Colorado New Home Builders | Use of Sweetners on the Rise

Colorado new home builders | Use of Sweeteners on the Rise

Builders around the country are sweetening the deal for buyers. Between the summer of 2006 and 2007, the number of builders offering optional items — like a fireplace or three-car garage — at no additional charge rose from 51 percent to 57 percent, according to Gopal Ahluwalia, staff vice president for research at the National Association of Home Builders. Those offering to pay closing costs increased from 38 percent to 46 percent. Offers to trade a current home for the builder’s home jumped from 5 percent to 17 percent.

Sellers of existing homes are sweetening deals, too. A George Mason University study found that 59 percent of Washington, D.C., area sellers in 2006 and 2007 offered an incentive to buyers, up from 35 percent during the six years from 1999 to 2005. The sellers most likely to offer incentives? Those closest to new-home subdivisions.

Tom Reed and Bill Brown are local authors and real estate experts of Legacy Real Estate Brokers Inc. in
Denver Colorado. You can visit there website at www.discovercoloradorealestate.com