Use a Coupon to Buy a Home?

Daily Real Estate News | Monday, October 17, 2011

-->More real estate professionals are jumping in the coupon-frenzy by luring home buyers with group coupon deals to use in their home purchases. Buyers have to purchase the coupon in order to get the discount.

For example, a buyer may purchase a coupon for $30 and then use the coupon to receive $1,000 cash back at closing when they buy a home, such as in a coupon-deal offered by Prudential Carolina Sun Real Estate in Charleston, S.C. 

Builders and some real estate professionals have started to use the coupons as a way to attract more buyers. For example, Van Metre Homes, a builder in Virginia, used HouseTipper to promote its coupon deal of $5,000 in closing costs. HouseTipper sold about 13 coupons at $50 each, and at least half of the coupon buyers have signed contracts for homes by the builder. 

Some real estate agents are also using Groupon to offer coupon deals. But the new HouseTipper is a collective buying platform directly targeted at the housing and home and garden sectors and works with builders, real estate brokers, lenders, and other housing-related companies. 

Source: “Redeem at Closing; Home-Related Coupons, Web Sites Aimed at Buyers,” Chicago Tribune (Oct. 16, 2011) [Link unavailable.]

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