BETHANY BEACH — A local Realtor and mortgage company are teaming up to put a new spin on an old selling strategy.

The slowing real estate market has led many real estate agents to convince homeowners to slash prices to attract buyers. But Layton Associates and Gateway Funding have come up with a different method — cutting interest rates.

Last week, the two agencies joined together to cut interest rates for the first year on a home in Lewes. The strategy is new to Sussex County.

“We just came up and said, how about if we change it a little, put an interest rate or something that catches someone’s eye,” said Jeff Schude, a loan officer with Gateway Funding in Milton. “If we can show a prospective buyer they’re going to save $400 or $500 a month in the first year, that’s a big deal for them.”

Schude had the idea and then distributed e-mails to local Realtors. One of the recipients, Monte Carey from Layton Associates, called him back.

“The e-mail said, ‘We can sell this house for you,’ ” Carey said. “That kind of caught my eye, you know. I’m always up for anything new.”

The ranch-style home is located in the Oak Crest Farms development in Lewes and is listed at $369,900. The rate for the first year is 4.125 percent and 6.125 percent every year after that. Savings in that first year amounts to $409.35 per month.

“It’s basically a price reduction in a different way,” Carey said, noting that the interest rate reduction might be more attractive for a home buyer than a price reduction. “You can save money in the first year because that’s the hardest time for you to get used to your mortgage payments.”

The most common strategies to sell a home are price reductions and home renovations, but this is one of many unique sales approaches from Realtors who are anxious to sell property.

“The market is slowing down. Buyers are in the driver’s seat, frankly,” Stephen Lefebvre, executive vice president of the Home Builders Association of Delaware, said in a previous interview. “Prices are competitive and interest rates are still affordable. It’s a buyer’s market.”

Source:

http://www.dailytimesonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070312/BUSINESS/703120321