Your home hit the market. Your agent did an amazing job and got you the offers warranted for your property in the existing marketplace. That is when the real negotiations begin. No matter how well prepared you are, there are some things as a seller you might need to concede to push the sale into a closed escrow status. Here are some incentives sellers can offer buyers in Greater Cincinnati Area or Northern Kentucky to finalize the deal.
Pay the Points or Buy Interest
Points are the financing costs for the mortgage lender charges to originate the loan. Paying a point reducing closing costs by one percent of the mortgage value, thus paying one point on a $200,000 home is worth $2,000 in closing costs that may have been otherwise financed into the loan. You can also buy the interest down in a similar fashion, buy paying a point toward the reduction of the loan’s interest rate. This helps the borrower for the life of the loan.
Pay Closing Costs
Closing costs are often split among buyers and sellers. Closing costs can be thousands of dollars out of pocket for new buyers who are already scraping together everything for a down payment and moving expenses. Paying for things that buyers normally pay for such as title insurance is a nice incentive to buyers to press through on the transaction.
This can also be used as a bargaining chip when it comes to negotiations. If the buyers are thinking about backing out after inspection because they are afraid to take over the extra expenses, you may want to offer to pay closing costs. This will save you from hunting down someone to do the needed repairs while saving the buyer money to do it themselves.
Home Warranty Purchase
Older homes have inspections that come back with everything that might go wrong. Aging furnaces, roofs, and plumbing systems keep many prospective buyers up at night wondering about the money pit. A homeowner’s warranty covers many key items including electrical and appliances for a few hundred dollars in Greater Cincinnati Area or Northern Kentucky. This is well worth the purchase to give buyers the reassurance that if something goes wrong, it is covered.
Carry the Loan
Carrying the loan is called “owner financing.” This is usually a three to five-year short-term loan to help buyers finalized certain financial issues that prevented them from obtaining traditional financing. The buyer might have great credit and enough income but still has outstanding student loans preventing them from qualifying with a bank. Carrying the loan puts a little money in the pocket of the seller who sets an agreed sale price, date and interest rate. Rates are usually a bit higher, giving the seller some additional incentive to work with serious buyers in a slow market.
Include Big Items
Buying a home is costly. When everything is added in, buyers can often feel like they don’t have money to redo the living room paint. If items such as refrigerators, washers and dryers or patio furniture were not part of the sales contract, offer it as an incentive to solidify the deal. Buyers looking to buy a washer and dryer are expecting to pay hundreds if not more than a thousand for a new set. Knowing the home is ready to live in from day one with all essential items is a huge sigh of relief for buyers.