> there is a house listed for $294,000. Redfin states you would receive a refund of $904 if you bought the property through them.
People still fall for these marketing gimmicks. If the listed price is $294,000 with a $904 refund then the price is $293096.
The only reason I can find for listing it as two figures (list price + refund) is because it makes the buyer take longer to tell the story about buying their house. "I paid x but got a y refund" has more talking points than "I paid x".
Especially so if the "refund" is applied long after the transaction / settlement has occurred as it now compels you to tell the story again: "I just got my y refund from my house purchase!".
And the agency gets to maintain a slush fund of hundreds of thousands of dollars of pending "refunds".
Marketing.
I thoroughly disagree with these sorts of practices and personally believe they should be regulated out of existence. But people seem to love them, so there's that. And I'm skeptical that more regulation is ever the correct answer to anything. Perhaps.
People still fall for these marketing gimmicks. If the listed price is $294,000 with a $904 refund then the price is $293096.
The only reason I can find for listing it as two figures (list price + refund) is because it makes the buyer take longer to tell the story about buying their house. "I paid x but got a y refund" has more talking points than "I paid x".
Especially so if the "refund" is applied long after the transaction / settlement has occurred as it now compels you to tell the story again: "I just got my y refund from my house purchase!".
And the agency gets to maintain a slush fund of hundreds of thousands of dollars of pending "refunds".
Marketing.
I thoroughly disagree with these sorts of practices and personally believe they should be regulated out of existence. But people seem to love them, so there's that. And I'm skeptical that more regulation is ever the correct answer to anything. Perhaps.