To reach out-of-state buyers, Arizona homebuilder Camelot Homes recently ran a "Fly and Buy" incentive that covered traveling expenses. In Texas, meanwhile, Highland Homes offered buyers a free generator -- just in time for hurricane season.

Both of those promotions are now over, but they are prime examples of how far homebuilders are going these days to move product. Many are still offering exceptional deals, especially on homes that are move-in ready.

“While many builders ramped up promotions in the spring and summer, fall is often the best time for buyers to find deals,” according to BUILDER, a trade publication.

Ali Wolf, chief economist at Zonda, a new-construction consultancy, says that while "there's nothing new about incentives," today's discounts “are more pervasive across projects, and the dollar amount as a percent of home prices continues to rise.” Even so, sales are not always living up to expectations. Wolf said that some markets are underperforming despite the giveaways.

According to the National Association of Home Builders’ latest tally, two-thirds of builders everywhere were offering some kind of incentive in August. For the most part, they are throwing in free upgrades, helping with closing costs, discounting prices or buying down their buyers’ mortgage rates. Some are offering to delay buyers’ mortgage payments, match any future price reductions or buy back the house at its original price.

As compiled by the trade journal, here are some of the best deals from builders across the country. Starting with national offers:

-- K. Hovnanian Homes is proffering generous price cuts on select "quick move-ins" in various communities. In one Florida property, the discount is almost $130,000.

-- LGI Homes is offering a zero-down incentive at several communities.

-- Taylor Morrison is offering no-interest payments for the first seven months at several markets.

-- M/I Homes is offering to buy down buyers’ mortgage rates, pay their closing costs and provide free design upgrades.

On a market-by-market basis, says BUILDER, companies are responding to high loan rates, high prices and a shaky economy with “a growing array of incentives to help buyers move forward.” Here are some local offers, as compiled by the magazine:

-- Atlanta. Toll Brothers is discounting prices from $25,000 to $56,000 at several projects. Lennar has dropped prices from $25,000 to $100,000 at two locations. Buyers at Beazer Homes receive $50,000 to spend any way they like. And Smith Douglas Homes is offering a low-rate mortgage with no closing costs.

-- Austin. For houses priced in the mid-$300,000s, Lennar has lowered prices by up to $73,000 in three locations. And for houses priced from the high $200,000s, Meritage Homes has slashed prices by as much as $75,000 on move-in ready houses. KB Home has discounted prices from $25,000 to $35,000 at several communities in the city’s higher-end market. Toll Brothers will trim up to $112,000 off its $1 million houses at one location.

-- Charlotte, North Carolina. Lennar has sheared prices by up to $55,000 in numerous communities. And in one neighborhood, David Weekley Homes is giving buyers 1% of the house price to use as closing costs, plus $20,000 as a discount or for closing costs.

-- Dallas. Beazer will buy down mortgage rates for four years, while KB Home and Lennar are offering price cuts up to $60,000. Elsewhere in Texas: In San Antonio, PulteGroup will give quick-move-in buyers a 4.25% mortgage rate, as well as half off design options (up to $30,000) and 6% toward closing costs.

-- Orlando. Discounts here span a wide range, the magazine reports. At one Beazer location, for example, buyers who can close right away can combine price concessions with closing-cost offers up to $73,000.

-- Raleigh, North Carolina. At one grand opening, Profile Homes is giving the first 13 buyers in one community $13,000 for closing costs, plus a washer, dryer, refrigerator, window blinds, backsplash and luxury vinyl plank flooring on the first level.

-- Washington, D.C., area. Richmond American Homes has slashed prices “on a few homes” at one location by $100,000, while Lennar is slicing prices at its townhouse property in Charles County in suburban Maryland by up to $71,500.

They’ll continue to open new projects, she says, but “they're not going to be as aggressive” about starting houses until they have a sales contract in hand. She calls it "a big lesson learned from past cycles."

Homeowners eager for mortgage rates to dip so they can refinance their places may have to wait quite a bit longer.

A study from Neighbors Bank says folks whose current loans are in the 6.5%-7% range would have to wait for rates to drop by at least three-quarters of a percentage point before they would see any significant savings.

It costs money to refinance; the amount depends on the lender. But the exercise makes sense only if you plan to remain in the house -- and keep the new loan -- for longer than it takes to recoup that expense in the form of monthly savings.

For example, if it costs $4,000 to refi but you save $200 a month in doing so, it would take 20 months to break even. After that, you’re saving money. But if you plan to sell before that, refinancing is a waste.

You can do your own math -- and you should, perhaps before you buy the house in the first place. It seems many recent buyers are betting the house, wagering that rates will come down soon.

A survey of 1,000 buyers by Truework, a platform that delivers verification reports to lenders, found that more than half are buying now in hopes that rates will soon come down enough to refi.

“Today’s homebuyers are increasingly desperate for a return to lower interest rates,” said the company’s Victor Kabdebon. He warns that buying now and just hoping for a rate decrease “could be a very risky move if it doesn’t happen -- and most analysts predict it will not anytime soon.”

The general rule of thumb is that you should be able to recover your costs from a refi within two years. The Neighbors Bank study gave it a more liberal three years, and still found it would take a drop of at least 0.6 points before refinancing would deliver clear gains in that time frame.

The bank based its findings on this scenario: a homeowner with a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage at 6.8% and a loan amount of $386,339. It would cost $5,458 in loan fees and closing costs to refinance at a lower rate.

If this fictional borrower refinanced after rates fell just 0.25 points, they’d still be in the hole $2,424 after 36 months. That is, they'd still be out of pocket more than they'd saved.

With a half-point decline, they’d break even in just over three years; with a drop of 0.75 points, they break even in just under three years. But if rates slid by a full percentage point, they’d recoup the cost in 20 months -- and after three years, they'd net a savings of $4,764.

“Many assume that any drop in rates is enough to justify refinancing, but the math tells a different story,” said Jake Vehige, president of mortgage lending at Neighbors Bank. “Unless you’re seeing a significant drop, refinancing may not make sense right away.”

Vehige points out that refinancing "isn’t just about the rate. It’s about how long you plan to stay in your home, how much you pay up front, and where you live."

To his last point, high-cost housing markets tend to offer the highest five-year savings because larger loan amounts magnify the impact of even a small rate cut. Based on Neighbors' analysis, people in every state eventually break even if they keep the new mortgage for five years. But the amount saved depends greatly on location.

For example, borrowers in New Hampshire, with an average loan amount of $430,247, net nearly $3,000 more in five-year savings after refinancing at a 0.5-point rate drop than those in Louisiana, who have an average loan amount of $252,075.

Savings also vary with the type of loan you have and its duration. Borrowers with shorter-term loans, and with conventional mortgages, tend to realize refinance savings more quickly. Those with 15-year mortgage holders break even faster and accumulate more savings than those with 30-year loans when rates drop by the same amount, the Neighbors Bank study found.

A 15-year loan requires larger monthly payments, but saves significantly on interest over the loan’s term. That advantage carries over to refinancing because 15-year borrowers pay down principal faster and, therefore, recoup their refinancing costs much sooner.

With a half-point rate drop, for example, a typical 15-year borrower would see $1,350 in net savings after three years, while a 30-year borrower would still be $184 in the red.

Refinancing conventional loans also outperforms government-backed FHA, VA and USDA mortgages, largely because of lower insurance premiums and fewer associated fees.

With a government loan, borrowers trade lower upfront costs for higher interest expenses over the life of the loan, the study says. With a refinance, that trade-off carries through. Conventional borrowers generally realize greater long-term savings, while government-backed borrowers see more up-front relief but smaller cumulative gains.

There are other reasons, of course, to refinance. If you want to access equity you’ve built up in the house, lower your monthly payment by extending your loan’s term, or switch from an adjustable-rate to a fixed-rate loan, refinancing might make sense.

But if you are contemplating doing so purely to save money, do the math. It may surprise you. Says Neighbors Bank, “Modest rate improvements still require a multiyear commitment before refinancing truly offsets” the cost.

One of the most difficult parts of beginning a home improvement project is comparing bids from various contractors. It’s almost impossible.

The reason: Contractor quotes are rarely “apples to apples.” One might be incomplete, leaving out critical information, while another is so detailed that you can’t nail down the scope of the project. One might be casually scrawled on the back of an envelope, while another comes on formal letterhead. Yet they’re all from reputable firms that do good work.

Here comes BidCompareAI, a new tool powered by artificial intelligence that analyzes and compares multiple contractor bids. In minutes, it generates a clear, line-by-line report that standardizes each proposal so you can avoid expensive confusion. It identifies missing items, unrealistic allowances and other red flags before any work begins.

On the flip side, it allows contractors to quote with confidence, negotiate smarter, close deals faster and protect their bottom lines. Best of all, it is free!

Every year, renovation projects are derailed by hidden blunders, vague language and inconsistent contractor bids, pushing 78% of jobs over budget and forcing two-thirds of homeowners into debt, according to Clever Real Estate. Even pros like property managers and flippers struggle to assess and compare bids.

BidCompareAI promises to turn confusing, inconsistent bids into clear, side-by-side insights. It allows homeowners to upload multiple bids and get a quick, detailed report comparing the scope and pricing of each one. No sign-up or payment is required.

The platform “adds instant transparency and clarity ... saving people from costly mistakes before a project even starts,” brags Jon Grishpul, co-founder of GreatBuildz, the Los Angeles-based company that developed the program. It also serves as a “credibility tool” for contractors that streamlines communication, builds trust and helps win more business, he says.

BidCompareAI is still in beta testing, but is up and live on the GreatBuildz website. Homeowners have to upload the details of each proposal separately to the site, but it’s not as cumbersome as it sounds: All you need to do is take screenshots of the bids, turn them into PDF files and upload them.

From there, the platform “reads” through the quotes, compares each one and pinpoints what’s missing. Then, if you are still interested in a particular proposal, you can ask the contractor to fill in the blanks.

Eventually, Grishpul hopes, the system will become even simpler to use. “It’s going to be a constant journey to make the platform as easy and as effective as possible,” he promises.

While GreatBuildz is a homeowner-contractor matching service operating solely in California, BidCompareAI is national in scope with no humans in the loop. Grishpul promises the tool is “thoroughly reliable,” having been vetted by numerous contractors.

One issue with many contractors’ proposals is that they omit key parts of the job -- sometimes purposefully. If you are remodeling your kitchen, for example, what’s the charge for removing the old cabinets, taking the debris to the dump and cleaning up afterwards?

BidCompareAI catches these and other omissions so you’re not hit with an extra (and often hefty) charge when the work is complete.

Then there’s the fine print: You never read it, but it can come back to bite you in the end. For instance, what if you buy the materials on your own at the local big box store? Who’s going to pay to have the stuff picked up or delivered?

Vague, ambiguous terms are another difficulty: “Fixtures” and “materials” can mean almost anything. The AI tool flags such terms so you can ask for specifics upfront -- specifics you may not even have considered in the beginning.

Sometimes one proposal comes in at a much lower price than all the others. Lowball bids often mean the contractor will cut corners or catch you later with numerous change orders or other charges they “failed” to include in the original bid. BidCompareAI exposes such offers so you can make the contractor come back with more details.

Moreover, contractors sometimes quote different prices for the exact same product -- say, a shower enclosure from the same manufacturer. The AI platform compares each item side by side so you can see what kind of profit margins, if any, the contractor is adding to their cost.

Quality is another discrepancy found in many competing bids. One might specify top-of-the-line cabinet doors, for instance, while another fails to mention their quality at all. The AI tool flags the differences so you know exactly what you are paying for.

Hidden fees lurk in many proposals. Fees to secure the necessary building permits, for example, are sometimes left out or bundled with other charges. But BidCompareAI reveals them in its line-by-line summary reports.

“Lots of things are lumped together under the heading of ‘profit and overhead,’” says Grishpul. “But sometimes they are separate charges. You’ll want to know who is responsible for them.”

The platform also finds duplicate charges that mysteriously make their way into a bid so you won’t be paying twice for the same work or product. And it identifies vague or missing timelines that, if left unaddressed, can lead to costly delays and overruns. “If timelines aren’t priced,” Grishpul warns, “there is no accountability.”