Telfair House Price (Houston, Sugar Land: sales, real estate market, mortgage)

[rajshe]

I am trying to negotiate the price for a house in Telfair.
It is a one and half storeyed house and the following are the details :
Lot Size: 0.3 acres
Buiding square footage: 3400


Asking price by the builder is 350k.
Do you think this is a good price for this kind of a house?
And what are the average prices of these kind houses in telfair with the current housing market conditions?

[icon7]

Get a good agent. I would start at $330K-335K at sit there. Shop around with other builders. They will eventually deal. Are they offering any incentives? financing? discounts? etc.?

[EasilyAmused]

Wow, they just don't put you on any size lot these days out there do they?

[rajshe]

Originally Posted by icon7

Get a good agent. I would start at $330K-335K at sit there. Shop around with other builders. They will eventually deal. Are they offering any incentives? financing? discounts? etc.?

They do have some upgrades on the house and if we do decide to go with their mortgage company, they will take care of the closing costs.

[Beto]

Is this a spec home? Do you know how long it's been on the market?

[GeraldineGray]

Please tell me you have a great realtor that you are working with and that this is just an "I was wondering/looking for a second opinion" post?

Or perhaps you are already an expert in carrying out CMAs, negotiating (er, not from your post), and completing the (minimum) 14-page sale contract.

Why buyers don't use a realtor is totally beyond me - it costs them nothing, saves them money and pain.

There are some fabulous realtors out there who only work in your best interests.
Otherwise, and I mean this sincerely, good luck.

[sssuunnyy]

I am also looking for buy a house in Telfair. being quote around 350 for a single story 3000 sq ft house. I am looking at Wilshire and a Highland (highland is 1 1/2 story)
who is the builder you are working with

[VickiMBA]

Congratulations on choosing Telfair as your new home! There are many reasons to love Telfair, but the primary reason is of course location, location, location! I, too, have chosen Telfair as my next new home.

Despite all of the negativity that you hear about in the national media, the real estate market in the Houston area and especially Ft. Bend Co. has been fairly sheltered from the downfall you hear about in other metro areas. This is due to the continued positive economic and population growth we've been experiencing in our areas.

According to the Metro Study by Bruce Schuler at the Ft. Bend economic summit meeting last month, Telfair is the #7 top community in all of the Houston MSA and the #1 community in Sugar Land, with 488 closings in 2007. This is phenomenal, considering that 1) it was only Telfair's 2nd year under construction and 2) this was more than 50% of the 939 closings that #1 the Woodlands had...and the Woodlands has 28,000 acres to Telfair's 2,018.

Regarding your original question as to the price you should pay for your home, I have to agree with icon7 and GeraldineGray.

Of course, I’m not exactly in a neutral position, but you really have nothing to lose and a lot to gain by working with an experienced Realtor. Not only can a Realtor use comparative market analysis to negotiate your sales price, but a Realtor who specializes in new home sales has a working knowledge of his/her “territory”—and s/he will be in “the know” of the current and historical pricing patterns, price reductions and incentives, and even the builder’s bottom line price. If you work with a real estate professional who has a working relationship with new home builders (or is good at developing one), you will have a much better chance of getting the best possible price because while the average homebuyer purchases one home every seven years, a Realtor can be a valuable source of repeat business to any builder (not only by himself but also by promoting that builder to other colleagues). In addition, a knowledgeable Realtor can save homebuyer clients thousands of dollars by keeping a mindful watch over the entire construction process and catching potentially costly mistakes (there is no such thing as a perfectly built home) and also by being vigilant over the loan process (inflated interest rates and lender fees can be very costly over the life of a loan—and can more than offset any initial price reduction).

In the long run, you will save a lot of money and hassle by working with the right Realtor.

[Topaz]

Originally Posted by GeraldineGray

Why buyers don't use a realtor is totally beyond me - it costs them nothing, saves them money and pain.

Is this really true? It seems to me that the builders or sellers just inflate the sales price to take into account the commission that they plan to pay to the buyer's agent. If there were no buyer's agents, wouldn't the sales price tend to trend downward by about 3%? I'm not a real estate professional, so if I've got this wrong, please correct me.

[AK123]

Originally Posted by Topaz

Is this really true? It seems to me that the builders or sellers just inflate the sales price to take into account the commission that they plan to pay to the buyer's agent. If there were no buyer's agents, wouldn't the sales price tend to trend downward by about 3%? I'm not a real estate professional, so if I've got this wrong, please correct me.

This confuses me too, but I'm sure there's a simple answer?