we are 1st time home buyers going the new construction route. we were planning to get our home loan from a local lender. The building company offers incentives to get the loan from them such as no closing fees and free appliances but from everything i see online going through the builder for financing isnt always the best.
did any of you go this route?
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We did!
I was a first time buyer, hubs had purchased once previously.
First I tried to get pre-approved at my credit union. They were only willing to loan me $175k which does not buy you a house around here. Interest rate was ok. No incentives other than a first time buyer $2k off closing costs.Tried with the builder next. They approved me for $350k, all closing costs paid and a great interest rate.
Went with them. No regrets. -
@wheres_c: thanks for sharing your experience, that sounds really promising and I'm hoping I have a good deal too. Do you mind sharing the builder you went with? We are looking at Taylor Morrison.
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@Mrsbells: we went through Taylor Morrison ourselves! I'd be happy to run down all the pros and cons of Taylor Morrison. Are you in TX?
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@wheres_c: that's great! Yes we are in texas too! I would really appreciate that actually
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@wheres_c: I'm super jealous you have a Taylor Morrison house. They have a model in FL that is my dream layout. But I think we're scrapping the idea of moving to FL.
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We did. The builder offered incentives, but because it was a relo it didn't help us. Our builder required getting approved by them even if you finance through someone else. Once Wes started the process with the builder's finance company it was just more efficient to go with them. The entire process wasn't pain-free though.
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I would ask your realtor their experience with the builder and their financing. Also with getting inventives. We did not use builder financing (ours didn't do that) but we're able to get credits toward upgrades and cash toward closing by just asking.
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Thanks everyone!
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Taylor Morrison delayed closing twice, so be prepared for that...make sure your timelines account for it - We lost 3 weeks tots but had some buffer on our rental.
Using a realtor got them to throw in a lot of extra incentives. I would strongly recommend using one if possible.
There were several "minor issues" with the house - paint, interior doors not properly closing, etc.
It took them a year to finally finish everything and even then not everything is up to my standards. I would push them to fix everything before move in. All of the issues are cosmetic in nature, but still! Once you move in you're not a priority on their schedule.
If you are able, buying a spec home will save you a lot of money. The house we wanted to build was about $375ish...but by buying one that they had started building we got it for $325.
If you do buy, get them to put in a water softener loop at the very least...quotes for doing this are $$. Also blinds/window treatments are $$, if you can roll this into the mortgage that would be a good idea - we had to throw $5k on our credit cards for blinds when we moved in.
We got the Roma plan with the bonus room and study and we love it. -
Yep we did! We went through a nationwide builder, and they provided $20K in design credit, and $10K in closing costs. They were horribly inefficient, although I hear the mortgage process is a pain regardless of who you go through. A lot of sending the same paperwork over and over. They delayed our closing by 1 day, which through off moving out of our apt, and it was over thanksgiving. They paid 6 months HOA, and gave us another .25% off our interest rate because of it. We would've normally gone through USAA, but again, it was a major cost savings. Not having to pay closing fees really allowed us to get into a brand new home, get some new furniture, and keep money in the bank.
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