Mortgage, Savings Advice: How to Find Builder Incentives to Buyers
With demand for new homes and new mortgages falling to record lows, buyers are in control of negotiations.
Whether you’re bargaining with the seller him/herself or the builder, there are significant savings awaiting via incentives to hopeful buyers. Here are three ways Real Estate Journal suggests using the Internet to take advantage of them:
1. Start with builder websites. The more homes a builder has on the books, the more likely he will be ready to deal.
“The first thing home buyers should look for is inventory,” suggests Ohio State University finance professor Anthony B. Sanders. “Spec” homes - properties that builders build without first securing a buyer - present valuable opportunities for home buyers, he says.
“You want to look for builders who have spec homes completed, because on those homes, builders will be more flexible because it is sitting inventory that they want to sell,” says Allan Domb, president of Allan Domb Real Estate in Philadelphia.
These properties are advertised on builders’ websites and are sometimes referred to as “Quick Move In,” “Immediate Occupancy” or “Quick Delivery” homes.Use the Internet to compare and contrast prices and features of homes. For instance, websites for Toll Brothers, Beazer Homes, Ryan Homes and KB Home offer online tools for house hunting by state and variables like price, community type and home size.
Once you find homes that appeal to you, Andy Heller, co-author of the book, “Buy Even Lower,” says to email the home builder. He suggests asking whether price cuts or incentives are available and specifying the neighborhood or community where you want to buy.
“Home builders in a position to deal will often reply or contact the home buyer and give an early indication of the discounts being offered,” he explains.
2. Use new-home listing aggregators. There are multiple online tools for searching home-builder inventory. For example, RealLiving.com offers a new-construction portal where visitors can look for newly built homes using identifiers like property type, location, size, price and school district.
In some cases, new-home listings on these sites include details about buyer incentives, such as a new home in the Dublin Ohio housing market, that is being offered with five hours of consultation with an interior designer.
3. Browse by keyword. Perform a keyword search on Google or Yahoo to find builders active in your target neighborhood, Mr. Heller suggests.
Typing “new home discounts St. Louis” into Google’s search box produced several real estate listing aggregators, such as the St. Louis pages for Move.com and American Home Guides. These can be gold mines for home loan applicants.