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 Some people have all the
luck. They put their house on the market and a qualified buyer knocks on
the door with a full price offer. For the rest of us, there are some
sure-fire ways to offer incentives to people to buy your home over the
competition, while at the same time netting more to your bottom-line. What
many sellers don’t realize is that you don’t have to cut your price to
sell your home. While this is a common tactic, it’s also an overused
tactic. Instead, consider offering a buyer’s incentive or agent’s
incentive to sell your home quickly. You’ll net the same or a little more,
but you’ll have tax write-offs, which are to your better interest.Agent Incentive Let’s face it; the people with the clients are the real estate agents. It’s their business to check on new listings and determine what listings their clients should view. So, why not give them the added incentive of additional commission if they sell your home? You can write off the additional commission on your taxes as a cost of selling your home. Financing Incentives Even though interest rates are low now, there will come a time when interest rates rise. Lenders have many programs that with the seller’s contribution, they can offer |
reduced rate
financing. Builders are famous for outselling their competition with these programs. They’re called buydowns, and your contribution may mean rates as low as 3% below the market rates for a fixed period of time. Once again, seller contributions are a cost of sale for tax purposes. Down Payment Assistance A relatively new, yet very effective, seller incentive is down payment assistance programs. These are non-profit organizations such as www.partnersincharity.org, that give buyers the gift of a down payment provided the sellers participate in the program. The seller simply needs to agree to replenish the funds being used by the buyer, so that the assistance fund can continually help others. The title company or escrow agent collects the seller’s fee at the closing table from the proceeds of the home. Imagine how quickly you can sell your home when you offer to participate in this program. You’ll get full-appraised value on your home and a tax write off! So, if you’re looking to sell your home, please feel free to call me with more innovative ideas before you decide to lower the price of your home. |
