The Sun-Times on Sunday reported on several new incentive packages available to buyers in the Chicago area. Winthrop Properties is offering 3-2-1 buy-downs for its Printers Corner condominiums, which range in cost from the $280s to $800s. (This time last year, buyers were drawing blind incentives from a hat.) Parking spaces normally priced at $45,000 are going for $5,000 at 200 N. Dearborn; people who buy one- or two-bedroom units at Lakeside Lofts, 2025 – 35 S. Indiana, get a free parking space and $10,000 in interior design upgrades.
But as C.A. Development prez Paul Bertsche reminds buyers in the article, there can be a gulf between perception and reality when it comes to the quality of incentives:
“Buyers can look back at the home’s pricing history. If all of a sudden, you’re being offered $40,000 in upgrades and the house increased in value by $40,000 within the past month, then you’ll know the incentive is questionable,” Bertsche said.