Coldwell Banker is launching a "Buyer Bonus Sales Event", which will attempt to build on the momentum created by the Federal Government's buyer tax credit. The government tax credit helped breath life into the sagging real estate market and it seems like a brilliant ploy to come up with a way to keep the party going.
The program provides a credit toward closing costs of up to 3% of the purchase price or a maximum of $8,000. CB will do national advertising and provide a place on their website where you can search properties enrolled in the program. It sounds brilliant, and it is.
But when you read the fine print, it turns out that the seller is paying the price.That's right, CB pays for the advertising and the seller pays for the closing cost credit. So before any buyer approaches a seller, CB agents will put their sellers in a weakened negotiating position.
"If you look at this program," states Doug Ayers, President and CEO of Koenig & Strey, "it is really done to draw attention to CB, not listings. It actually does little to nothing to bring attention to sellers’ properties or assist the buyer any more than a buyer negotiating a closing cost credit with the seller upon making an offer. I am not sure a lot of sellers will feel good about the fact the company is putting them in a less desirable negotiating position even before a buyer submits an offer."
It is a great marketing ploy by CB but you must ask the question, is it in their client's best interest?
I would guess that sellers who get "filtered out" for non-participation wouldn't be too happy either. Looks kind of lose-lose to me.
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