Yes, we’ve talked about it before, but we revisit the buyer incentive again — this time builders/developers offering a price guarantee to push would-be home buyers off the fence. Read on:

LIVERMORE — In the housing industry builders and buyers have been at a stalemate. Who wants to buy when the price might go down? And while builders need to sell their homes, they also needed a way to convince buyers. So in this game of chicken, builders have pulled off the road and are offering price guarantees to sweeten the deal.

While other builders like KB Home and Taylor Morrison will lower the price of a home if it sells for less to someone else before the close of escrow, other companies are going further to get people off the proverbial fence.

Apparently, Signature Properties is attempting a two-year price “guarantee.” Is it worth it? I think not. There are too many caveats to the two-year guarantee: the guarantee only works with a home sale within two years, if the local office is still open and offering the same home plan and provided the seller can supply original paperwork with the resale price.

And, as PPIC research fellow, Jed Kolko points out, the point is moot if the company goes under. So, at best, it’s a minimal guarantee and shouldn’t be enough to make you buy a home — only slightly influence your decision, as it did with the woman in my story, Pamela Puro.

Puro decided on the two-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath town home because of the location, and was attracted to the floor plan which gave her plenty of storage and a bathroom on the main floor so guests don’t have to travel upstairs. While the Live Secure program was an added value, she said she bought the home because it made sense for her.

“It sounded nice, but I was really already going down that road,” she said.