The real estate market has more homes for sale than the number of buyers interested in them. If you’re getting ready to sell your home in a “buyer’s market,” you may need to offer a little bit more to get the purchase contract you’re looking for in a reasonable time frame.
To sell a home quickly, at the best possible price, owners must ensure that:
• The list price is in line with today’s market (not yesterday’s)
• The home is in good, preferably move in condition, and
• The home has enough curb appeal to attract buyers inside
Among these, price is still the critical variable. You may benefit by getting a pre-listing appraisal to ensure your asking price is attractive. You may even want to price your home a little below appraisal – say 5% lower than the last comparable sale – and of course advertise that fact to buyers.
You can tell your price is too high if you’ve had no showings at all of if you’ve had, say, 10 showings but no offers or if the competition has dropped their price below yours. Also, keep and eye on comparable properties whose listings have expired; those failed listings tell you what price is to high in today’s market.
Still, ensuring the fundamentals are handled may not be enough to accomplish the sale within your moving time frame. Offering incentives to buyers could be the key to attracting a purchase offer quickly without “giving away the farm.” A good, effective incentive will attract buyers’ attention and motivate purchase offers while having minimal impact on your net proceeds from the sale. In fact, the right incentive can sometimes be more attractive to buyers than a lower sales price.
Take cue from builders and condo developers. To get their properties sold in cooling markets, they are often the first to offer incentives including:
• Drawings for a free home (to increase traffic to the builder’s model vs. competitors properties)
• No money down financing
• Buyout programs for sellers with a home to sell
• Guaranteed pricing (if prices go down before settlement or closing, the buyer gets the lower price)
• Six months to a year of mortgage payments
• Free upgrade (better carpeting, flooring, fixtures, custom colors, options, etc.)
• Discounts for buying during a “12-hour sale” period
• Free vacation lodging and/or round-trip plane tickets
Although many of the types of incentives offered by builders and developers may not be feasible – nor advisable – for individual sellers to offer, you can take inspiration from them:
• Offer to take back a second mortgage for qualified buyers who can’t quite finance the purchase price
• Pay the buyers closing cost’s or points on the loan, reducing the amount of cash they need to close the deal
• Allow a lease/purchase. If you don’t need your funds right away, let the buyer rent your home with a delayed settlement, provided you are sure the purchaser will eventually qualify for a loan. Part of the rent money could be applied to the down payment if the buyer is short of cash.
• Add conveyances to the sale such as a lawn mower, yard tools, drapes, playset, yard bench, porch swing, appliances, even special furniture
• Pay for a year’s membership to the neighborhood recreation center or gym; a year’s worth of homeowner association dues, a year’s worth of utilities, lawn service or pool cleanings
• Paint the interior or exterior of the home in the buyer’s choice of colors, so it’s exactly the way they want it at move-in time
• Include a one year home warranty covering systems and appliances. Buy a pre-sale home inspection and make all repairs
• Offer a redecorating allowance
• Got a time share? Give your buyers a one-week stay for free
The list of possibilities can go on and on. The important point is to tailor your incentive e to what the most likely type of buyer – families, singles, retired couples, etc – will most likely appreciate.
Don’t forget: In a buyer’s market, you’ll also need to be more flexible about the terms of the contract – move in date, contingencies, inspections, etc. The easier you make it for someone to purchase your hoe, and the more value you add to the deal, the more attention your home sale will get.
Labels: Alpharetta, buyer incentives, Cumming, duluth, Georgia, incentives, milton, Roswell, Woodstock
# posted by
Brian Vanderhoff @ 8:48 AM
