With tax credit expiring at midnight, it's back to a buyers' market
You just knew the big real estate sales shops had to find a way to keep the tax credit sales mania going.
So along comes Coldwell Banker, which has rolled out its own sales campaign it contends will help fill the void as the home buyer tax credit becomes history.
Basically, sellers who sign up with Coldwell Banker to take part in the "Buyer Bonus Sales Event" agree to offer a credit of 3 percent, capped at $8,000, off their homes to buyers who sign a contract before July 31.
Instead of coming from the federal government, though, the cash comes out the pocket of the seller.
If nothing else, it's a sign that the market, after temporarily shifting in the direction of sellers amid the scramble to cash in on the $8,000 federal tax credit, is moving back toward buyers. (Maybe the frenzy was over hyped, but check out this story on the spike in mortgage applications over the past week.)
Of course, the obvious question is why can't buyers simply push for an even more sizable discounts on their own? And what's to stop sellers from simply factoring in potential discounts into their listing prices, putting homes on the market at higher prices than they would have otherwise?
This, however, is pitched as much at sellers as buyers.
There's a lot of anxiety out there among sellers who have not been able to hook a tax credit buyer
The Coldwell Banker pitch is well positioned to reel in some of those anxious sellers, is it not?
