Advice For A Shifting Real Estate Market- Do Incentives Work?
As we enter 2019, the real estate market is all over the news. Rising interest rates, climbing days on market, and more inventory are causing soon to be sellers tension. Alexandria La home sellers have historically offered incentives to help move properties. Let's take a look at how common incentives work (or don't) in the current climate...
1) Closing Costs Assistance-- Depending on the price point, seller assistance with closing costs is common. Depending on the lender, loan type, and price point closing costs and prepaids can run between 4,000-6,500 dollars. Of course everything is negotiable and every transaction is unique. In the past years I have seen transactions where sellers paid all, some, and even no closing costs.
2) Leaving Movables-- In Louisiana things like the refrigerator, washer/dryer, and non-built in microwave typically are not part of the purchase agreement. Of course most home buyers will need to turn around and buy each. I have used such movables in the past to help negotiate past home inspection repair requests. "Forget about those plumbing repairs, here is a refrigerator". Believe it or not that works on occasion.
3) Agent Incentives--To help separate the home from the crowd, Alexandria La home owners will sometimes offer a financial incentive to the buyer's agent. Any/all agent incentives should be disclosed to the buyer upfront. Locally this has fallen out of favor due to the way buyers shop. Twenty years back, a buyer would come to the agent for a list of homes. More often than not, today's buyer will come to THE AGENT with a list of homes to tour. Hence, reduces the effectiveness of the agent incentive.
So which incentive works best? As an Alexandria La real estate broker my advice is to skip incentives and make the asking price as attractive as possible. Pricing right should result in a market value offer sooner that incentives. Need a top Alexandria La real estate agent to represent you? Call Doug Rogers (318) 613-1994 today for your free CMA. Want to take a peek at the local competition? Go to Alexandria La Homes For Sale to see what's on the market today!
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