Mike and Crystal Green couldn’t have picked a worse time to look for a new home. In mid-February, Mike was offered a promotion to be regional sales manager at Chatsworth Products, a computer security company. The catch was the couple would need to relocate from California to the Houston area by April 1.

The Greens accepted an offer on their West Sacramento, CA, home two days after it went on the market in early March. But by then, the Greens didn’t feel safe flying to Texas to check out houses given the coronavirus pandemic. States across the country were urging workers to stay home if possible and practice social distancing when out in public to combat the spread of the coronavirus.

That wound up working in their favor. The Greens went online and took a virtual tour of a home they liked. It was in a new development with more than 300 homes in the Houston suburb of Conroe, TX, called Grand Central Park. They spoke with the sales representative for builder Drees Homes and were able to choose custom details—and got a discount on a home originally listed at $420,000. The 2,800-square-foot, four-bedroom, 3.5-bathroom house is located in one of the nation’s hottest markets.

If they closed in March, the builder would throw in a free Whirlpool refrigerator, washer, and dryer worth about $7,000 as well.

The Greens, it turns out, have plenty of company on the receiving end of a wave of aggressive incentives for buyers of new construction. With a global health crisis raging and the ensuing financial fallout resulting in more than 33 million Americans filing for unemployment, homebuilders around the country are offering discounts, throwing in freebies, and covering closing costs to attract buyers and close deals.