The Brookfield Megathread

[RyanC]

Good day,

I was hoping if a Brookfield guru will be able to help me out. I have been posted about 8 months ago and everything went more or less fine, my realtor helped me find a great apartment and everything was peachy.

Now 8 months later I am buying a house so I rechecked all my entitlements and then called my brookfield agent before putting an offer and  10 000$ deposit on a house. So I asked three very basic straight forward questions which were. "Is Brookfield going to pay out for my land transfer tax" The answer being yes! And second "are you paying my lawyer fees" My agents answer being yes absolutely and the third question being "So I am completely covered when I buy my house?" And of course her answer was YES!,, So with a smile on my face and feeling that I have done my due diligence I went ahead and put my 10 000$ non refundable deposit on my house.

Fast forward 2 months later a week before closing and suddenly Brookfield will not pay my lawyer fees which ends up being roughly 900$! The reason that brookfield gave me was since I took a realtor for my HHT for my rental that I was no longer entitled to my lawyer fee expenses. ?

I have not found this in any of the literature nor did my agent inform me of this when I decided to use a realtor for my rental search  and after asking her if my lawyer fees were covered and being straight up lied to I think I am well within my rights to be pretty peeved. If I had the proper information before hand it would have really changed my house hunting plans.

Is there anything I can do in this situation? Or can I just grab my ankles and hope for the best?

 

[MARS]

Just checked the IRP directive online - yup, its in there buds.  In fact, there is an entire, albeit short, chapter dedicated to renting then purchasing at a later date and the limitations of doing this.

It does look like you have some options though, but I think it requires you to return the realtor fees.  I havent had to do it so I will stop there and suggest you give the manual another read.

 

[PuckChaser]

Your lawyer fees are reimbursed up to a certain amount, if you use a lawyer not on the approved list, its covered up to the negotiated rate. Anything above that is on you.

 

[RyanC]

Just checked the IRP directive online - yup, its in there buds.  In fact, there is an entire, albeit short, chapter dedicated to renting then purchasing at a later date and the limitations of doing this.

It does look like you have some options though, but I think it requires you to return the realtor fees.  I havent had to do it so I will stop there and suggest you give the manual another read.

Have a link to the manual?

 

[Eye In The Sky]

http://www.forces.gc.ca/en/about-policies-standards-benefits-relocation/toc-byyear.page

 

[CountDC]

before anyone jumps on - yes I am being lazy this time and trying for the easy out instead of searching through the pubs.

My query is - if a mbr is posted, goes on HHT, moves family and then say within 6 months to a year at new location decides nope not for me so pulls plug is there any possible repurcussions?  I don't believe there is but sometimes there is that one little thing hiding away that pops out to bite.

 

[Schifty]

Hi all,


              i'm at Valcartier since 2005, so now i may will post to Gagetown this summer. In 2005 was Royal Lepage manage all posting, but now its Brookfield. I just want to know what thing they care about, like new welcome taxes.. etc

thanks

 

[Schifty]

Dont really found any answer to this

 

[PuckChaser]

Dont really found any answer to this

You didn't really ask a specific question. Brookfield just manages IRP policy, nothing more, nothing less. They only "care" about that policy being administered properly and fairly.

 

[SupersonicMax]

Et voici la politique.  http://www.forces.gc.ca/fr/a-propos-politiques-normes-avantages-reinstallation/2009-tdm.page Les conseillers de Brookfield vont t'aider et te guider lors de ton premier rendez-vous.  Je te conseille de lire la politique afin d'avoir une idée de tes avantages avant ton rendez-vous.

 

[Pusser]

It is important to note that the change from Royal LePage to Brookfield was really just a name change.  It's the same company, still administering the same policy.

 

[armyman7877]

Hi  I live in the west and a bought a home three years ago for 280,000. I am being posted this summer and the appraisal listed us for 295,000. This time last year the same home was selling for 330,000. We are listed just  over 295,000 and we are are having a lot of trouble selling our home. We have been on the market for close to two months no visits. We have kids in early elementary so moving before a new school year starts is ideal but we do not want to take to much of a loss.. If anyone has any helpful tips on selling  it would be greatly appreciated. I would also like to know does Brookfeild give incentives to sell your home at the appraisers value or the price you paid?  Thanks!  What I mean is the realtor wants us to lower the price to less then we paid for because that is what the comps are now selling for.

 

[SeaKingTacco]

If you sell for anything over 280k, how have you taken a loss?

The appraised value is fairly meaningless.

 

[CountDC]

Talk to your Brookfield agent and read the pubs on their site.  There are policies in place for a loss if you actually incur one with a cap on how much.

 

[putz]

So I got an interesting call from Brookfield today....

I'm in Alberta and being posted to another Alberta base.  Our house has been listed for a couple of months with only a couple of viewings but no offers.  I took the family on our HHT a month ago.  Brookfield wanted an update and I told them that house hadn't sold yet and might be going unaccompanied until house sells. 

They said that if that happens they will recover the cost for the HHT and the reimburse it once the house sells.  I said that the house is staying on the market, we'd dropped price once and are looking at dropping below appraised next. 

Standard Brookfield response of "its in the policy" etc etc.  Anyone know of any recourse I have for this or am I seriously looking at having to reimburse 4k just to have it reimburse used to me again in a few months time.

As anyone in Alberta knows it's incredibly hard to sell right now.  Particularly if your outside the cities.

 

[dapaterson]

I suspect they are referring to this:

4.2.07 Recovery of HHT expenses
CF members who exercise the HHT benefit and subsequently re-occupy their former residence will be subject to recovery action. Recovery action shall be for the difference between the additional expenses received from the HHT and the entitlements authorized on a DIT. This shall include savings incentives that have been paid to personalized funds.

A quick (not comprehensive) review of the RCMP and NJC policies shows no similar clause.

http://www.njc-cnm.gc.ca/directive/index.php?sid=107&hl=1&lang=eng

http://www.njc-cnm.gc.ca/directive/index.php?sid=107&hl=1&lang=eng

 

[putz]

I read that as well.  My point to that is though my principal residence is still up for sale and I can't afford to move the family.  Technically I'm not reoccupying my residence????  Anybody know who I can address this matter to?

 

[DAA]

So I got an interesting call from Brookfield today....
I'm in Alberta and being posted to another Alberta base.  Our house has been listed for a couple of months with only a couple of viewings but no offers.  I took the family on our HHT a month ago.  Brookfield wanted an update and I told them that house hadn't sold yet and might be going unaccompanied until house sells. 
They said that if that happens they will recover the cost for the HHT and the reimburse it once the house sells.  I said that the house is staying on the market, we'd dropped price once and are looking at dropping below appraised next. 
Standard Brookfield response of "its in the policy" etc etc.  Anyone know of any recourse I have for this or am I seriously looking at having to reimburse 4k just to have it reimburse used to me again in a few months time.
As anyone in Alberta knows it's incredibly hard to sell right now.  Particularly if your outside the cities.

No, that's not quite how things work.  Based on past experience, if your current home has already not been sold, the Brookfield Rep/Office will tend to NOT recommend taking an HHT, which is quite common but at the end of the day, it's your CO who is the approving authority and I can't recall anyone ever being denied.  Nevertheless, if your HHT is unsuccessful, for whatever reason (and I can probably figure out why, given it's Alberta) and you choose to relocate "unaccompanied" on a temporary basis, which is your choice, the funds should NOT be recovered.  Your relocation file will remain "open" and you need to continue to explore both your purchase and sale options as quickly as possible.

If you decide to relocate on your own and have your family remain in the current location, then you will be administered under Sect 11.2 of the CFIRP Manual.  Keep in mind, that such a relocation should ONLY be for 6 months in duration at the most but if you think the time could be longer, you need to consider applying for an Imposed Restriction at your earliest opportunity.

The only time HHT benefits would be "recovered", are in circumstances where a complete relocation to the new location never took place.  Example being, if you were posted from Edmonton to Cold Lake, while owning a home in Edmonton.  Relocated to Cold Lake unaccompanied and subsequently posted back to Edmonton, reoccupying your family home.

If you have concerns over what your Brookfield Rep has told you and have questions, I'd suggest you visit your Base Orderly Room and ask to speak with the DND CFIRP Coordinator, who should make themselves available to assist you.

 

[armyman7877]

We are in the exact same boat as you are!! We are posted out West as well. We have had our home listed since April 1 had three open homes 10 plus viewings and 20,000 dollar price drop. Our agent can't figure out why we are not selling our home shows well but the market is really down out here. I'm going alone in three weeks until our home sell. As far as brookfield goes they told us that they only allow one house hunting trip and one move. We didn't take our yet but are thinking of going anyways because at this point it doesn't matter if we don't sell. They allow you up to six months before you go on Ir. The family will be staying put until the house is sold whenever that is. A few tips they gave us was to add a decorating bonus from your custom to attract buyers. You can do this if your home is on the market for 60 days. Some of our friends have had success by offering a selling bonus to the agent of 1000 dollars if they can sell your home quick.  A few people we know have know have had success by planting a saint joseph statue upside down by there for sale sign. it's may be a long shot but anything is worth a try. Brookefield doesn't pay for it but sometimes Brookfeilds fee can be two low for the agents to push your home in a slow market here they pay 3.8 and the going rate here is  5 percent so adding a 1000 or 2000 may be better then dropping your price say 10000. There are at least five others out West here at this base not selling this year. We are taking a loss at this point but we don't care right now. Sorry for the spelling but I am french.

 

[armyman7877]

Our point on taking on hht is that I will be at  a new base anyways with lots of time to look for housing if we put a conditional offer on another and loose this one. At least we recover some money from doing a hht because all the open houses and showings cost money. You need to be away from your home for hours at a time meals, cleanings it can get exhuasting as we have been on the market for 100 plus days now and our kids are still quite young.