So the lady and I are getting hitched and we're looking to build a new home in or around Spring. Our budget is around 200K, but it's pretty flexible. We're looking at Lennar since they have everything included and it's one less thing to worry about since the wedding is coming up pretty fast. Any recommendations?
I recommend you don't buy Lennar There are great builders in that price point that are much better than Lennar (and with better floor plans to choose from). Look for a master planned community so you can retain/build value in the home. Drive a few and walk the models. It will give you a good feel. Ask about what's standard in a home and how the design center works (how much they charge for upgrades/require upfront vs roll into the mortgage)
We got a ridiculous rate because we're going through her job, not a builder. Does having the financing already taken care of give us any leverage?
Too many builders to mention, but one thing I can advise is to do all the upgrades you can. People told us that while we were building but I didn't listen. Now there are all kinds of things I wish we would've just upgraded (granite in the master bath, sprinkler system, surround sound in the game room, etc.) You will never regret getting an upgrade, but you will possibly regret NOT getting an upgrade. And you say you can just do that stuff yourself after closing....but you won't....
The builders are going to throw incentives at you to finance through them most likely. Consider the schools it will feed into
Ryland Homes have good open floor plans and great bang for the buck. The floor plans can be too open though. You can literally stand at one point in the house where every part of the house could hear you. There are pros and cons to that though. If you plan on having kids, it's great for keeping an eye on everything. But the background noise during parties can get pretty loud.
Did some research and you are right, we can get a much nicer house for the money. We stepped it up a bit and are looking at a number of other places. Meritage looks pretty good as well as Beazer. We'll be going out this weekend to take a look and see what we can find.
Skip Beazer. Look at the MHI line of Builders, Plantation and Coventry specifically. Look at Darling Homes too. Meritage can be nice. and yes, if you didn't realize by the troll comment up there, stay far, far away from KB.
