Fort Bragg Area New Build Incentives

According to Market Watch and Reuters, nationally 66% of builders are offering incentives,
which is the highest rate post covid. While rates have been higher than those crazy years lately,
it seems that builders are doing what they can in the form of incentives to appease the current
buyer. These can include but are not limited to, offering funds towards closing costs, rate buy
downs, physical incentives like refrigerators, blinds and fences and others. It is important to note
that each builder is different and offers different incentives based on the home, neighborhood,
current market and ultimately the negotiation power wielded by the buyer's agent (if you choose
to use one instead of a builder rep which is important to know that builder reps DO NOT work
for the buyer. They work for the builder.). I have seen a lot of posts in wives pages and just
inquiries in general as to what builders offer. What are the incentives? What builder do you
choose? Etc I am going to address builder incentives in this post. I reached out to each rep and
builder's agent that I know as well as gathered information from the MLS (multiple listing
service). Please keep in mind that everything is negotiable and each incentive is specific to the
builder, neighborhood, home and negotiations made between the agents and that the incentives
in this post are liable to change as the builder sees fit. Now that the intro and important stuff is
out of the way, let’s get into the Fort Bragg surrounding areas. What do we have going on here?
Here is a little bit from some of our bigger builders in the area. But first I am going to be using
terms you may not be familiar with so lets break these down:

Incentives- perks, discounts, or financial benefits offered by sellers, builders or developers

Concessions- a negotiated item where the seller provides the buyer with a financial credit or
other benefit to help facilitate the sale of a property (NAR)

Current (heavy on the current) builder incentives in the Fort Bragg surrounding areas

Ben Stout- up to $25,000 in incentives and in some homes they are including the blinds, fridge
and fence using preferred lender and attorney

JSJ- up to $20,000 in concessions on select homes

Dream Finders- up to $7,500 in concessions plus opportunity for rate buy down

Caviness and Cates- $8,500 seller paid closing costs on select homes + blinds, Opportunity for
an additional $3,000 with preferred lender

Dr Horton- up to $15,000 on select homes and opportunity for a lower interest rate

Furr Construction- When asked I was told, “It will vary per house!”

Of course all of these incentives are dependent on the neighborhood, home and at what point in
the build they are. Something to keep in mind, new builds typically do not come with
refrigerators and unless it is otherwise stated, any home you offer on will not automatically
include it without you asking and the builder agreeing to it. It is also wise to note that most
builders do not include a BFF. What is a BFF you ask besides your go to yapper? A BFF stands
for Blinds, Fridge, Fence. You would be hard pressed to find a builder offering any and definitely
not all of these items during the Covid years but now we are seeing more and more of these
items or a combination of the three being offered as incentives for potential buyers.

Now here is a not so fun item to look out for when purchasing a new build in North Carolina and
more specifically the surrounding Fort Bragg areas, excise taxes. What are excise taxes you
wonder? According to the North Carolina General Assembly, excise taxes, or revenue stamps,
“is a tax levied when ownership of real property is conveyed from one person or entity to
another.” This tax rate is $1 for every $500. So for example if your home is purchased for
$300,000, then the tax would be $600 and typically the transferor or (and here’s the important
part) the seller, is responsible for this tax. There has been a recent change of wind and most
builders in our specific area are imposing this tax onto the purchaser, even in this “buyers
market.” This is something to consider when purchasing a new build because this tax will
become part of your closing costs to be paid at closing.

Another item that is popping up recently in our specific area is a capital start up fee. This is
used for any purpose of gathering money for an initial start up. In our case here we are talking
about the monies gathered from the buyer for the creating of the neighborhoods HOA. Why do I
bring this up? Well this, like the excise tax is another item that will be added into the buyer’s
portion of the closing costs and it is something that is becoming more and more popular
amongst builders in the area. While again this fee differs per builder and neighborhood, you will
want to take this into consideration when purchasing a new build. What does the HOA offer?
How much is the capital start up fee? Are there amenities or any future plans for them?
I hope this has helped you in your home buying journey! Each week I will dive into a component
of home buying and selling in the specific areas surrounding Fort Bragg. If you have read thus
far, thank you and I hope you leave feeling a bit more educated and a bit more prepared. Until
next week, stay rad.

Warmly, but not too warm,
Allisha