To Sell Home Faster, Offer Some Incentives

The glut of homes on the market in the Valley is making it harder for many people to sell their houses, and they may have to spend some money to sell.

Mortgage expert Dean Wegner says sellers can do some of the things home builders do, such as offering financial incentives.

"Right now, the majority of people buying are first-time home buyers. Well, guess what. Because now they have to come up with the down payment, they don't have any money for closing costs. And if they hear a seller's willing to pitch in 3 percent for closing costs, well, there's six houses to look at and yours is going to be the first on the list."

Other ideas include offering a home warranty or agreeing to pay a few monthly payments for the buyers.

Wegner says start by offering the incentive that is least costly to you, including home warranty coverage, and, if that doesn't work, add on some more. If your house has been on the market for a while, its value is dropping, he says.

You could nail down the sale by agreeing to a payment abatement plan.

"The seller can actually pay the first six months of mortgage payments, so that the buyer doesn't have anything but taxes and insurance to pay for the first six months."

Once you come up with some incentives, monitor the results, he advises.

"Did you add a buyer incentive that's being advertised and you notice that the traffic has doubled? If that's the case, then that's really good. You might want to stick with that campaign until you sell your house. If you've done a buyer incentive and the traffic has not doubled, maybe try something else."

One of the cheapest incentives, Wegner says, is a two-year home warranty, which will cost around $700.


by Bob McClay
KTAR; May 16th, 2008