The Buydown and the Mindset Winning Deals This Fall

By Brad Korb

Licensed REALTOR® and Broker since 1979, I bring decades of expertise to ensure your home sells promptly and at the best price.

Happy October, everyone, and I hope you’re off to a great start to the fourth quarter. I wanted to take a minute to share a couple of things I’m seeing work in the market right now, because they’ve been making a real difference for the buyers and sellers I’m working with, and I figure they’re worth passing along to other agents too.

The first is the 3-2-1 interest rate buydown, and it has been fantastic for buyers and sellers alike. Here’s how it works in practice. Say the going rate is somewhere around seven and a half percent as a starting point. With a 3-2-1 buydown, the buyer’s rate in the first year comes down to roughly four and a half percent, then about five and a half in year two, about six and a half in year three, before settling into the market rate from year four on. For a buyer who had been sitting on the sidelines, intimidated by today’s rates, that first year of breathing room can be exactly the thing that gets them off the fence and into a home.

And it isn’t only the buyers who benefit. For a seller, offering this kind of financing is a way to stand out, their listing gets to advertise something most of the competition isn’t, which can be the difference in a market where buyers are cautious. It’s a tool that helps both sides of the table, and if you haven’t been putting it in front of your clients, it’s worth a look.

The second thing I wanted to share is less about financing and more about mindset. I picked it up recently from Alex, one of my own mentors, and I think it’s worth every agent hearing. He pointed out that if you respond to a new lead within the first sixty seconds, your odds of converting that opportunity jump by nearly four hundred percent. Let that sink in. The same lead, the same person, but the agent who calls back inside a minute is playing an entirely different game than the one who waits an hour. And it compounds, because statistically, around seventy percent of buyers who reach out will end up working with the very first person who makes contact. Speed, it turns out, is very often the whole ballgame.

Alex left me with one more piece of advice that I’ve taken to heart, and it’s a good note for any of us heading into Q4: get better, and never stop. Whether it’s learning a financing strategy you haven’t used before or simply answering the phone faster, there’s always a next thing to sharpen.

So that’s what I’m seeing out there. I hope something in here is useful to you as you close out the year. If any of it raises a question, or you’d like to talk through how it might work in your business, I’m always happy to help. Call or text me at (818) 953-5300, email careers@losangelesrealestatecareers.com, or visit bradkorbagents.com. I want to wish you and your family and your business all the best heading into the fourth quarter. Take care.