(WHAS11) - Some economists say the housing market was the catalyst for this current economic crisis.
And the housing market still hasn't fully recovered.
But a local broker is using a new tactic to make sure that "sold" sign goes up in front of homes.
His pitch is to buy a house through his agency and he'll give you cash back.
When it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.
But a Bardstown broker says he is the real deal. So WHAS11 checked it out to see if there was a catch.
Some say now is the time to buy when it comes to housing.
The federal government is offering a tax credit of $8,000 for first-time homebuyers.
One Bardstown broker says he has a bailout offer of his own.
"As long as people need to buy homes, I'm gonna offer that rebate and I offer that anywhere in the state of Kentucky," says Rick Molyneaux of Kentucky Home Reality.
Broker Rick Molyneaux says that when a buyer lets him write the offer for a house, they will get 25% of his commission.
And when it's time to close on the house, the buyers get a check-no strings attached.
"The buyer is sitting there with nothing so I thought wouldn't it be nice if everybody was able to get money at closing," says Molyneaux.
He says before the recession, he did the same rebate offer but it was only 10% of the commission.
Now he's upped that to 25%.
He says so far this year, he rebated between $10,000 and $15,000.
"I'm on track this year to double what I did last year and I had 8% of the market last year," says Molyneaux.
WHAS11 talked to people who've taken advantage of the rebate and they say there is no catch.
"It was in a check form right there. There was no mailing, no waiting, no anything so that really helped us out," says Bardstown resident Stephanie Ray.
"It is legal to do this now through the Real Estate Commission and I get excited on helping people get a home," says Molyneaux.
We did a Google search and other realtors across the country are offering similar deals.
