Buy a House, Get a Prius!

With folks possibly more concerned about getting their shopping list crossed off than looking for a home in this uncertain market, some realtors and owners are thinking of new, creative ways to get attention for the homes they have a listing for.

The Marin IJ highlighted the property at 143 Forbes Ave in San Rafael. On the market now for almost 4 months, the price has been cut by $40,000 – from $939,000 to $899,000 – and the owners are also throwing in a brand new Toyota Prius. With the MSRP of a Prius around ~$22,500, that’s about $62,500 being tossed up to entice willing buyers to bite. Maybe if the Prius came with one of those California Clean Air tags, which allows single drivers to drive in HOV lanes (I’m not a big fan of this – as isn’t the point to encourage car pooling?? – but that’s another story), it would really draw attention. As the 85,000 in the state are already spoken for, there are none left to be issued. These passes that let you drive by yourself in the HOV lane passes are definitely hot items for those who tangle in the congested bay area commute hours.

At the end of the day, regardless of what the incentive is, a house is a significant and long term commitment. And if potential buyers can’t see the property as their next home, no incentives are going to change that.

“Incentives are an interesting and inventive way to market a property, whether the incentive is a car or a case of wine or a vacation to Hawaii. In reality, however, the property needs to work for the buyer regardless of the incentive,” said Valerie Castellana, president of the Marin Association of Realtors. “They’re not used extensively. There is no proof using a buyer incentive causes the home to sell more quickly.”

Is there anything that would incent you to buy?