Incentives offered by sellers at closing are nothing new to the real estate industry.
Sometimes it’s as simple as leaving that beautiful pool table behind, rather than moving it out of the basement. Or, it’s the seller agreeing to fix the front porch, or repaint the pink bedroom that the future buyer just can’t get past as they dream of a new in-home office.
Seller-funded incentives have also gone to extremes. It wasn’t too long ago that everything from a free car, boat, and luxury trips could be included in the mix.
Incentives are back and have become a bit more realistic. Perhaps they are back to their true purpose, which is as a valuable marketing tool that can draw attention to a listing while providing an added benefit to the buyer.
In October, Zillow introduced "Special Offers" to address this need and it’s already having a positive impact on agents who are taking advantage of this new marketing tool. More than 1,000 listings have a seller-funded cash incentive attached, which provides added visibility on Zillow, among other benefits.
The early results for those agents that are participating in the program are promising. Listings with a Zillow Special Offer are currently receiving 10 times more buyer contacts than listings without.
Tyler Rygmyr, with Revolution Real Estate in Nashville, is already a fan of the program. “I learned about the Zillow Special Offer program late one evening, so I ran a special later that night on a listing that had been on the market for 9 months. Several scheduled showings happened immediately thereafter, and an acceptable offer was submitted within days. Pretty cool!”
Let me know if you have any questions or if you need more information about seller-funded incentives, I'd be happy to show you some great examples of how other agents are using these "special offers" in their areas.
•
