Home Sellers Offering Incentives to Buyers
My friend put an offer on a house a couple towns over (I believe it was a couple thousand under the listing plus closing costs) and the sellers countered with the selling price and no closing cost assistance, but they’d throw in some mattresses and box springs for the rooms. But that’s nothing compared to what some builders are offering - upgrading appliances, upgrading cabinets, counter-tops, pools, etc. Of course, some are offering cash discounts too and with home sales dropping (4.3% new homes and 4.1% existing homes in July 06), it’s no wonder. So far my friend has run into resistance from home sellers (thought our area isn’t as crazy as some others like California), I think if he waits a couple months things will look better.
What’s the craziest incentive you’ve seen for someone to buy a house?
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There are 6 comments, add your thoughts now!
may be a Beemer.:)
I think we’re going to see more of this as the overvalued market continues to correct for the oversupply of properties.
I’m in the process of buying an apartment in Emeryville, CA. They’re offering 2 years w/out HOA fees (which saves me about $6500), no closing costs, and $5k off the price ($405K for a one bedroom). On top of that, my lender is offering a 2 for 1 fixed rate buydown mortgage, meaning my mortgage the first year will be 2 percent lower than the stated when i close, then one percent lower the second year, and fixed for the remaining 28 years (30 year fixed.) Not bad for CA, but I have been searching vigorously for deals in the Bay Area for the past year. These deals seem to come right before quarters end, when developers are attempting to reach sales goals. So looking for houses a month before quarter ends might get you better opportunities to buy.
I’m trying to think of some of the crazy things I have heard of lately.
I have a tight group of real estate investor friends, and you should see
some of the deals they negotiate! lol One thing that did blow my mind is
builders offering 10% commission to realtors around here (Phx, AZ)- in
addition to knocking close to $100K off prices with pools etc and closing costs!
I have seen houses bought with all the cars still in the yard, cars as part of the
negotiating process! An investor I met this week bought a run down property
where the deal was they had to clean it up first- 7 trailers of trash removed, and
then the meth users next door came over and asked for all the scrap metal! LOL
I think I might have to write a book about their crazy experiences!
In Miami, a desperate home seller has offered a Jaguar as an incentive to lure homebuyers. Free keys to a car!
And that’s after he has reduced the price several times.
It was on the front page of the Herald on Thursday. I was amazed.
When we bought our house in January, the seller said she was willing to negotiate on some of the furniture. So we got to keep the 42″ Samsung DLP HDTV that was in the bedroom (she didn’t want to have to move it) and the queen-size bed pedestal w/ drawers (again, she didn’t want to move it), at no cost above what we offered.
She also let us keep several yards of junk that were in the basement. I politely refused - a week or 2 after closing, we made her come back and get it (it was in the contract - she had to either pay for a dumpster and our time, or she had to come back and clear it out herself).
I tried to get the antique jelly cupboard in the kitchen, but she flaked out. She couldn’t decide what the cupboard was worth to her - I’d offer $225, she’d say “oh I couldn’t let it go for less than $250″ so I’d offer her $250, she’d refuse that as well and I quickly reached my limit, both in terms of what I’d pay and what hijinks I’d deal with from her.
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