I just received the Bank Of America Survey results which I will post tomorrow. Looking at the first couple of pages reminded me that this a snapshot of the market and builders.
In their survey they ask about builders and incentives offered. I have heard of them giving cars away, pools, paying for a years worth of payments and more.
This is from October of 2006,
The NAHB found 55% of companies were offering home-option items such as granite countertops and landscaping at no charge, up from 37% the prior year. About 43% were offering to pay the closing costs on the buyer’s previous home.
Forty-four percent of builders were reducing home prices, 4% were including a new car with the home and 5% were offering a free holiday trip. Underscoring the sharp pullback in the housing market, the NAHB didn’t even bother to poll builders on those three questions last year.
And there have been more incentives since then though the Portland Market has been much better than most markets and we haven’t seen anything that crazy, well almost. Builders do not like to drop prices for a few reasons but the main one being that they want to keep comparables in line for the neighborhood.
I once negotiated with a smaller builder and he was trying to find ways to accept the offer but still have the sale price higher to keep comparables stable. We didn’t do that. I later found out he owned about 4 homes in there and wanted to keep prices up.
So I was understandably surprised to hear a radio advertisement last Sunday that DR Horton was having a “Sale.” It sounded a lot like a car ad with the energy and sounds. That weekend only, they say, they were taking any reasonable offer.
This shatters the image that builders have created over a long period of time. Interestingly enough I heard the ad at 9:30 at night on Sunday making it impossible for someone to take advantage of it but it worked in that I am writing about it.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicdafis/archives/date-posted/2007/04/13/
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Builder in a way are the backbone of the community. Giving quality homes to people at affordable rates is a great way to help people to make their American dream come true. While looking for homes, so it becomes important that we should find a honorable builder to get the perfect home for us. Two years back, we got our house from Tower Homes http://www.towerhomes.com . Trust me, it was love at first sight for me. Do visit their link, to see what I mean.
(Note from Mike – This looks like spam but since the builder isn’t around here I will let it go through and use it as a post topic later.)