Belle Creek sales center closing?!?!? New Town Builders (mortgage, attorney)

[fdx]

We are having a house built in Belle Creek that is about 2 months from being done...

So I get a call last week from New Town Builders Sales/Marketing about how they are closing the Sales Center at Belle Creek and the sales rep. is moving to the Bradburn office. At this point I was concerned but not alarmed... Went looking around on the internet... The link to Belle Creek on New Town's site is no longer active... Then I attempt to go to www.BelleCreek.com and the website is gone!

I email the sales rep. about this and then find out they neglected to tell me during the phone call that while they are going to finish homes under construction, they are suspending future sales at Belle Creek. They told me that they are only an 11% holder in Belle Creek which leads me to believe its no big deal to them to dump the project.

Maybe I am over-reacting but we are seriously considering trying to get out of our sales contract. Who knows when if ever they will come back to finish building out the subdivision. Our house will have at least three vacant lots next to it. I can only imagine what this will do for home values in the neighborhood. We were only planning on being in this house for 5-6 years and I'm not sure if that is going to be long enough for things to recover and get the subdivision built-out.

Sorry for being so long winded...

What do you think about this situation?

Go through with it or RUN?

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated! (Also this will/would be our first house)

[Bradburn1]

Hi,

I live in Bradburn, and I just heard this from a reliable source today--that New Town is pulling out of Belle Creek, but New Town hasn't confirmed it. Is New Town the only builder in Belle Creek? I thought they were. If so, have they sold their stake in the neighborhood to other builders? In Bradburn, New Town is one of multiple builders so if they pulled out of here, I personally wouldn't be too worried, but if they are the only builder in Belle Creek, I agree that would be a concern.

If they have sold the stake to someone else who will finish the neighborhood, then things may turn out a bit differently (for example, there's no gaurantee they would stick with the new urbanist planning of that neighborhood), but it would still get finished so it would be less of a concern, and could even be a good thing.

I can tell you one thing, although most people in Bradburn with New Town homes are happy with them, getting them to do the warranty work is difficult (although honestly this is a problem with almost all builders), and I can only imagine it would be more so if they pulled out of a neighborhood entirely.

As to what it might do to home values to be next to a vacant lot, that could be a problem, but then again Bradburn's not finished either and many homes in here have been sitting next to empty lots for years which hasn't impacted their values any (if they were going to be vacant forever, then yes maybe it might!). I would ask a realtor or an appraiser's advice in this situation.

That's too bad, I think Belle Creek is great. How much of it is left unfinished? That would factor in a decision I think.

Sucky!

[fdx]

I would say there are in upwards of 15 to 20 lots vacant in the phase we are in. As well as a huge lot that is for townhomes... To the best of my knowledge New Town is the only builder... but they told me they only have an 11% stake in Belle Creek. They said in theory another builder could come in...but who knows. oh ya and there is another phase that hasn't been touched yet...

[Noahma]

Our home is about 3 weeks from being finished, we are going to pull our deposite and earnest money back (having problems selling our current place as well) Our home is the only home on the block. I dont want to have our house stick out like a sore thumb if another builder does come in and finish things off. There is another phase that was to open in febuary. Im a bit ticked off at the whole situation frankly. Time to look around a bit more. Damn wish I could afford to live in Bradburn, but ohh well...

[livecontent]

Originally Posted by Noahma

Our home is about 3 weeks from being finished, we are going to pull our deposite and earnest money back (having problems selling our current place as well) Our home is the only home on the block. I dont want to have our house stick out like a sore thumb if another builder does come in and finish things off. There is another phase that was to open in febuary. Im a bit ticked off at the whole situation frankly. Time to look around a bit more. Damn wish I could afford to live in Bradburn, but ohh well...

I am sorry to hear about your problems. That explains why I was having difficulty with the links to this development--I got interested after you mentioned the new home. It appears the bad fortune of not selling your current home has turned into a good fortune because now the sales contract is voidable. It would have been worse to just move in, and the builder fails--no warranty work would be done and for sure all the subcontractors would not have been paid--you would have had liens on your new home.

So I would go out and celebrate

I enjoy your posts, best wishes

Livecontent

[fdx]

we aren't so lucky...we don't have a house to sell...this would be our first! What suggestions does anyone have for us to try to get out of our contract? We are just living month to month in an apartment waiting for house... not sure how easy it will be for us to get out of contract.

[livecontent]

Originally Posted by fdx

we aren't so lucky...we don't have a house to sell...this would be our first! What suggestions does anyone have for us to try to get out of our contract? We are just living month to month in an apartment waiting for house... not sure how easy it will be for us to get out of contract.

Certainly I would see a real estate attorney. He could see if the contract has any problems that making it void or voidable. In addition, with this housing mortgage crisis, if you can show that you should not have been qualified for a mortgage--this is not an insult, just a suggestion. If you can find any fraud between the lender and/or builder and/or assessor and if they violate any FHA regulations then you may have some recourse. And we all know that there have been problems--so the ball in your court.

In addition, you would be in a very good position to look further with prices dropping in the market and you will not have to sell another property.

Livecontent

[Bradburn1]

Noahma: I thought of you first thing when I heard about Belle Creek this morning, I was going to try to contact to to make sure you knew about it.

I don't know if you would ever consider a townhome in Bradburn, but quite a few are on the market, they are super cute and I think you could probably get a great deal. I wish they would build smaller single family homes at a more reasonable price in here.

[josher_m]

Another cheaper alternative to an attorney is trying to go thru the builder's corporate office. If no luck there, file a complaint with the Attorney General's office.
We did that once when the builder did not meet the timeframes they promised. It wasn't easy but we proved the hardship they caused and got our ernest money back. At the time, we didn't have the money to hire an attorney.

My biggest concern would be for any warranty issues, not to mention property values down the line. Although, I would bet that another builder will build in those spots when the market improves. It won't be empty forever. Personally, I'd LOVE to have some empty lots next to me! lol

Good luck!

[Noahma]

Originally Posted by Bradburn1

Noahma: I thought of you first thing when I heard about Belle Creek this morning, I was going to try to contact to to make sure you knew about it.

I don't know if you would ever consider a townhome in Bradburn, but quite a few are on the market, they are super cute and I think you could probably get a great deal. I wish they would build smaller single family homes at a more reasonable price in here.

thank you for the help

unfortunatly even the townhomes in Bradburn are a bit out of our price range, they seem to be selling in the high 200'- to low 300's. which is out of our range.

What we are looking for is
3 bedrooms
1.5-2 baths
2 car garage,
single family home
no older than 1990

Being that I design homes, I am extremly picky.