Seller Concessions in San Antonio: What Actually Moves a Sale in Each Market

Concessions are what you give up, other than price, to get the contract executed and closed. In San Antonio right now, with rates where they are and inventory fluctuating by ZIP, the right concession often moves a deal that a $10,000 price cut wouldn't. The wrong one just leaves money on the table.

This is how to think about concessions as a tool — what each one actually does, what they cost you, and which ones matter in the market you're listing into.

What counts as a concession

Everything a seller can offer on TREC 20-17 (One to Four Family Residential Contract (Resale)) or negotiate through TREC 39-9 (Amendment) that isn't the sales price:

• Seller-paid closing costs — a dollar figure or percentage toward the buyer's prepaids, origination, discount points, and escrows.
• Rate buydown — seller funds go to the lender to reduce the buyer's interest rate, either temporarily (2-1 or 3-2-1 buydown) or permanently (discount points).
• Repair credit — negotiated after the inspection and option period, usually via Amendment instead of actually doing the work.
• Owner's title policy — in Texas this is customarily paid by the seller, but the buyer's endorsements and the T-19 are negotiable.
• Survey — if you have an existing survey plus a T-47 Residential Real Property Affidavit, the buyer can usually reuse it. If not, a new survey is $450–$650 in most of Bexar County.
• Home warranty — a first-year policy, typically $550–$750.
• HOA transfer fees and resale certificate — varies wildly; Stone Oak and Alamo Ranch master-planned HOAs can run $400–$800 combined.
• Lease-back — letting you stay post-closing at no charge for a set number of days.
• Appliances, mineral rights, early possession — smaller but real.

All of these hit your net proceeds. The question is which ones the buyer actually values at more than they cost you.

Read the market you're in, not the one you remember

Before deciding what to offer, know the local temperature. Pull SABOR's monthly MLS stats for your submarket (they publish them publicly) and look at three numbers:

• Months of supply. Under 3 is a seller's market. 3–6 is balanced. Over 6 is a buyer's market.
• Median days on market for your price band and ZIP, not for San Antonio as a whole. Alamo Heights (78209) and Stone Oak (78258) move differently than far west 78253 or southeast 78223.
• Close-to-list price ratio. Below 97% means buyers are negotiating hard.

A $325K listing in Schertz (78154) competing with new builds from D.R. Horton offering 5.99% rate locks is in a completely different negotiation than a $750K custom in Terrell Hills with no true comps.

Rate buydowns: the single highest-leverage concession right now

When mortgage rates are high, buyer affordability — not price — is the binding constraint. A 2-1 temporary buydown drops the buyer's effective rate by 2% in year one and 1% in year two before returning to the note rate.

On a $350,000 loan, a 2-1 buydown costs roughly $10,000–$11,000 at closing. For the buyer, that's about $450/month less in year one. A straight $10,000 price cut saves that same buyer roughly $65/month on the payment. The buydown is almost 7x more valuable to them for the same cost to you.

This is why new-home builders across 1604 and on the far west side lean on buydowns and permanent rate specials rather than cutting sticker price. Resale sellers can do the same thing. If your buyer is financing, ask their lender to price a buydown and a permanent 1-point buy of the rate, and offer whichever delivers more perceived value per dollar.

Buydowns only work with financed buyers. Cash buyers (common in the $1M+ segment in Alamo Heights, Olmos Park, and Dominion) don't care — offer them title policy upgrades, survey, or a lease-back instead.

Closing cost credits vs price reductions

A closing cost credit helps the buyer bring less cash to the table. For a buyer who is tight on cash-to-close but qualifies on DTI, $8,000 toward closing costs can be the difference between executing and walking — while the same $8,000 off the price doesn't change their cash problem at all.

Lender caps matter. Conventional loans limit seller concessions to 3% on investment, 6% on primary residence with 10%+ down, 9% with 25%+ down. FHA caps at 6%. VA allows up to 4% for concessions beyond normal closing costs — critical when you're selling to a JBSA-Randolph or Fort Sam buyer using their VA entitlement.

Repair credits after the option period

Buyers in Texas have the unrestricted right to terminate during the option period. What they want after inspection usually isn't repairs — it's cash. Offering a repair credit via TREC 39-9 instead of doing the work yourself almost always nets better:

• You avoid contractor scheduling on your timeline.
• You avoid re-inspection disputes.
• The buyer controls quality and picks their own vendor.

The exception: lender-required repairs on FHA/VA (active roof leaks, exposed wiring, wood rot on an FHA appraisal). Those have to be done and re-inspected before closing, so don't try to credit them.

Concessions by market condition

Market	What actually moves the deal	What's wasted
Seller's market (<3 mo supply)	Flexibility on closing date, lease-back, accepting as-is after option	Rate buydowns, big closing-cost credits
Balanced (3–6 mo)	Rate buydown, $3–6K closing cost credit, home warranty	Premium upgrades, paying buyer's agent above market
Buyer's market (>6 mo)	2-1 buydown, 6% closing cost credit to cap, repair credits, warranty, survey	Small symbolic gestures under $1,000

In a true seller's market — think 78209 under $600K in peak spring — the concession that wins is a 7–14 day lease-back and a clean, as-is response to inspection. In a slow submarket — newer builds in 78254 or 78253 competing with builder incentives — you need to match or beat the builder's rate offer or you stay on market.

What most people get wrong

• Cutting price instead of buying down the rate. A $10K price cut and a $10K buydown cost you the same at closing. The buydown moves affordability roughly 5–7x harder. Default to the buydown on financed deals unless the buyer specifically needs cash-to-close relief.
• Refusing all repair requests on principle. The option period gives the buyer a free exit. Losing a qualified buyer over a $1,200 credit and restarting at a lower price point after 20 more days on market is the expensive move, not the credit.
• Offering concessions upfront in the MLS remarks. "$5,000 seller concession" in the listing resets the buyer's anchor. Hold it for negotiation unless your days-on-market is well past the submarket median and you need to spike traffic.
• Ignoring lender concession caps. Negotiating a 7% credit on a conventional loan with 5% down means the lender will strike most of it at underwriting. Ask the buyer's lender what the cap is before you paper the amendment.
• Paying for a home warranty the buyer didn't ask for. If they didn't request it in the contract, adding it doesn't close the deal — it just reduces your net. Offer it when a marginal buyer is on the fence, not as a default.
• Treating VA buyers like conventional buyers. VA buyers can have the seller pay all their closing costs plus up to 4% in concessions (including funding fee, prepaids, even debt payoff). JBSA is a massive buyer pool — know the rules before countering.
• Not getting a T-47 affidavit signed. If you have a recent survey, a signed T-47 usually lets the buyer reuse it and saves a $500+ new survey. Sellers skip this and then "concede" the survey cost they didn't have to.

Run the net sheet before you counter

Every concession is a line item on your closing statement. Before countering anything, have your agent run an updated seller's net sheet with the concession baked in. The question isn't "can I afford this concession" — it's "does this concession net me more than the next buyer will after another 30 days on market."

If you're prepping to list, or staring at an offer wondering which concessions are worth countering on, RentInSA has a seller's playbook at /resources and a directory of local listing agents at /agents who price and negotiate in Bexar County every week. You can also list FSBO at /list-your-home if you want to run the concession math yourself.