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Kenna Real Estate Group · Colorado sellers

The Listing Buydown Strategy: Sell Your Colorado Home With a Rate Buydown Instead of a Price Cut

A home that is sitting is missing the buyer's payment, not the buyer. Offer the buydown before the price cut: same money at closing, five times the effect on the payment, and the comps stay whole.

A live person answers. Not a robot, not a phone tree.

The short answer

$11,200 off the price lowers a buyer's payment about $74 a month. The same $11,200 as a 2-1 buydown lowers it $616 a month in year one, and it costs you the same at closing. Sellers who priced right and offered a credit this year netted about 98 percent of list; sellers who held out and cut late netted about 93 percent. The strategy: announce the buydown in the listing, market the payment instead of the price, and reserve the price cut for a home that is not getting showings at all.

The credit

$10,000 to $15,000

toward buyer costs or a buydown

About 2.3 percent of the loan funds a full 2-1 buydown.

The buyer sees

$616 a month

less in year one

On a $480,000 loan at a 7 percent note rate.

Your net

98%

of list, priced right with a credit

Versus about 93 percent after a late price cut.

Timing

Day 14 to 30

showings but no offers

That is the payment problem; the credit fixes it.

How the strategy works, step by step

  1. Read the pattern at day 14. Showings with no offers means buyers like the house and cannot make the payment work. Few showings means the price is above the buyer pool; that is a price problem, not a buydown problem.
  2. Choose the credit. Ask us for the net sheet three ways: hold, 3 percent cut, and a $10,000 to $15,000 credit. The credit nets more in almost every case.
  3. Put it in the first line of the listing. "Seller offering $10,000 toward buyer closing costs or a rate buydown with an acceptable offer." It resets buyer attention like a cut does without moving the comps.
  4. Market the payment. Every showing sheet, every listing email and every ad carries the year-one payment with the buydown, not just the price. Buyers shop payments.
  5. Re-send to every buyer who toured. The ones who liked it and walked are the ones the payment stopped. The credit brings them back.
  6. Let the lender do the math with the buyer. The buyer's lender confirms the cap for the loan type (3 to 6 percent conventional, 6 percent FHA, 4 percent plus costs VA) and applies the credit to the buydown escrow at closing.

What it does to your net, on a $600,000 listing

Hold at $600,000Cut 3% to $582,000$600,000 with a $10,000 credit
Sale price$600,000$582,000$600,000
Commission (5%)$30,000$29,100$30,000
Title and closing$3,500$3,500$3,500
Credit to buyer$0$0$10,000
Payoff$310,000$310,000$310,000
Net to you$256,500$239,400$246,500
Buyer's payment changenoneabout $120 a monthabout $616 a month, year one
The next comp shows$600,000$582,000$600,000

When the buydown is the wrong move

  • Few or no showings. Buyers filter by price before they see the payment; cut the price to cross into the next search band, then announce the credit.
  • Under 14 days on market with steady showings. Wait for the offer.
  • You are underwater or close to it. A credit comes out of proceeds you do not have. Read am I underwater and how a short sale works.
  • The buyer's lender caps the credit. Redirect the rest to repairs that block the loan, not to price.

Which buyers this brings back

The seven buyers still moving at 7 percent: the household that needs another room, the relocating buyer with a start date, the buyer who wants one level, the buyer moving near a parent, the fresh start after a divorce, the move-up buyer with equity and the cash buyer who would rather keep some cash. Six of the seven are payment-limited; the buydown speaks to them directly.

kennarealestate.com · free guide

The Colorado Seller
Concession Worksheet

Your net at list, at a 3 percent cut and with a $10,000 credit, side by side, plus the listing wording and the buyer-loan caps

The simple answer

A credit is a targeted price cut: the same money at closing, a much bigger change to the buyer's payment. Sellers who priced right and offered a credit netted about 98% of list; those who held out and cut late netted about 93%.

Prepared by
KENNA REAL ESTATE GROUP
Call or text 303-955-4220 · A live person answers.

Kenna Real Estate GroupPage 1 of 9

Sample from page 3: Why a credit beats a cut

  • $11,200 off the price: the buyer's payment drops about $74 a month.
  • $11,200 as a 2-1 buydown: the buyer's payment drops $616 a month in year one.
  • Your cost at closing: the same $11,200 either way.
  • Your list price: unchanged, so the comps and the appraisal hold.
The rest arrives by email
What is inside (9 sections)
  • 1Why a credit beats a cut
  • 2Your net, three ways
  • 3Which problem you have
  • 4The listing wording
  • 5The buyer-loan caps
  • 6When not to give a credit
  • 7Repairs versus credits
  • 8The worksheet: your net three ways
  • 9The checklist, and who to call

Get the seller concession worksheet

9 pages · PDF · free · emailed the same day · in your inbox within a minute

Name, email, phone, and the PDF is in your inbox within a minute. A live person follows up once. Want to see more first? Open the guide page, or call or text 303-955-4220.

Related

Home sitting? Run the buydown before the cut.

Text your address to 303-955-4220. A live person sends the net sheet three ways and the listing wording within one business day.

Call or text 303-955-4220What is my home worth?

Questions people ask

What is a listing buydown strategy?

The seller offers a credit, announced in the listing, that funds a temporary or permanent rate buydown for the buyer. It changes the buyer's payment far more than a price cut of the same size and keeps the list price and the comps intact.

How much does a 2-1 buydown cost the seller?

About 2.3 percent of the loan amount: roughly $11,200 on a $480,000 loan, paid at closing out of proceeds. Same money as an $11,200 price cut, five to eight times the effect on the buyer's year-one payment.

Does a buydown credit lower my net?

By the amount of the credit, the same as a cut. Sellers who priced right and credited this year netted about 98 percent of list; sellers who cut late netted about 93 percent.

When should I cut the price instead?

When the home is not getting showings. Buyers see the price before the payment; a cut that crosses a search band brings the showings, then the credit converts them.