Board of Contract Appeals
                    General Services Administration
                         Washington, D.C. 20405
                              ____________
 
                             June 11, 1998
                              ____________
 
                            GSBCA 14306-RELO
 
                    In the Matter of STEVEN D. WARD
 
 
        Steven D. Ward, Fredericksburg, VA, Claimant.
        Judy  Hughes, Travel Policy,  Defense Finance and Accounting
   Service, Columbus Center, Columbus, OH,  appearing for Department
   of Defense.
 
   VERGILIO, Board Judge.
             Where  it is  customary  for a  relocated employee
        selling  a  residence  to assume  some  of  the buyer's
        closing  costs,  the employee  may  be  reimbursed such
        allowable expenses as are incurred.
        The claimant, Steven D. Ward,  as a civilian employee of the
   Department of the Defense, changed permanent duty stations within
   the United States, with a reporting date of August 5, 1996.  With
   a  settlement date  of October  31, 1996,  the claimant  sold his
   residence at  his old  duty station, in  the area  of Chesapeake,
   Virginia.      The   buyer    obtained   FHA   (Federal   Housing
   Administration) financing.   The  claimant paid  $3206.50 of  the
   buyer's closing costs.  This total is comprised of $1273.50 (loan
   origination   fee),   $300  (settlement/closing   fee),   $521.40
   (lender's  title  insurance), $132.15  (city/county  tax/stamps),
   $396.45 (state tax/stamps), $175 (survey), and $408 (taxes).
 
        In accordance  with  applicable  regulation,  Department  of
   Defense  Civilian Personnel  Joint Travel  Regulations (JTR),  in
   resolving the question of the reimbursability of these costs, the
   agency contacted  an employee at  the Department  of Housing  and
   Urban Development (HUD), Richmond, Virginia.  JTR C14004-C.2.  In
   a memorandum dated March 27, 1997, the agency relates that it was
   informed  that HUD  feels the  seller paying the  buyer's closing
   costs is negotiable and that,  in assuming the buyer's costs, the
   seller is reducing the selling price.  HUD made its determination
   based on  Norbert P. David, B-245650 (Mar.  5, 1992).  The agency
   disallowed reimbursement.
        Thereafter, the  claimant  submitted to  the agency  letters
   from his realtor.  The realtor states  in a letter dated April 3,
   1997, "In  the Chesapeake  Virginia area,  sellers pay  customary
   closing cost[s]  for buyers.  [As] one of the largest listing and
   selling real estate corporations [we] would put between 75 and 80
   per  cent of  sales will  find that  sellers have  paid customary
   closing  cost for buyers."  The  other letter states that, in the
   Chesapeake,  Virginia area, the  seller pays the  buyer's closing
   cost expenses which  run approximately 2.7 to 3.0  percent of the
   buyer's loan amount.   In response to a  Congressional inquiry on
   behalf  of the  claimant, in  a  letter dated  May 30,  1997, the
   Assistant  Secretary, HUD,  Washington, DC,  states  that "it  is
   customary in the Tidewater area of Virginia for a seller to pay a
   portion  of  the purchaser's  closing  costs."   The  letter also
   references an enclosure, a special notice issued  by the Richmond
   office of HUD, effective October  1996.  For FHA loans closed  in
   the  jurisdiction of the Virginia  office, the document lists the
   only fees and charges that may be charged to an FHA  borrower and
   financed as part of the mortgage.
 
        Under  statute, 5  U.S.C.    5724a(a)(4)(A) (1994),  and the
   applicable  version  of  regulation,  JTR  C14002,  C14004,  some
   expenses are reimbursable  provided they are customarily  paid by
   the seller of  a residence in  the locality of  the old  official
   permanent   duty  station  to  the  extent  they  do  not  exceed
   specifically  stated limitations,  or  in  the  absence  thereof,
   amounts customarily paid in the  locality of the residence.  Such
   reimbursable  items include a loan origination fee, state revenue
   stamps,  and owner's title  insurance policy.   JTR C14002-A.4.a.
   Some expenses expressly are not  reimbursable, including property
   taxes.  JTR C14002-A.4.b.
 
        The record demonstrates  that it was  customary in the  area
   for the  seller to pay some of the  closing costs incurred by the
   buyer.     Expenses   for   the   loan   origination   fee,   the
   settlement/closing  fee,  lender's title  insurance,  various tax
   stamps,  and  the survey  are  allowable  miscellaneous expenses.
   Brian E. Cooper, GSBCA  14269-RELO, 98-1 BCA   29,427; Pierre  S.
   Ware,  GSBCA 14150-RELO, 97-2  BCA   29,061; Brent  T. Wahlquist,
   GSBCA 13721-RELO, 97-2 BCA   29,094.   None of the amounts sought
   are  in excess  of those  allowable to  the  buyer under  the HUD
   guidelines.   However,  the  regulations specified  that property
   taxes are non-reimbursable  expenses.  JTR C14002-A.4.b(3).   The
   claimant  has  not  demonstrated  that  $408  paid  for taxes  is
   reimbursable.  That amount was properly disallowed.
        The claimant has demonstrated entitlement to $2798.50.
 
 
                                 ____________________________
                                 JOSEPH A. VERGILIO
                                 Board Judge