Drees - Huge Discounts in Crystal Falls (Austin: short sales, foreclosures)

[FalconheadWest]

The incentives are also going to be based on what is standard in the house. If there are already a lot of upgrades in the house, you don't need as much of an incentive at the design center. $30k is nothing to spend on a Drees. People average over $100k in upgrades. Even Drees does with their spec homes in many neighborhoods. You can go into a neighborhood with the base price at $350k but they're asking $500k.

[woodinvilleguy]

Originally Posted by FalconheadWest

The incentives are also going to be based on what is standard in the house. If there are already a lot of upgrades in the house, you don't need as much of an incentive at the design center. $30k is nothing to spend on a Drees. People average over $100k in upgrades. Even Drees does with their spec homes in many neighborhoods. You can go into a neighborhood with the base price at $350k but they're asking $500k.

I must be an anomoly, we struggled to spend $15k in upgrades. That doesn't count the structural changes that we made to the design though.

[FalconheadWest]

Originally Posted by woodinvilleguy

I must be an anomoly, we struggled to spend $15k in upgrades. That doesn't count the structural changes that we made to the design though.

You must be!! Most people, when granite comes with a house, they want level 2 or level 3 and that's upwards of $10k right there. Then you have to decide if you want granite in your bathrooms too. What about cabinets? Most people upgrade their cabinets to a Maple or Cherry from the typical Oak. That's anywhere from $3-10k... Many people want 16-18" tiles in the wet areas and not just basic 12" so that's several thousand depending on ceramic vs porcelin vs slate vs travertine... Many people upgrade the carpet pad if not the entire carpet which can also be thousands depending on loop count and stain guard...

I could go on. My new house was built with very basic upgrades and we still spent $60k, and we don't have hardwoods, accented backsplashes or anything "fancy".

[woodinvilleguy]

Originally Posted by FalconheadWest

You must be!! Most people, when granite comes with a house, they want level 2 or level 3 and that's upwards of $10k right there. Then you have to decide if you want granite in your bathrooms too. What about cabinets? Most people upgrade their cabinets to a Maple or Cherry from the typical Oak. That's anywhere from $3-10k... Many people want 16-18" tiles in the wet areas and not just basic 12" so that's several thousand depending on ceramic vs porcelin vs slate vs travertine... Many people upgrade the carpet pad if not the entire carpet which can also be thousands depending on loop count and stain guard...

I could go on. My new house was built with very basic upgrades and we still spent $60k, and we don't have hardwoods, accented backsplashes or anything "fancy".

ah, ours was standard with group 2 granite already. We upgraded to nice cabinets I think group 4, not sure. We upgraded out pad. The odd thing that we did was to have higher level carpetting in the upstairs and and master, and we had them put in the "free" carpet for the rest of the house including the kitchen. We then replaced the free carpeting with wood flooring at about 1/3 the cost from the design center.

We spent the bulk of our money upgrading the kitchen but we were pleasantly surprised at the level of the included items in the house. Not everything was group 1, most was higher.

My neighbor who has a Meritage, there initial price was lower but they had to pay for a lot of things that were standard in our house. I think that may be the differences. And yeah our tile in our bathroom was expensive, especially the little travertine accents my wife had them add....

[OneJackson]

the housing boom has slowed. for now.

[10scoachrick]

Of course, we all end up paying somehow ;but, I would sure go for the epoxy garage floor coating and built in cabs in the garage. Might as well spring for the insulated garage doors if the price is right. A few more properly placed HVAC returns would be worth the money to me! The list could go on...

[homeownerinDallas]

We have a DREES home in North Texas, North of Dallas! It has not had one problem. The builder, the home representative and their finance department were top notch. We were able to get a great deal....so pleased. This is our second home and the quality surpassed our expectations.

[llkltk]

30K is not that big of a deal. It costs the builder far less because the markup is so large. I would ask for 30K in incentives and a % off the house.

[woodinvilleguy]

Originally Posted by llkltk

30K is not that big of a deal. It costs the builder far less because the markup is so large. I would ask for 30K in incentives and a % off the house.

this makes no sense since you need actual market analysis to make this statement. That is why a realtor comes in very handy, so that you have real data when negotiating.

[XLadylawX]

I too agree that $30k is not impressive or for that matter any incentive unless you are provided with a price list of the upgrades up front. The granite example cited earlier is a perfect example of how these builders pad their profits. It should NEVER cost you $10k to change granite. Also, if you think about it, using larger tile should bring down labor costs because a tile setter will be installing less tile pieces (GRRR). DH and I love love love new homes but our plan is to buy a gently used 2-3 year old home in the desired location so we don't take the hit on the new house premium that the builders demand and get.

Caution rant ahead: And why why why, do builders or anyone for that matter bother to put granite on laminated press-board cabinets. We've looked at the so-called high end builders here in the Austin area and we are stunned at the quality of the kitchen and bath cabinets. WTH!!!!!