Home sellers offering full refund when they die

By AMY MCCONNELL SCHAARSMITH
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Monday, October 29, 2007

When the housing market slows, some home sellers drop their asking price. Others give buyers allowances to cover the cost of upgrades or offer help with financing.

Bob and Ricki Husick came up with a more creative twist: Whoever buys their four-bedroom, 3 1/2-bath home in Pine, Pa. would get their money back after the Husicks die.

Not only that, but if the buyers are willing to care for the Husicks in their old age, they could also inherit the Husicks' retirement home in Arizona for a total estate now worth about $500,000. The couple has no heirs.

"Why not go for the works? So if we're worth $2.5 million, you get it all," said Husick, 55, a former Wachovia mortgage broker who would like to continue working after he and his wife move to Arizona.

"That's one way you get a built-in child or a built-in someone to care."

Of course, the value of the estate could erode, too, depending on the Husicks' fortunes and the cost of their long-term care. But Husick points out that he began saving for retirement at age 21, and he's willing to let the buyers write the will to ensure they inherit the Husicks' assets.

"We don't want you to think we're trying to trick you," he said. "You draw it up and we'll sign it."

If buyers prefer a more conventional arrangement, the Husicks are willing to sell their home, without any strings, for $399,900. The house, which the couple is selling themselves, has been on the market for 11 months.

The Husicks' novel incentive is just one example of the ploys -- from sending buyers on vacation to giving them a new plasma TV -- that sellers sometimes use to move their homes in a sluggish real estate market.

Nationwide, sales of existing homes fell 8 percent in September, the largest decline in records kept since 1999, according to the National Association of Realtors. Median prices for homes have fallen in 13 of the past 14 months.

One Cleveland Heights, Ohio seller is offering buyers a two-year lease on a Honda Civic. Another in Canton, Ohio, will throw in tickets to an Ohio State football game, according to Howard "Hoddy" Hanna, CEO of Howard Hanna Real Estate Services.

In Pittsburgh, meanwhile, a seller is offering to sell her home completely furnished. In the past, local sellers have offered round-trip plane tickets for buyers to go on vacation, cars and plasma TVs.

"Gimmicks create attention, which means more viewers and more activity. Then again, the buyer may say 'Take the price of the car out of the sales price,'" Hanna said.

Helen Sosso, president of Prudential Preferred Realty and co-owner of a Prudential affiliate in West Palm Beach, Fla., said real estate gimmicks aren't common here.

"In Florida, you see all kinds of things happen, but Pittsburgh is still a relatively stable market."

The Husicks' offer is certainly unusual, said attorney John Cook, who specializes in estates and trusts for the Pittsburgh law firm Cook & Tate.

"Holy mackerel! This is unbelievable," Cook said when told of the Husicks' proposal. "You can make a contract to will the assets, so it would be a binding contract, but of course there's no guarantee that there will be anything of value left in his estate at the time of his death."

To protect themselves, Cook said, would-be buyers would have to write stipulations into the will that the Husicks not give away large portions of their estate, and not place the estate into joint ownership with anyone other than the buyer.

Because the Husicks are trying to sell the home themselves -- and because Husick was in the mortgage business -- they would like potential buyers to prequalify for a loan before making an appointment to see the house. Potential buyers would need to show liquid assets of $200,000.

Husick admits his offer is a little quirky. He'd rather just sell the house in the usual way.

"If you want to buy the house and you don't want the $500,000, you don't have to have it," he said. "We'll find someone else to take it."