CONTENTS

  • Custom Fit
    Credit products come in many flavors. Knowing how to match them to potential clients can go a long way toward getting the go-ahead on the sale.
  • Same-as-Cash Financing
    Deferred interest or "same-as-cash" credit promotions can be an effective way for remodelers and replacement contractors to increase sales, but only if customers understandthe terms and the salespeople are onboard.

ABOUT THE WRITER

Charlie Wardell is a writer and editor who has been covering residential building for more than 16 years. He has worked as a staff editor for REMODELING's sister publications, BUILDER and THE JOURNAL OF LIGHT CONSTRUCTION, and has freelanced for most of the leading industry publications. He currently lives in Vineyard Haven, Mass.

Illustrations by David Plunkert

More Options It's getting more competitive out there every day. In the face of stiffer competition, remodeling companies need to use all of the tools available to them to help make the sale.

Offering financing might be just the thing to give you the edge over all of the other companies competing for homeowners' business. That's especially true now that rising interest rates and declining home appreciation have made cash-out refinancing a less palatable option.

If financing is something you've never thought much about, keep reading. Our lead feature, “Custom Fit,” is a primer on what kind of financing products are available and how they match up with different customer types. “Same-as-Cash” takes an in-depth look at what it takes to make a zero-percent financing offer work — and what might cause it to backfire. Finally, in “Second Chance,” we provide answers about subprime lending. The mortgage crisis in the housing markets is a special case, but second-tier financing isn't as risky as all the headlines make it seem.

If you're looking for a way to get a leg up in today's tighter market, adding financing to your offering might just do the trick.

Sal Alfano, Editorial Director [email protected]

Editor's note: This bound-in special section is unusual because advertisements for finance companies appear adjacent to editorial. All of the articles, however, were independently conceived, researched, and written by our editors.