By Brad Roche, The Mortgage Planner

The power dynamic in housing just shifted, and the numbers prove it. In August, 45 percent of home sellers gave buyers concessions, from closing costs to repair money. Even Lennar, the nation's second-largest homebuilder, now spends 12 percent of a home's value on incentives like rate buydowns.

Read that again. Nearly half of sellers are paying buyers to buy.

What this means if you are buying around Charlotte

For three years, buyers here had to beg. Waived inspections, appraisal gaps, bidding wars in Davidson and Cornelius. Those days are fading. Listings are sitting longer from Lake Norman to Summerville, sellers are negotiating credits instead of cutting prices, and new construction communities are advertising incentives openly.

A concession is leverage, but only if you spend it right. Most buyers take it as a price reduction or closing cost credit and move on. The sharper play right now is converting that seller money into a 2-1 buydown: your rate drops roughly 2 percent in year one and 1 percent in year two, which can cut your payment by hundreds a month when it matters most.

On a $400,000 purchase, $16,000 in seller concessions as a price cut saves you about $87 a month. The same $16,000 as a 2-1 buydown saves you around $884 a month in year one. Same seller, same concession, wildly different outcome.

What this means if you are selling

Pricing it right the first time beats chasing the market down. And if your home is sitting, a concession credit toward the buyer's rate buydown will usually beat another price cut. It costs you the same and the buyer feels it ten times more.

The bottom line

Sellers blinking is the market telling you something. Buyers have negotiating power they have not had in years. Use it on the rate, not just the price.

If you are buying this fall anywhere from Charlotte to Charleston, let us run the buydown math on your deal before you make the offer.