Anyone tried Move-Up America? (Welcome: appliances, buying a home, buying)

[squish102]

I was offered this program? Move-Up America - Welcome to Move-Up America!

If you are selling and buying a to-be-built house, it looks like they will sell your house for a 2% commission as long as they are your agent in your selling and buying of your new home.

Will the current market, does this program still work? I would be interested to hear from anyone that has had experience with this.

Also may be interested to know if you where selling a house for $200K and buying a new one for $400K is the 3% rebate worth it?

Lets see if my math is any good?

5% average commission to be paid on $200K = $10K
Buy new house using a realtor that gives you back 1.5% of $400K = $6K
Net loss is $4K

Using the program, it looks like your commission you will have to pay is 2% of $200K = $4K

So there is probably no difference in commissions. Tips on which way you would go?

Thanks

[TheNewHomeGirl]

I stubbled across this post today and know that it is pretty dated but I did want to clarify for anyone wanting more information and clarity about the Move-Up America programs.

The program benefits through Move-Up America are actually better than you described above as in Texas the total commission to sell your current home through Move-Up America is only 1.5%, and if buying a home outside of Texas it comes out to 2%.

Through the Move-Up America program you get access to work with experienced, professional listing agents who agree to sell your current home for a reduced commission rate of 4.5%. They agree to this drastic reduction from the typical 6% because of the volume of business Move-Up America provides to them.

Additionally, upon the closing of the new home you have built, Move-Up America will rebate you 3% of the 4.5% you paid to sell your home…resulting in a total commission rate of 1.5%. A huge savings and boost to your equity. In your example above you would only pay $3,000 to sell your $200,000 home through Move-Up America….a savings of $9,000 of typical commission rates.

In your comparison above you also assume you can get a traditional realtor to sell your current home for 5% AND give you back half of the new home commission which is probably more than most experienced, professionals would offer. In my experience the Move-Up America program beats traditional or even discounted commission structures by several thousand dollars because of the structure they have leveraged based on volume.

[mooredreamhomes]

In my opinion this is a savvy scam, full of double talking. Just like Las Vegas, the house always wins.
Quite simple, if it sounds too good to be true....it is. As a Realtor we can negotiate with the builders to bring down the price by 3% (hence, the rebate), along with other items like window treatments, sod, appliances, etc. This program makes the buyers sign a non contingency form....which means, if the Move Up Americas "Realtor" doesn't sell their house in the allotted time (3 months) then they lose their earnest money.
Seriously people, go with a sound honest reliable Realtor from a reputable company who can give you good references.