ERA agencies.

    Jim
    

	Yea, I remember something like that too, but seems it wasn't 
necessarily an ERA home you had to buy, but your agent had to be in on the 
commission.  I don't know how this would work with out-of-town moves.

	Oh well, back to Home E. and Merrill-Lynch!

    
    	Anybody out there have any experience dealing with relocation
    from the greater Nashua, N.H. area?  Particularly selling a house.
    Who's the relo company DEC uses?  Anyone in particular to deal with
    from the company?  Any good appraisers?  Any ballpark figures on
    the difference between the company's offer and the market value?
    Thanks in advance for any information.
    
    Jeff
    
    

    Hi,
    
    I relocated to Arizona from Manchester NH. I didn't sell my condo
    on the market....I turned it over to Merrill Lynch as part of the
    home purchase program (i moved from NH end of March, and the condo
    still hasn't sold....not MY problem, tho). I dealt primarily with
    Patti Faran and Cathy Pratt from Merril Lynch. They were great.
    There was a need for expediting this deal and both Patti and Cathy
    sent all my paperwork Federal Express! They were prompt and courteous
    on the phone and displayed a very professional attitude. I highly
    recommend them!  I had a market analysis done on my condo prior
    to entering the HPP. The figure was quoted at 80K. The final figure
    from Merrill Lynch was 84,250. I was happy with that :-)
    
    Dealing with the HPP was, in my experience only, one of the smoothest
    parts of my relo. 
    
    If I can be of more help, let me know
    
    pat