Sour Economy Offers Sweet Deals In L.I. City
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If the view alone isn't enough to get people to buy in Long Island City, some of the incentives being offered by developers may just seal the deal. NY1's Tara Lynn Wagner filed the following report.Buildings are popping up along the east side of the East River in Long Island City at a time when the market took a decided downturn. As a result, many developers looking to sell their units are offing an array of incentives designed to ease potential buyers past their hesitance and into home ownership.
"I think we're all in the same boat. We understand what's going on with the economy and we want everyone to be flexible," said Melina Starr, Prudential Douglas Elliman.
Melina Starr of Prudential Douglas Elliman recently took NY1 on an exclusive video tour of L Haus, a 122-unit building currently under construction. The building is offering what they call a three prong buyer's assurance program that includes a rent-to-own option, a price protection plan and a 3-2-1 rate buydown, that allows people to get a reduced mortgage rate for the first three years.
"The sponsor will pay to reduce your mortgage by three percent the first year, two percent the second year and one percent the third year. So effectively, in today's market, you could be looking at the first year with a rate of two percent, said Starr.
A few blocks away, Fifth Street Lofts is offering a similar mortgage program, but not in stages. By pre-paying the buyers mortgage at a lower rate, owners see that reduction for the life of the loan.
"Which is a great benefit because if someone would really be paying $3,000 a month for a mortgage, maybe their mortgage will only be $2,500. So they're saving $500 a month over the course of their mortgage. It's huge savings for people," said Scott Avram, Senior Project Manager for Toll Brothers City Living.
They're also offering a mortgage protection plan that will cover your payments for up to a year if you are hospitalized or lose your job.
Incentives aren't just limited to financial plans. Toll Brothers recently thought outside the box and allowed buyers the chance to upgrade their floors, cabinets, or even audio systems for just one dollar it's a tactic they say helped increase their traffic.
"We brought in a lot of people over the last couple of weeks just based on that and took a couple of deals, so are you planning to offer it again. I think so," said Avram.
L Haus has seen a similar reaction.
"We've had four times the amount of website traffic and then double the amount traffic, direct traffic to the sales office on the weekends," said Starr.
With more incentives translating into more buzz translating into more traffic, brokers are hopeful that more sales are on the horizon.