Carly and Todd Zody got way more than they bargained for when they bought their home in the Villages at Centennial.
The couple, both teachers, were set to buy a townhouse when KB Home offered to sell them a larger duplex in the same neighborhood for the same price – plus $30,000 in upgrades.
“The base price on the duplex is $20,000 more than on the townhomes,” Carly Zody said. “We were able to move in within about a week.”
In an effort to get inventory homes off their books before their fiscal years end, homebuilders are offering deep discounts to buyers who can move in quickly. The builders need to move the homes to meet sales numbers and alleviate carrying costs that amount to about $100 a day per home.
In the past six weeks, KB Home has sold 81 homes at discounted prices. It still has 53 homes it wants to unload at discounts of as much as $20,000 each, and it will pay closing costs.
“We typically don’t have a lot of these,” said Rusty Crandall, president of KB Home Colorado. “I think all the builders have a few more inventory homes on the market than they’d prefer because of the cancellation rates we’ve seen. There are some great values out there for customers who are interested and have the capability of moving in quickly.”
In addition to upgrades and other incentives, KB has been holding promotional events in all its neighborhoods, where its inventory homes are offered at sharply discounted prices.
The competitive homebuilding market also has caused MDC Holdings, parent of Richmond American Homes, to be much more aggressive in its incentives, particularly on already- built inventory homes, said David Mandarich, president and chief operating officer. “It’s a homebuyer’s market, and now is the time to take advantage of it,” he said.
Through its Buyer’s Advantage program, Richmond American is offering Colorado buyers up to 10 additional package items on all quick- move-in homes. Options include upgrades such as granite countertops, stainless-steel appliances, home security systems and window coverings, as well as conveniences such as air conditioning, interior painting packages, landscaping credits, garage door openers, and washers and dryers.
In many cases, a zero-closing-cost package option is available when homebuyers finance with MDC’s Home American Mortgage Corp.
Though it’s not happening yet, Village Homes is likely to start offering package incentives to real estate agents to sell the inventory homes quickly, said Jennifer Lambert-Pingrey, the company’s vice president of marketing.
“Village’s approach has been to add additional value to the home versus just a dollar discount,” she said.
Staff writer Margaret Jackson can be reached at 303-954-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com.
