Home : Blogs : Joseph Skinner - Myrtle Beach Real Estate : Joseph Skinner's Blog

Incentives for the buyer or Incentives for the realtor?

With the strong real estate market competition, it is a good idea to offer some extra incentives to make the sale. But the question is make incentives to who? I can suggest the seller to make the incentive to the buyer by offering to pay the closing cost, or maybe a year paid HOA, or a new washer-dryer-refrigerator with full offer. Or maybe, I should suggest the seller to offer a 3,000 bonus to the buyer's realtor. Some people say that the realtor will look at MLS and will give priority to show the property that is offering the incentive. The question remains: which incentive is more effective: the buyer's incentive or the realtor's incentive? This might be a controversial question that many of us might have a different opinion. With a competitive market out there, it will be good to know other realtors opinions and experiences.

View our website

Posted by Joseph Skinner - Myrtle Beach Real Estate on 02/08/2008 08:14 AM

Comments (8)

real estate incentives

8 Comments on Incentives for the buyer or Incentives for the realtor?

I have had better luck with the buyer's incentives, but also have sold properties with realtor's incentives. I am more in favor of give the buyer more reasons to buy the property.

02/08/2008 08:21 AM

by Beth Briggs (Beth Briggs)

Joseph, My bet would be that an incentive aimed at the agent will produce more activity. Buyers will try to negotiate incentive which they deem relevant to them.

02/08/2008 08:23 AM

by Bill Gillhespy Fort Myers Beach Realtor (Century 21 Tripower Realty)

Depends on who you want to attract - the professionals won't be swayed by an incentive, while the hording masses that do less than 4 transactions will be (they tend to be less concerned with things like ethics). Since they statistically only represent 10-15% of any market's closed sales, you may want to stick to buyer incentives.

02/08/2008 08:28 AM

by Chris Pollinger (Mastery Coaching)

I have tried both and I have to say the an incentive to the buyer has been the better angle. Good luck with what ever you decide. Thanks for the posting

02/08/2008 08:30 AM

by Vincent McKamy Realtor Fredericksburg Virginia (Coldwell Banker Elite)

I recently sold a house that have been for sale for a while. The seller was offering 10 thousand dollars bonus to the buyer's agent. The bonus was prorated, meaning that if the buyer offers 5 thousand dollars less than the asking price, the buyer's realtor will get a 5 thousand dollar bonus instead of 10 thousand. well, guess what? the buyer offered 10 thousand dollars less than the asking price. The buyer's agent got no bonus, but got his commission. Maybe the bonus motivated the agent to show the property and sale it to the buyer.

02/08/2008 02:51 PM

by Joseph Skinner - Myrtle Beach Real Estate (Skinner & Associates Realty)

Joe - If you have hired a good buyers agent the commission should not even be a consideration. A good Realtor will be looking out for the client not their own pocketbook. I would go with the buyer incentive.

In your above example if you are saying the ONLY reason the buyer agent showed the house is because of the bonus what does that say about the agent? This is why people are constantly putting down our profession.

02/10/2008 06:45 AM

by Bill Gassett Metrowest Massachusetts Real Estate (RE/MAX Executive Realty)

Nobody is saying that the only reason the buyer agent showed the house is because of the bonus. I just wondered if the bonus was a factor or not.

02/10/2008 10:02 AM

by Joseph Skinner - Myrtle Beach Real Estate (Skinner & Associates Realty)

I worked for a builder that offered incentices for the realtor and buyers, and I can tell you that we got more traffic from realtors motivated by the incentives and buyers motivated by the buyer's incentives.

02/28/2008 07:28 AM

by Beth Briggs (Beth Briggs)

Leave a response…

Name:

Notify me of new comments:

Comment:

What does the graphic say?