To attract buyers, 75% of builders are now offering some kind of incentive, up from 50% last year, according to NAHB. “These builder-developers understand the solution to the slowdown to the market is to quickly liquidate their inventory,” says Ron Peltier, CEO of HomeServices of America.
Builders prefer free upgrades over cutting prices, which can hurt resale values for their customers who bought in the same communities, and they are offering everything from free swimming pools to granite kitchen counters to vacations.
Promotions are the highest they have been in seven years. In Las Vegas, builders are offering commissions to buyers’ agents far above the typical 3%. And home owners are finding that they have to follow suit, offering commissions of 4% and even 5%.
A couple in Woodbridge, Va. is trying to move their home, which has been listed since March for $449,000, by sprucing up the interior and landscaping, shaving $10,000 off the sales price and parking a 2006 Corolla in the driveway that is included in the deal.
Click here for the full story: USATODAY.com - Home sellers sweeten deals.
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