Does anyone know who/what Cartus is?

dottiepeas

Hello,

Just received a formal letter from the EA that we have made an offer to the agent's client "Cartus".

Has anyone heard of Cartus?...Who are they?...and what do they do? I got the impression from my agent the owner was a couple with 2 small children?....
Cartus seem like some organisation to me!!?.....

Any info would be much appreciated! Thanks!

JayZed

A simple bit of Googling would give you the answer: http://www.cartus.com/

One of their main lines of business is international employee relocation, so I guess that they own residential properties to provide temporary accommodation for their clients' employees who are relocating to wherever it is you're buying.

smileypigface

Not sure if Cartus do what JayZed suggests as well ... but my experience was that on relocating with my company Cartus 'purchased' my house from me - giving me a guaranteed sale price - so I could househunt knowing exactly what I would get for my house - this allowed me to move on almost immediately and when I completed on my new house prior to the sale of my original house Cartus looked after and sold the original house for me. The deal my employer had struck was that if Cartus sold it for less than the price they had given me then my employer picked up the bill (or Cartus did - not sure which) but when Cartus sold it for more than they had given me they deducted a (small) fee and sent me the balance.

It basically allows you to walk away knowing you have your cash and allows you to forget all about your old house and the hassle of marketing it and cleaning the windows/mowing the lawn etc.

I have done this twice with my employer (1996 and 2008) and Cartus - the first time I got a cheque for a bit extra after I'd been in my new house for a couple of months and the second time they sold my old house before I had time to purchase a new one (so I rented for a few months).

From my point of view they were very efficient and proactive.

dottiepeas

Thanks Smileypigface! Good to know they are an ok company and nothing dodgy!! Was just abit surprised at first, because the EA never mentioned the house was bought by this company- she only ever referred to the owners as the couple and with kids?....who technically aren't the owners, as this company have already bought it off them it seems!.....

Thanks again tho!:beer:

Catti

Cartus don't usually 'buy' the houses but are appointed as Attorneys for the ownres to handle the sales. They will already have provided funds to the 'seller' to move on as part of a relocation package, but the 'seller' remains the owner.