Incentives Help Agent Sell Homes in Orange County

Orange County real estate agent Richard Jenkins couldn’t sell a Laguna Niguel home that had been on the market for seven months, so he bought airline tickets to Fiji.

The seven-day, all-expense-paid vacation wasn’t for Jenkins. It was for the agent who led him to a buyer for the $300,000 home.

“The owners had reduced the price several times, but we decided we had to do something to grab attention,” said Jenkins, an agent with the Irvine office of Grubb & Ellis.

His plan worked, but the agent who orchestrated the sale of the house opted for tickets to Hawaii instead, Jenkins said.

Incentives are a growing part of the real estate game, especially in Orange County where sales have been sluggish after last year’s rapid growth.

“Quite a few people are giving bonuses such as all-expense paid trips or a better split with the agent on the commission to generate a sale,” said Frank Hill, president of the Irvine Board of Realtors.

Incentives, such as plane tickets or the payment of certain closing costs, were created to generate enthusiasm over properties that aren’t selling, but agents wonder if they are effective.

“I don’t think a person will buy a house merely because they will receive closing costs,” said Buck Panchal, a consultant with the Meyers Group, a Corona-based real estate consulting and marketing firm.

“People are doing it to get people’s attention, to get realtors excited. But I don’t think it’s an effective way to market a property,” said Paul Yoder, a senior vice president at Grubb & Ellis’s San Clemente office.

But Barbara J. Reilly, a senior marketing consultant at Grubb & Ellis, disagrees.

“Incentives encourage more showings,” she said.

Ms. Reilly is representing an owner who is offering a $1,000 cash bonus to the agent who brings in a buyer for a $259,000 2-bedroom, 2-bath condominium in Irvine.

“Right now, there is just so much inventory,” she said. “There’s probably 50 listings of two bedroom condos in Irvine in the $250,000 range. There’s quite a bit to choose from, so I have to do everything I can to promote it.”