Philip Cowan takes a look at some of the Christmas incentives builders are offering potential homebuyers

IN the run up to Christmas, many house builders put on their Father Christmas outfits and wrap

their homes in special offers for potential buyers.

Last weekend, Wilcon was due to hold what it called an incentive weekend at its Birch Meadow development in Wishaw. This sounds very much like a repackaged sales pitch, but beneath the hype, which may arouse more suspicion than interest, there is something genuinely worth considering. At Birch Meadow, Wilcon is offering #2000 of designer soft furnishing and have a part-exchange scheme for your old house.

The exact details of part exchange plans vary not only from company to company, but development to development, so an in-depth discussion with the sales staff is essential.

Iona Jack and her partner took advantage of such a deal in Cumbernauld last year, when they were finding it difficult to sell their old home.

Living in a two-bedroom masionette flat, they wanted to buy a detached house, with a garden and a garage. Jack has a degree in music and is a member of the Glasgow University Chapel choir. She enjoys playing the piano and singing, which was not always appreciated by her neighbours.

Jack says: ''We had had our flat on the market, valued at #27,000, for about seven months but nothing in that area was moving. It was a great flat, but it was just in the wrong place.''

Jack and her partner, Douglas McDowall, reserved a Barratt house

on the Carrick Stone Meadows estate after taking a Sunday walk to the

development.

Barratt agreed to a part exchange deal, offering #25,000 for their flat, when they decided that they wanted to buy a three-bedroom house, selling for #85,000, minus the #25,000 for their old flat. The house, in Barratt's Chelmsford style, also came with a further #2000 settlement discount.

As well as the financial incentives, the couple had their new home carpeted and their front garden turfed.

''It was really easy, so easy I was expecting something to go wrong, but it all went remarkably smoothly,'' she says.

''The house was not even completed but they finished it a couple of weeks early for us to fit in with Douglas' work. It is the best move we ever made.''

Jack says that Barratt finally sold their old flat for #24,995 with a #250 cash back incentive to the new owner.

Barratt also offers 5% deposits and two years interest on certain homes.

If you are fortunate enough to catch the last few houses on a development, you can often find that the builders are keen to sell up and ship out, and so are prepared to drop the price on the homes that are left.

Tulloch Homes has knocked #4000 off its Devon properties at the Castlegate development in Cambuslang, bringing the price down to #69,999 for the last few three-bedroom houses there.

Mindful of the popularity of non-terrestrial and foreign channels, buyers of a Persimmon home at Dunalister Rise in Chapelhall can buy their new home with a Sky digital system installed, complete with a decoding box, a 28-inch television and a full year's subscription to Sky for those who finalise their purchase

a week before Christmas. This package is also available at several other

Persimmon sites across Scotland.

Tilbury Douglas has launched what it calls its Millennium Madness package of extras, which includes: full part exchange or a 5% deposit; stamp duty paid; legal fees, up to #1000, paid; carpets and turfed front and rear gardens.

The offer is available after January 1 at a number of Tilbury Douglas sites, including Loch Park in Cumbernauld; Calder Gardens in Broomhouse, Glasgow; Forest Park, Eliburn, Livingston; Southpark Gardens, Hamilton; the Oval, Paisley and Glen View, Kilmarnock.

Wimpey Homes is offering 100% part exchange on selected plots at Northcroft Park in Ayr, Hayward Park in Carluke and Brookfields in Robroyston

At Brookfields, first time buyers can take advantage of Wimpey's 5% deposit paid offer, which includes free carpets and #500 towards legal fees. This also applies to the few remaining three-bedroom, semi-detached Practica homes from Wimpey at its Avonlea Gate estate in Hamilton.

Tay is also offering a part exchange or 5% deposit on selected properties. In addition it is currently running a ''home of the week'' promotion. At every Tay development a specific plot will be designated the house of the week and will be reduced in price by up to #9000, subject to legal completion by Christmas. Tay Homes has developments in: Carluke; Kilwinning; Blantyre; Hallside; Calderbank; Peebles; Bathgate; Topontbank and Dalgety Bay.

At Miller Homes' Kittoch Field detached villa development in West Mains Road, East Kilbride, there is only one home left for sale. The four-bedroom Beauly Villa comes complete with carpets, blinds and landscaped garden.

If you can move in before December 17, Miller is offering a #5000 discount off the selling price of #135,000 and may take your old home in part-exchange.