MilesBuzz! - Buying a Home, Getting FF Miles

Does anyone have any experience, good or bad, with using one of the airline partner programs to buy/sell a home? I am getting close to trying to get my first house, and wanted to know if it is worth it to finance/buy through these affiliates. This would be through either UA or AA, as I already have miles on both those programs. Any help/advice/criticism is appreciated.

For more info, try searching the site through Google or ask a moderator for search assistance. I am pretty sure there is one and probably more threads where people are sharing their experience.

About 5 years ago I bought a house through a realtor I contacted through DL's program. Not a bad experience. Since I was new to the area, I really didn't have a good way to evaluate realtors. As the commission is paid by the sellers, getting miles really didn't impact the amount I paid. My goal was to get miles to go New Zealand. Unfortunately, I didn't realize until too late that DL and it partners didn't fly to N. Z. at that time.

When I went to sell the house a little over a year ago, I considered using one of the airline programs (UA I believe). When I contacted UA's RE partner about the program, they asked if there was a specific realtor I wanted them to contact. I selected one that I was considering using (I spoke to her, 6% commission). In evaluating other realtors, I asked one of them who I had contacted directly about working through the airlines. I was told that their firm had a "non-negotiable" policy of 6% commission if a referral came through a third party, such as an airline affiliate, but they would drop the commission to 5% if I didn't go thru a third party. Based on cost benefit (assuming miles about 1.5-2 cents per mile), going with the 5% was the better deal.

If I were buying a house again in an unfamilar area, I would strongly consider working through the airline programs again.

For more info, try searching the site through Google or ask a moderator for search assistance. I am pretty sure there is one and probably more threads where people are sharing their experience.

About 5 years ago I bought a house through a realtor I contacted through DL's program. Not a bad experience. Since I was new to the area, I really didn't have a good way to evaluate realtors. As the commission is paid by the sellers, getting miles really didn't impact the amount I paid. My goal was to get miles to go New Zealand. Unfortunately, I didn't realize until too late that DL and it partners didn't fly to N. Z. at that time.

When I went to sell the house a little over a year ago, I considered using one of the airline programs (UA I believe). When I contacted UA's RE partner about the program, they asked if there was a specific realtor I wanted them to contact. I selected one that I was considering using (I spoke to her, 6% commission). In evaluating other realtors, I asked one of them who I had contacted directly about working through the airlines. I was told that their firm had a "non-negotiable" policy of 6% commission if a referral came through a third party, such as an airline affiliate, but they would drop the commission to 5% if I didn't go thru a third party. Based on cost benefit (assuming miles about 1.5-2 cents per mile), going with the 5% was the better deal.

If I were buying a house again in an unfamilar area, I would strongly consider working through the airline programs again.


You still may want to shop around for an realtor who is willing to rebate his/her commission. Getting back 1% of 3% commission will be far better than getting miles...

P.S. If you are located in NoVa, I could refer you such realtor who will give rebate on his commission...

Does anyone have any experience, good or bad, with using one of the airline partner programs to buy/sell a home? I am getting close to trying to get my first house, and wanted to know if it is worth it to finance/buy through these affiliates. This would be through either UA or AA, as I already have miles on both those programs. Any help/advice/criticism is appreciated.

Even if you do not use a partner Realtor check out all the good financing deals with UA and AA. Gary's web site has a good summary under Finance --> Home Buying.

http://www.freefrequentflyermiles.com/index.htm