Yes, the federal home buyer’s tax credit of up to $8,000 has officially ended, but Coldwell Banker has decided to help home buyers and sellers by continuing this bonus program on their own until the end of July.

Coldwell Banker calls is a “Buyer Bonus Sales Event” and it works like this: Coldwell Banker will offer a credit of 3% to buyers who purchase a home through Coldwell Banker. The most credit a buyer can recieve is $8,000 in most states and $10,000 in California. This credit is available to all home buyers (not just first time home buyers) where the seller has agreed to participate in the program. The contract with Coldwell Banker must be signed by the end of July, but the actual closing deadline can be later.

Coldwell Banker hopes the Buyer Bonus program will help increase home sales and keep stimulating the economy while it also helps promote their own homes and services. Any seller that partipates in the program with Coldwell Banker will have their homes marked so that they stand out on the Coldwell Banker website. Potential buyers can also search the Coldwell Banker site exclusively for home sellers that are participating in the program.

How does the Coldwell Banker Buyer Bonus Sales program work?

The Buyer Bonus Sales Event being offered by Coldwell Banker is not exactly a true credit of any sort. Essentially, Coldwell Banker is asking home sellers to lower their asking price by $8,000 and then that $8,000 credit is being applied to the price of the house for the buyer. Obviously, this may not be a great option if you are a seller who is upside-down and looking to short sale your house. Even more interesting, Coldwell Banker real estate agents will reportedly collect their fees based on the price of the home before the 3% (or $8,000) price reduction. This means that Coldwell Banker is asking its sellers to drop their prices and then collecting higher listing fees.

For home buyers this could be a good opportunity, but it’s clearly not a great program for the Coldwell Banker home sellers looking to get top dollar for their house. While almost all home sales have a fair bit of negotiation thrown into the process, the idea of marketing reduced prices as a “home buyer credit” seems a little misleading. Neither Coldwell Banker nor the real estate agents working for Coldwell Banker are contributing their own finances to fund the advertised “Buyer Bonus” program.