Buying A Home
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Buying new construction (Pulte)
DH and I are looking at buying our second home. Right now we have a 90 year old bungalow, but we're looking at buying new construction this time. Do you have any tips for buying and negotiating new construction? How much can we expected for wiggle room with the price? Is there any way to find out how much other homes in the neighborhood sold for? Also, if anyone else has experience with Pulte I'd love to hear it -- especially if it takes the 5 months the claim or if it's longer. Thanks!
Re: Buying new construction (Pulte)
We are building with Pulte currently. Actually they start digging in December!
The way we went about negotiating was telling them all of the options we were interested in. Then asked them to take off X amount of money. We got a good chunk knocked off by doing this.
You can see how much recent homes have sold on zillow.com
So far we've had a great experience. We wish they would start the process of digging sooner, but we're just being impatient. We like that they are really structured and have a set time on when everything should be complete. We are building in a neighborhood that other builders are also building. I've talked to some of our new neighbors and have heard some horror stories of the other builders and how long it takes for them to get anything done.
Let me know if you have any other questions. Good Luck!
Thanks!! If you don't mind sharing, what % were you able to knock off?
Pulte has a good reputation. For production builders they are generally higher end than builders like Ryland and Centex and not quite as upscale as Toll Brothers. I'd put them about on par with Lennar. (This is just going by what I've seen in my area). They were going to merge with Centex but I don't think that ever happened.
We built with Ryland in 2009. Usually builders will be more flexible negotiating upgrades and closing costs than the base price. More often than not, freebies or discounts are contingent on you using the builder's lender. Also ask them to waive the lot premium.
I would urge you to get your own home inspection before you close. Even new construction can have things done wrong that needs to be fixed. If you check your tax GIS site or closed listings on the MLS you can find out how much nearby properties have gone for.
Once they break ground it actually seems to go by really fast. Especially at first, something "big" gets done almost every day.
I'm not sure if you've gone to the design center and made your selections yet or not. A few things we didn't do that I wish we had were upgrading the cabinets, upgrading the carpet (we got the base included carpet with the intention of putting in HWs later) and upgrading the elevation.
When picking out your upgrades, my advice is to prioritize structural stuff first. That's harder and more expensive to change or do on your own later.
Thank you! Did you use a relator or do all of negotiating yourself?
We used a real estate agent. Some builders won't let you use a buyer's agent if you don't bring them to your first visit. Ours didn't come on the first visit but we disclosed up front we were working with one.
I'm glad we had him; he didn't cost us anything.
However, he was pretty useless in negotiations. Our builder had a 10% off the base price sale starting about a week after we signed our contract. Our REA strongly discouraged us from going back and asking for the discount since the builder was already giving us a lot of discounts/upgrades. I insisted on asking and the builder said yes.
One thing I used him for was to take us through MLS sale homes in the neighborhood so we could see what "real" houses looked like. The model was all tricked out with every upgrade imaginable. We wanted to see houses with vinyl floors and popcorn ceilings. A couple upgrades we picked were a finished basement and vaulted master bedroom; we wanted to see homes without these things so we'd know what we were getting if we chose not to.
I think it was around 3% knocked off.
We had a real estate agent. He didn't do much for us with this deal. We had him for a couple months previous to it because we were hoping for an already built house that we loved. That didn't exist in the area we were looking at.
I agree with upgrading all structural things up front. We especially love that we went with a good elevation, because some of the houses that didn't in the sub look boxy.
Also, home construction is only as good as the subcontractors they hire. Ryland hired local subcontractors to do the construction, not construction workers who were employees of the builder. I would see what info you can get on the people they use and look them up if you can find any reviews.
When was it built?
I know that Pulte had a terrible reputation (in our area) about 6-7 years ago and they've changed their strategies since then. I've spoken with a bunch of my new neighbors and they all have good things to say. Some have lived there for 5 years.
I am a little peeved with them right now, because they told us they wouldn't start digging until next month, but we found out yesterday that they did start. So we're going to check it out tonight.
ETA: Pulte also uses local contractors.
They closed in early 2008 I believe. And I totally get like a pp said that it depends on who is actually building the house, but man were so many things cheaped out on for a townhouse that certainly wasn't cheap price-wise.
5 months, IMO, is really quick to deliver a home.
I'm building my 2nd home now. Our first home took 8 months from the day they started digging. As other have mentioned, a home will only be as good as the contractors that are working on it, so you can't really make a blanket statement for Pulte as a whole.
I know that in my old neighborhood, there were homes that had a lot of issues with tape peeling and shifting during settlement...and there were others, like mine, that had none of those issues.
Structural and cosmetic upgrades can add A LOT to the base price of the home and most builders will give you the bare basics, which can be very frustrating. It's worth it to add on what would be a total PITA later and pass on things that tend to have a tremendous markup (like tile and fixtures)
All that said, my cousin has been in a Pulte development since 2003 and she is very happy with the home. I've been in it and it seems to be solidly built.
Do you mean "cheaped out" in terms of fixtures or building materials?
Because if it's the fixtures, it's up to the buyer to choose what goes into the house and generally, that's where upgrades come into play.
I wouldn't consider a home a PoS simply because it has cheap fixtures. It's the bones of the home that matter.
Full disclosure - I worked for Pulte for 6 years. I live in a Pulte townhome for 5 years and my parents have owned a Pulte condo for 7 years that was an investment purchase. I agree with previous posters that it is very tough to make blanket statements about ANY builder because each home is only as good as the materials that go into it, the subcontractors and the site superintendent/production manager.
Also, Pulte did merge with Centex 2 years ago, so Centex, Del Webb and Divosta homes are all Pulte Brands.
As far as materials go, check to see if it is Energy Star (I believe all Pulte Homes are). Only 25% of homes built in the US currently are Energy Star qualified. Even if the builder says they build energy star or green homes, the homes are not Energy Star qualified unless they have been rated and verified by an independent, 3rd party inspector. (I just attended an Energy Star seminar so this is all fresh in my head). This means the home has certain features such as caulking, certain type of windows, insulation, HVAC, etc so in the long run should be easier to heat and cool the house, which should equate to savings in utility bills.
As far as negotiating, in most cases realtors only help because they aren't afraid to ask. A lot of buyers are afraid of negotiating. Best thing to do is ask! Like a previous poster said, they will tie all incentives to using their mortgage company. They will not negotiate the base price, but will include free options and/or closing costs. Also, you have more negotiating power if you are not contingent and can close any time.
That's all I can think of for the moment... feel free to ask anything else!
Also, not sure what state you are in, but many states have tax assessment databases that are online and you can see the transfer price of homes.
5 months is a standard timeframe for most production builders - and honestly it can take less. It's all about scheduling - production builders can schedule more than one subcontractor in a home at a time. Typically custom builders don't do that, which is one reason custom builds can take so much longer. I've seen Lennar complete a model home in 30 days - doens't mean the quality is bad, just means they tightened up the schedule, had folks working 7 days per week, and many contractors in the house at once.