diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 5bf40213..617da0e8 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 Package: lavaan
 Title: Latent Variable Analysis
-Version: 0.6-20.2263
+Version: 0.6-20.2264
 Authors@R: c(person(given   = "Yves", family = "Rosseel",
                     role    = c("aut", "cre"),
                     email   = "Yves.Rosseel@UGent.be",
diff --git a/R/lav_start.R b/R/lav_start.R
index fde99896..e9767d24 100644
--- a/R/lav_start.R
+++ b/R/lav_start.R
@@ -302,6 +302,12 @@ lav_start <- function(start.method = "default",
               tmp <- rep(1.0, length(tmp))
             }
           }
+
+          # check for negative marker
+          if (!std.lv && lavpartable$ustart[lambda.idx[1]] < 0) {
+            tmp <- -1 * tmp
+          }
+
           start[lambda.idx] <- tmp
 
           # factor variance