5 Incentives Sellers Can Offer Buyers in Bellevue, WA

The market we are in now is far from the market we were in back in Q1 of 2022. Median cumulative days on market for a home in Bellevue right now is 50 days as I’m writing this and in Seattle it is 44 days. Historically going back even before 2012, that is considered normal. The 5 to 7 days on market we saw during 2021 and early 2022 was historically never seen before in our market. The same goes for 2.5% 30-year fixed interest rate, but I’ll save that for another time. To be fair, days on market always shoots up during this time, peaking in January usually. Prices are the inversion of that and usually hit their lowest in January. We’ve seen plenty of sellers remove their homes from the market hoping to re-list in the Spring when things around here tend to heat up, hitting their peak around March-May. If interest rates continue to rise or even plateau for a while around 7-8% while the real estate market begins to normalize we could watch prices continue to fall into 2023. Besides taking a huge price cut—or just pricing your home to match the market in the first place—there are some things, as a seller, you could consider in order to attract buyers to your listing. Here are some incentives sellers can offer buyers in Bellevue, WA and the surrounding Seattle Metro Area to sweeten the deal and get your house sold faster.

Pay the Points or Buy Interest

Points are the financing costs for the mortgage lender charges to originate the loan. Paying a point reducing closing costs by one percent of the mortgage value, thus paying one point on a $1,000,000 home financed at 80% loan to value ($800,000 loan amount) is worth $8,000 in closing costs that may have been otherwise financed into the loan. You can also buy the interest down in a similar fashion, buy paying a point toward the reduction of the loan’s interest rate. This helps the borrower for the life of the loan.

Pay Closing Costs

Closing costs are often split among buyers and sellers. Closing costs can be thousands of dollars out of pocket for new buyers who are already scraping together everything for a down payment and moving expenses. Paying for things that buyers normally pay for such as title insurance is a nice incentive to buyers to press through on the transaction.

Home Warranty Purchase

Older homes have inspections that come back with everything that might go wrong. Aging furnaces, roofs, and plumbing systems keep many prospective buyers up at night wondering about the money pit. A homeowner’s warranty covers many key items including electrical and appliances for $300-500 in Bellevue, WA. This is well worth the purchase to give buyers the reassurance that if something goes wrong, it is covered.

NOTE: The beneficiary of the warranty must be able to prove that the thing that is covered under warranty was functioning properly at the time of sale so it is best to also be able to produce a current inspection report either from the seller or the buyer. Otherwise the warranty is essentially useless.

Carry the Loan

Carrying the loan is called “owner financing,” “seller financing,” or “seller carry.” This is usually a three to five-year short-term loan that can help buyers finalize certain financial issues that prevented them from obtaining traditional financing. The buyer might have great credit and enough income but still has outstanding student loans preventing them from qualifying with a bank. Carrying the loan puts a little money in the pocket of the seller who sets an agreed sale price, date and interest rate. Rates are usually a bit higher, giving the seller some additional incentive to work with serious buyers in a slow market.

Include Big Items

Buying a home is costly. When everything is added in, buyers can often feel like they don’t have money to redo the living room paint. If items such as refrigerators, washers and dryers or patio furniture were not part of the sales contract, offer it as an incentive to solidify the deal. Buyers looking to buy a washer and dryer are expecting to pay hundreds or even thousands for a new set. Knowing the home is ready to live in from day one with all essential items is a huge sigh of relief for buyers.

Do you want to learn more about incentives sellers can offer buyers in Bellevue, WA and the surrounding Seattle Metro Area? We can help! Send us a message, or give us a call today! 206-202-6008