REAL ESTATE

Lyon Co. Will Send Buyers to Paris by Way of Coto de Caza Any savvy home shopper these days can reel off lists of new developments that are offering to pay closing costs, provide loans with reduced interest rates during the first few years, kick in $10,000 to $20,000 in decorating and landscaping allowances, or even reduce the list price.

The William Lyon Co. generally doesn’t have to resort to incentives to move its houses, which tend to be priced under $300,000.

But even a general’s strategy (founder William Lyon is a retired Air Force major general) can go awry. The Lyon Co. appears to be stuck with some slow-moving, mid- to high-$300,000 models in a development near Coto de Caza.

To help sell the homes--and to differentiate its incentives from all the others offered by builders with an oversupply of $300,000 to $500,000 homes--the Lyon Co. has been offering price reductions upon close of escrow.

But in the new phase, which opens Saturday with 10 of a planned 25 homes going on the market, the company will be giving buyers a round-trip flight to Paris plus seven days in a hotel in the romantic French capital.