Homebuilders add on freebies as once-booming US markets cool

Boston

JOSEPH Beben wasn't in the market for a house until he heard about a year-old community in suburban Phoenix, Arizona, where 10 homebuilders are offering buyers incentives such as swimming pools, built-in barbecue pits and subsidised mortgage rates.

Mr Beben, 33, a general manager at Best Buy, visited three of the sales offices flanking the main corridor of The Bridges at Gilbert, whose 17 subdivisions are among the about 200 locally that have opened since early last year. He settled on Woodside Homes' community within The Bridges after the builder agreed to cover as much as US$10,000 of his closing costs, and throw in another extra he liked.

"When I saw this deal, it looked like a good business decision," said Mr Beben, who will pay US$332,000 for a 3,000-square-foot (280-square-metre) house scheduled to be…