Free granite countertops, swimming pools and landscaping aren’t going to convince anyone who’s afraid of losing a job to buy a home. But what about a promise to pay your mortgage if you get laid off?

It started in the auto industry when ads started popping up from dealers promising to make your car payment for a year if you lost your job.

With the unemployment rate at a 26-year high and home sales still in the dumps, a growing number of homebuilders and even some real estate agents are trying to coax buyers with a kind of mortgage unemployment insurance similar to what the auto industry has been offering for a few weeks now.

It’s not a nationwide thing (YET), but where it is being offered, builders can pay anywhere from $450 to $900 per customer for the coverage. Some absorb the cost as they would any other sales promotion, while others pass it on to buyers.

Some real estate firms also are getting into the act, with plans that pay up to $2,500 to cover the full mortgage payment, including taxes and insurance, for six months, should you lose your job.

Do incentives like this make you think twice about buying a home during these troubled times? We’d be curious to hear your thoughts on this idea that is just now starting to take hold in some parts of the country. Leave us your comment by clicking the comment link below.

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Best Buyer’s Broker Realty is an Exclusive Buyer Agent specializing in Long Island real estate (Nassau and Suffolk properties) and neighboring Queens County properties.

We don’t take any seller listings (yet we have more homes for you to see than most agents) and never have any potential conflict of interest like other agents who also represent sellers. We represent buyers only, 100% of the time. We can show you more homes for sale because we have access to MLS, FSBOs, Exclusives (homes that agents try to keep secret), foreclosures and homes not on the market that may be of interest to you.

We are not your traditional real estate agent. Our goal is to advise and protect home buyers and help them obtain the lowest price and best terms on their dream home. Call us at 516-887-6901 to see how we can help you save time and money. Or visit our sites at www.bestbuyerbroker.com or www.bestbuyersbroker.com

According to survey results from a poll conducted for one of the large real estate franchise companies, potential first-time U.S. buyers said they are likely to buy a home in the next two years.

Record low mortgage rates and a new first-time homebuyer tax credit are large incentives, despite obstacles that include greater difficulty getting loans approved.

All of the 1,000 potential U.S. homebuyers surveyed in an online survey said they were likely to buy a house for the first time in the next two years.

More than three-quarters of those polled said this is a good time to buy a home, and almost 70 percent said now is a better time than six months ago, and more than three-quarters of those polled said the $8,000 federal tax credit makes them more likely to buy a house in the next six months.

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Best Buyer’s Broker Realty is an Exclusive Buyer Agent specializing in Long Island real estate (Nassau and Suffolk properties) and neighboring Queens County properties.

We don’t take any seller listings (yet we have more homes for you to see than most agents) and never have any potential conflict of interest like other agents who also represent sellers. We represent buyers only, 100% of the time. We can show you more homes for sale because we have access to MLS, FSBOs, Exclusives (homes that agents try to keep secret), foreclosures and homes not on the market that may be of interest to you.

We are not your traditional real estate agent. Our goal is to advise and protect home buyers and help them obtain the lowest price and best terms on their dream home. Call us at 516-887-6901 to see how we can help you save time and money. Or visit our sites at www.bestbuyerbroker.com or www.bestbuyersbroker.com