New Home in Steiner Ranch - Austin - Texas (TX) - Page 3 - City-Data Forum

CATXTransplant · 07-10-2009, 05:59 PM

It's a common misperception that you save with builders when you work without a Realtor. This may be true with the smaller builders, but the larger ones (Taylor Morrison, Newmark, David Weekley, etc...) do not give you a discount. You will often pay more because you lack the info to properly negotiate.

Mikey0915 · 07-13-2009, 09:07 PM

Well, the builder's counter offer is 460K with two main upgrades - 5th bed+bath and media room. The base price of the house without the two above mentioned upgrades is 458K. In addition the builder is offering 10K in decor. My expectation was 10K in price reduction and 30K in decor. The house with the two main upgrades will be arounnd 4200 sq. feet on a zero premium lot with slope and west sun. The thing that I do not like is that this neighborhood is quite a bit deep in Steiner Ranch. I have heard bad things about the morning and evening commute. I hope it is not as bad as it sounds. My realtor is suggesting that we should negotiate it further on the price reduction. Any suggestions are welcome.

CATXTransplant · 07-14-2009, 07:52 AM

how big is the lot? which floor plan is it? You could get a St. James Plan (former model) with a 5th bedroom/bathroom + media room, much closer in (near the middle school) with all of the window treatments (a big expense), and LOADED with upgrades for only $439,000. It's in mint condition.

Mikey0915 · 07-14-2009, 02:25 PM

Hi CatxTransplant,

The lot is 78 feet wide by 140 feet deep. One of the plan is Lakeridge. The St. James plant you are metioning - can you please provide the link to it? Which builder is this?

Thanks.

CATXTransplant · 07-15-2009, 08:38 AM

St. James is Taylor Woodrow (same as Taylor Morrison - they merged with Morrison). I want you to know it's not one of my listings (so hopefully this post doesn't get removed), but I showed it and it's a great deal. Here is the link to the virtual tour: Realtour Virtual Tour. It's a similar size lot that doesn't back up to a house. Taylor Morrison also has an inventory home of this same floorplan that is loaded with upgrades and backs to greenbelt (it's $450,000). It was build as their model, but TM decided not to use it. Most of my clients put about $75,000 to $100,000 in upgrades in their homes when they build. This isn't with over the top upgrades, this is an average amount. So, it's worth checking out considering you could easliy come up to mid-500's after you put in everything you want. I just hate to see people spend more than they have to. These two homes are only 3700 sf, but feel quite large. Also, I don't know what your price range is, but there are several homes in Steiner around 600 that have a TON of upgrades and are on much larger homes than you can build on now. For example, I have a Taylor Morrison Sorrento Plan (5 bed, 4 bath, sun room, game room, media room, 2 covered patios) 4652 sf on a .36 acre corner lot for $619,000 - it has over 125 in upgrades, inc. plantation shutters, hand scraped wide plank wood floors, granite in the Master bath, central vacuum, etc... It may be out of your budget, but it's a good example of how you can get a lot more for your money by buying resale. To build that home today on a comoparable lot would be closer to 700K and this one is in mint condition.

Look at some resales - it's also a safer bet because you can lock in your rate today and not have to risk what they may be in 8 months.