Contract issue with Westin Homes (Katy: how much, attorney, selling a home)

[Cassino]

I cannot recommend getting your own realtor enough. We had one when we bought our new home (not Westin but same concept) and she took care of business and protected our interests. I consider myself a good negotiator but with a purchase as big as a home, I was glad a professional was there to safe guard our interests and not the builder's.

[Proud2bPinoy]

Originally Posted by newbuyer11

Hi guys,

We are first-time home buyers and considering Westin Homes at Discovery in Spring trail. But right now we met the bottleneck because of the contract issue with them. Although the salesman agreed to give us 30K discount, he insisted that the original base price was written down on the document and "...up to 30K discount" would be shown on it also. We aren't comfortable with that and think it will leave too much space to argue. In other words, it maybe a trap. Did you guys meet same problem before? Or do you have any advise?

Thank you in advance.

This is how my contract reads..

Regardless of lender, Seller will contribute up to XXXXX toward options included in the sales price..

[newbuyer11]

I appreciate your help. So guess you have already got the discount fully the sales agreed to give you, right? Was that cash or something else? If so, we can be comfortable with that.

Originally Posted by Proud2bPinoy

This is how my contract reads..

Regardless of lender, Seller will contribute up to XXXXX toward options included in the sales price..

[newbuyer11]

I know you are right. Actually we have an agent. She's working on it with us together. But so far both sides can't find a good solution. Thank you anyway.

Originally Posted by Cassino

I cannot recommend getting your own realtor enough. We had one when we bought our new home (not Westin but same concept) and she took care of business and protected our interests. I consider myself a good negotiator but with a purchase as big as a home, I was glad a professional was there to safe guard our interests and not the builder's.

[newbuyer11]

We are buying an inventory house and worrying that they wouldn't give us the discount fully.

Originally Posted by honycombe

We are building a Westin home. It is not complete nor have we closed. However, on our contract it was listed "up to $30k in upgrades". I would take this to mean as long as you get $30k or more in upgrades, they will cover $30k of those upgrades. However, if you only do $27k, then they are going to only cover $27k in upgrades and that would be it. If you have any questions, get a realtor...though I am not sure how that will work at this point if the contract is signed and you didn't list one...though by all means, try.

[inspector80]

Originally Posted by tdhg566

Better yet, instead of relying on contract language, prepare a spreadsheet with ALL the costs shown as individual line items. Original/list price, original discount, other discounts (my salesman had an additional $5000 discount, over and above the builder's published discount, in his pocket to use as a last resort - of course I made him use it), price of each option, etc etc etc

Attach the spreadsheet to the contract and HAVE THE SALESMAN DATE AND SIGN IT. Whatever the salesman signs is legally binding on the builder.

Each time there is ANY modification to the price, update the spreadsheet, and have the salesman date and sign.

Not to upset you, but you are incorrect on this. Anything the sales person signs is only obligated to by the sales person and in no way adheres the company to anything. The reason for this is that the sales person, in their job description, is not given athourity to speak on behalf of the company and anything they sign or present is subject to upper management approval. This may not be the case for every company, but it is the case for most. Just FYI

[inspector80]

Newbuyer11,

This may clear up some of the confusion. This is exactly how the discount portion of the Westin Homes contract reads on page 11 sub 36..."Regardless of lender, Seller will contribute up to $30,000.00 toward options included in the sales price, and/or Buyers' closing costs and prepaids at the time of closing, which may include all or a portion of Buyers' title policy, the loan origination fee and FHA/VA non-allowable expenses. Buyers understand that their mortgage company may limit the amount seller is contributing towards closing costs and prepaids."

The reason it says up to $30,000.00 is because Westin gives the buyer the option to use that 30 k discount for multiple things, i.e. 15k off the total price of the home & 15k to closing costs. The second and more previlant reason for this verbage is for building from the gound up. About a year ago Westin changed the wording on their contract from "Seller will contribute" to "Seller will contribute up to" because they stopped allowing buyers to reduce the base price of the home. For instance...base price is 300k, discount is 30k, options selected by buyer is 20k. Buyer can only reduce the price to the original 300k and would be required to use the additional 10k left toward closing cost and pre paids. If not used in the allowable ways, it will be lost.

Being that you are offering on an inventory home it is much simpler because Westin always goes all out on their inventory homes. Basically it is the full price on the transaction summary minus the discount on page 11 of contract equals final sales price. This will always be true on an inventory home unless the buyer uses part of their discount for closing costs, which would increase the purchase price by that amount they used. Hope this helps, you shouldn't be worried...with or without a realtor, there is always someone willing to help.
Sincerely, I80

[Proud2bPinoy]

Originally Posted by inspector80

Newbuyer11,

This may clear up some of the confusion. This is exactly how the discount portion of the Westin Homes contract reads on page 11 sub 36..."Regardless of lender, Seller will contribute up to $30,000.00 toward options included in the sales price, and/or Buyers' closing costs and prepaids at the time of closing, which may include all or a portion of Buyers' title policy, the loan origination fee and FHA/VA non-allowable expenses. Buyers understand that their mortgage company may limit the amount seller is contributing towards closing costs and prepaids."

The reason it says up to $30,000.00 is because Westin gives the buyer the option to use that 30 k discount for multiple things, i.e. 15k off the total price of the home & 15k to closing costs. The second and more previlant reason for this verbage is for building from the gound up. About a year ago Westin changed the wording on their contract from "Seller will contribute" to "Seller will contribute up to" because they stopped allowing buyers to reduce the base price of the home. For instance...base price is 300k, discount is 30k, options selected by buyer is 20k. Buyer can only reduce the price to the original 300k and would be required to use the additional 10k left toward closing cost and pre paids. If not used in the allowable ways, it will be lost.

Being that you are offering on an inventory home it is much simpler because Westin always goes all out on their inventory homes. Basically it is the full price on the transaction summary minus the discount on page 11 of contract equals final sales price. This will always be true on an inventory home unless the buyer uses part of their discount for closing costs, which would increase the purchase price by that amount they used. Hope this helps, you shouldn't be worried...with or without a realtor, there is always someone willing to help.
Sincerely, I80

hi, you seem to know much about westin. how come they give $20k for this client and then $30k for another client. is 8% base price really the maximum westin can give or salesman just said that to me but not true.
could have i haggle the price/incentives more ?
thanks,

[inspector80]

Right, which started the first of the year, the max allowable incentive for all of Westin Homes communities is 8% of the base price. That is the max that any sales person for Westin Homes can accept. Anything over and above that is subject to the owner's approval. Can you ask for more? Sure. Will the owner accept it? No one knows for sure. I have heard them accept contracts at 15% discount and I have heard them turn down contracts at 9%. The key factor in this is what community you are making the offer in. In Katy, there is not much wiggle room, but in Cypress he may be more willing to accept a higher offer. Basically it boils down to the simple suppy and demand. It is very localized. If one community isn't selling well, they will give higher discounts. If it is selling well they don't have to give as much away. If you can tell me a community I can give you a better idea but this is true with every home builder I have encounted accept with Meritage right now. Their marketing department thought it would be a great idea to lower the base prices of the home but give no discount. Even though this might be a great deal, most people want something or feel like they have received a great deal. A home will sell faster listed at 350,000 with a 50,000 discount than it will listed at 300,000 with no discount.

[Proud2bPinoy]

Originally Posted by inspector80

Right, which started the first of the year, the max allowable incentive for all of Westin Homes communities is 8% of the base price. That is the max that any sales person for Westin Homes can accept. Anything over and above that is subject to the owner's approval. Can you ask for more? Sure. Will the owner accept it? No one knows for sure. I have heard them accept contracts at 15% discount and I have heard them turn down contracts at 9%. The key factor in this is what community you are making the offer in. In Katy, there is not much wiggle room, but in Cypress he may be more willing to accept a higher offer. Basically it boils down to the simple suppy and demand. It is very localized. If one community isn't selling well, they will give higher discounts. If it is selling well they don't have to give as much away. If you can tell me a community I can give you a better idea but this is true with every home builder I have encounted accept with Meritage right now. Their marketing department thought it would be a great idea to lower the base prices of the home but give no discount. Even though this might be a great deal, most people want something or feel like they have received a great deal. A home will sell faster listed at 350,000 with a 50,000 discount than it will listed at 300,000 with no discount.

ok thanks i pm you the community where i am buying..