ARE YOU IN A HOME SELLER TEETER - TODDER? HERE ARE SOME IDEAS TO HELP BREAK THRU THAT CEILING GET SOME ACTION GOING ON YOUR LISTING.
In our crazy home market, many sellers are finding it frustrating and confusing! No offers, or low-ball offers, no showings, or lots of showings but no offers. It’s confusing and hard to swallow, what will it take to sell this house?
Many Seller’s are at their breaking point; they’ve lowered their price to as low as they can go. They are backed up against the wall because they cannot lower any further without becoming a Short Sale. You’ve done all your Realtor suggested (cleaning, painting, staging etc) but still nothing! UGH! Help!
Offer INCENTIVES for the Buyers and /or the agents. You know how furniture companies and car dealers offer “special financing” and other deals, get creative and offer some things to peak your potential buyer’s interest! These incentives have worked for my clients in the past.
1. Buy the interest rate down for the Buyer. Instead of reducing the price again, perhaps work with your Agents lender to devise a plan to offer a substantially lower interest rate. New home builder’s do this all the time. This might be at a cost of roughly 1 – 2% of your sales price, but it can mean a lot to the buyer, perhaps hundreds of dollars a month in savings, therefore making the home more affordable. This is a very smart incentive to offer, especially in these financially challenging times.
2. Offer free HOA dues for a year or two! This offer is simply a cash credit to the Buyer at the closing to help them ease into their new payments. Also very attractive to Buyers!
3. Closing cost credit. Many buyers trying to break into the market while prices are low are already cleaning out their savings account to come up with their down payment money. With most home loans, the buyer will have to come with a minimum of 3 percent of the loan amount, and another 3% or more to cover closing costs like loan fees, escrow services and title or mortgage insurance
You can usually offer 3 – 6% towards buyer closing costs, ask you Realtor for more details. This will help the Buyer’s be able to move forward on an offer on your home.
4. Broker/Agent Incentive & Don’t lowball the commissions! These days, I feel that this is probably the least effective incentive, however you probably will want to offer a FULL Broker commission if there is a lot of competition offering the same or other Broker incentives. Many owners do offer an additional % or big lump sum of cash to the Buyer’s agent for bringing in a good offer. Some offer trips to exotic locales or even their teenagers (just kidding!). This is something to consider when selling your home, have your agent see what other properties are offering so you can compete or stand out above the maddening crowd! You probably don’t want to offer a discounted commission if everyone else is at a full commission or offering bonuses.
5. Consider professional staging or "modeling" your home - You may think your home is the best on the block, but it might not show that way to prospective Buyers. If your agent can, let them give an opinion on what you can do, THEN DO IT! Or, it's not too expensive to have a professional come and help you use what you have on hand to stage the home. If your property is vacant, seriously consider having furniture and items placed in strategic rooms in the house (usually kitchen, family room, dining and living room, master and master bath).
If you have any questions at all about offering incentives to help spur a sale on your home, please feel free to give me a call ~ I offer honest advice that you can use without any pressure.
Debbie Lynn ~ Prudential California Realty 858.775.9771
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