Due to rising home prices and higher mortgage rates, homebuilders have stepped up their games to stay competitive. Builders are now trying to lure buyers with extra incentives. The Wall Street Journal explains:
Upgrades can include free appliances, blinds, premium flooring or garage-door openers. Also growing in popularity are financial carrots such as paying buyers' closing costs, covering some of their down payment or paying to reduce their mortgage's interest rate for a year or two.
"I think there is a weakness in the market right now," said Mark Ward , managing partner of ForeverHome LLC, a closely held home builder in Raleigh, N.C., set to construct roughly 400 homes this year. "Everybody's giving more incentives today than they were in the summer."
