http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/03/05/postal.service.relocation/index.html Just unbelievable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Read this report! Who in the US Post Office needs houses upwards of $1M? Tell them to buy my house! I have 6 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and 1/3 of an acre backyard. The US is doomed! Such waste. I sob. john
You think this is waste? A measly one mil is waste? Get a grip man, that is like 3 1/2 minutes of Iraq/istan. It's literally 2 Mk82's with a smart tail and nose kit. And no offense, but 1 mil buys an average house in a large city, even now. So relax, it's just a million. Start to worry when you see them buying in the 6-7 million range. Hell, even my wife has that perk. Did you even read the article? They didn't buy the home for him, the bought it FROM him. They now own a home they can, granted later, sell at market value. So he owned the home, before the move. If the man can afford a 1.2 million dollar home, good for him. Why would you say a postal service employee didn't deserve to own a nice home if he can afford it? You think the guy's 20? I bet he has been with the USPS for more then 15 years and earned that house. That he took the perk when they moved him, even better. It's in his contract and he got it appraised, so they had to buy it from him when they transferred him internally. It's not like they hired him and then went out and bought him a home. If you want to complain, complain about the idiots that don't know what variable rate means and can't read the fine print. They screwed it for everyone. Them and the credit card freaks. Be pissed at them, and be happy for the guy that actually got a good price for his home. I certainly salute him. Edit: I would question his choice in exterior cladding though. That looks like kak. and that cheesy entry way. Cheese and rice, man, it might buy a large house, but 1.2 mil doesn't buy taste. That is the only crime I see here.
I don't think it's that bad of an idea. The problem is that they have an average loss of 50K. They should offer the employee what the house is likely to sell as not its appraised value. Appraised value doesn't mean crap when the housing market is in the toilet.
A company that buys houses for its employees? Sure, it does not have to be one for a million, or even half a milion, but the basic idea that a company actually helps the employees with buying them a house is pure win.
They only lost that in 2008. in any other non-crashing-around-us market they often times make a profit because the employees are required to take the offer or leave it. So if you have scram off to say, Dubai or Johannesburg, and need to get rid of the house quick; you often times take the hit on a few thousand dollars to get of off your hands. Then the company has the time and energy to find a the right buyer and sell it at a profit. Not huge, but they usually make a thousand or four. Every major American corporation that moves employees often has this clause. Especially if they put people into ISP (expat) assignments. Example: if you have a house worth 300k and need to leave in a month, your movers arrive tomorrow, your kids are freaking out because they have 30 days to say goodbye to their friends, your wife is scrambling to settle your accounts (gas, electric, mail, etc.), sell the car, and you still have to prep for a new assignment; you don't want to be bothered to worry about a broker. Especially since you don't want the stress of having to fly back to take care of the paper work if it wont sell by the time you leave. So you sell it to your company for 292k and walk away with one less huge thing on your mind. They then take the time and do the work and sell it for 302k. It's win-win most of the time. Trust me on this. No, read the article. It only buys the house that you already own to expedite the move to another location. There you have to buy a new house for yourself. There are a lot of these sort of deals for employees that move often.
I have to agree with JJ here. jhanlon, keep in mind this isn't just some rank-and-file employee who is living beyond his means. Ronald Hopson was the Postmaster for Lexington, South Carolina, a large municipality in the Columbia Metropolitan Statistical Area. As such, he was probably drawing a pretty good salary. Also, the article never states just how he afforded the house - it seems you're just assuming that since he's a postal worker, he can't possibly live in a house that big. Maybe he had a good inheritance, and maybe his wife has a pretty good job as well. Maybe he worked his way up the corporate ladder, and invested wisely so as to afford a large house. Who cares? -monkey
