Home Sellers Throw In Free Stuff To Get You To Buy House
5 September 2006There’s a new marketing trend happening in response to the slowdown in real estate in some areas - sellers of houses are starting to give away various goodies to induce people to buy. Some of these are practical and make sense - upgraded appliances or custom landscaping in new homes. Others sound more like game show prizes - a Vespa scooter, expensive wine, a trip to Europe, or even a Lexus. That’s the kind of thing that’s going to get buyers excited. My advice? If you’re a seller, use the marketing gimmicks - but if you’re a buyer, then don’t fall for it.
Remember that you’re paying for every penny that new Lexus costs. No one is giving you anything for free - if the person selling you a house is willing to buy you a $30,000 Lexus, they’re willing to cut the price of the house $30,000, too. They give you the car because they know many people will let their emotions rule and go with that house because it feels like they’re getting something great for free. It makes that house deal less boring and more fun. But complicated financial transactions aren’t supposed to be fun. “Spicing them up” by settling for a bad deal isn’t a good idea.
The other problem is that many sellers giving away these gifts insist that you act within a very short time frame. So not only are you basically buying something for yourself with your own money, you’re also forcing yourself to act within a very short period when you can’t fully mull over whether you really want that house. Don’t turn your brain off just because someone flashes something shiny and expensive in front of you.
When is it a good idea to accept the “free stuff”? Only when it’s something the home seller could be able to get a better deal on than you. For example, take landscaping. A construction company can probably get this done cheaper than you can - they do it all the time and know the local markets better than you do. So something that costs you $5,000 may cost them $3,000. They may be willing to cut the home price only $3,000 - but they’ll give you something worth $5,000 to you. But if we’re talking about a trip to Jamaica, there’s no reason they’re any better able to buy it than you. So they’d probably be willing to cut the price by the same amount as the value of the vacation. So watch out, and don’t get suckered into buying a house you don’t really like because of the extras you could buy on your own anyway.
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