Im doing some house shopping with my wife. We are debating on going into a brand new built home or moving into an older home. Anyone thats got any info on brand new built homes, please let me know the pros and cons. I havent heard too many good things on KB homes, but I see that they dont really have too many complaints on the BBB. Its extremely hard, since there is hundres of builders with new subdivisions. If anyone can help, I would extremely appreciate it. Thanks in advance....
Im doing research on home builders myself. I will probally go with Pulte. They won J&D associates foer best home builder award last year. KB and DW ranked 2nd/3rd behind them. As for the rest, I wouldn't even give them a chance. One thing you can do is hire a realtor/consultant to help you possibly save $$$. Im not sure if its better or not to have one yet, but I know a guy who doesn't charge you anything if he can't save you money on the home/closing costs etc etc. He also mentioned that you can just use him to do nothing and he'll give you 2% of the 3% commission they get. http://consumercenter.jdpower.com/c...me_builders/results_city/index.asp?v1=Houston
I just had a home built near the woodlands. I used Gehan Homes. I'm happy with the home and the customer service was outstanding. Some of the trim work is kinda crappy but most of it is nothing big. I was looking at Pulte as well but didn't like the home designs in my price range. Most of the builders are very customer service oriented. These builders live and die by thier reputation. You can always back out at anytime, minus the starters fee, if you're not happy with the way the bulider is handling things. One big plus is that most of the builders have at least a one year warranty on the house and will fix pretty much anything if not happy. Of course another big plus is getting excatly what you want in the house when builing new.
Up in austin, KB makes the worse home among all large builders. I have an uncle that does foundation work for them and they cut corners where ever they can. Pulte is the nations largest builder and their quality is hit and miss depending on the subdivision. My brothers have a lennar home/village builders they seem to be ok for the price. The main thing is to keep on top of the superintendent while they're building your house.
Yeah ive read the bad reviews on KB for Austin/San Antonio area, but I have yet to find any bad Houston reviews. I looked at Pulte homes too, but they all looked exactly the same in the subdivision.
I did a lot of research last year when I bought a home. For new home in 150K-250K range, I would go with First Texas Homes, Mecedez Homes, Legacy or plantation.
I was in the process of buying a new KB home in Katy a few years ago. I would visit the site almost weekly watching the process. I kept seeing things I didn't like...sloppy construction being one of them. Near completion I really noticed some things they had done wrong in the bathroom (improperly installing a wall between the tub and shower in the master bath) and kitchen (forgetting to put a window in the back wall near the back door, even though the model home clearly had one). My gut feeling told me to pull out and I did. I was able to get back all of my earnest money. A friend referred me to an attorney who typed up a fancy looking letter telling them I wanted out. I probably didn't need to do that, but I got out of the deal regardless. I drive by that neighborhood every now and then and feel good about my decision seeing how the neighborhood isn't being kept up very nice. I've since gone with a Perry home and have been happy with it overall. I do notice some minor things here and there, but nothing big that I can tell. I think you can find a lot of ticky tack problems with the mass builders if you are really looking hard. My advice is to do your research, maybe find owners who have lived in that builder's homes for several years to see if they have had any major problems. Good luck.
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION. If you build a brand new home in an area where everyone is building brand new homes, be prepared to stay awhile. Because if you wanna sell it, you'll have a helluva time.
KB Home sucks. Im sorry but their quality is piss poor. Their customer service from the beginning migh be stellar, but the quality is just not there. Dont believe me? Check this out: Link I work for Lennar and I stand behind our company as a quality builder. Lennar Website Check us out!
KB Homes are complete crap. I used to work for David Weekley Homes a few years back and know that theirs are top notch... however, they don't make "starter homes"... you'll be hard pressed to get a new DW Home for under 200k unless you build on your lot.
As much as I HATE your radio ads I must say they work well.. I can recite every damn word of that song..
I've already told you that I own a KB home and have been happy. It was the best choice for me as a first time home buyer and is a good choice for a starter home. They even replaced my entire roof (as well as everyone in my neighborhood) when only a section of it needed replacement shingles after Rita. This was 5 years after we bought the house. I've really had nothing to complain about. All new houses these days lack the quality we all want anyway when it comes down to it.
Agreed. My in laws bought a Trendmaker home for 450K+ and I was really shocked at some of the stuff they tried to pull.
My parents just moved into a Lennar home last week. We visited the site every weekend and took a bunch of pictures. Once the drywall went up, I stopped going. They scheduled a walk-through with my mother one day. The quality was terrible. There were footprints embedded in the concrete in the driveway and walkway to the front door, mis-matched paint on the drywall, wrong countertops and blinds installed, and particles embedded into the grout between the tiles. Then one of the Lennar reps told my mother they wouldn't change out the items they installed incorrectly or re-pour the concrete. No big deal, said the guy who identified himself as the supervisor over the last month. However, they relented after a while and changed out the incorrectly installed items, re-poured the concrete, acid-washed (?) the tile and grout, and gave my mother a nice discount. In the end, she did close on the house, but the Lennar reps could have been more professional, and done things right the first time. They did not show up for one of the walk-throughs they scheduled, and consistently did not return my mother's calls. It was truly an aggravating experience for her, but so far she is happy with the house.
