Low Ball Home Trade In Offer (Georgetown: rental, refinancing, new house)

[Plumber33]

Hello Everyone,

We are needing to move from our current house (need more space) and were considering the Ball Homes Trade In Program. We have had three different people tell us how they have given them very low trade in values. One guy we know house appraised at $205,000 (the low end of the appraisal) when he was thinking about refinancing his house three months ago. Ball Homes said they would accept his house at $165,000 less the 7%. I don't think it could be possible to go down that much in just three months. Another person we know was told his house was worth $20,000 less than he expected it to be based on comparable houses that sold in his neighborhood. He ended up telling them to forget the trade in program and sold it himself at the price he expected to get. Has anyone else had this problem?

Also, is Ball Homes a good company to go with? We hate the cookie cutter type houses, but it seems like they have some large houses for around $240,000. Would anyone suggest something else?

Thank you so much for you help!!

[LAbleedsBlue]

Anderson Communities also buys houses, like Ball homes, but I think they're a little more reasonable, just because they're local - of course, I'm biased. I have a couple of friends who bought Ball homes and had moved out within 5 years because of ridiculous problems stemming from the construction process being quick and crappy.

[nlschr0]

We had a short term rental in a Ball home, and it was poorly built. In fact, they "forgot" to run cold water to the kitchen sink. Both taps were hot water.

[LEXpert]

Most of the bigger builders offer a trade in program. I have also heard that their appraisals come in low. Here is my problem with the whole thing: Everybody you deal with has Ball's interest over your's. The appraiser wants to keep getting work for Ball, so they go conservative, the agent in the model homes represents only Ball in the transaction, etc.

I have a client in Georgetown that was going to do the trade-in program. They were offered $133,000 less 7%. I sold it in 2 weeks for $137,000 less a 5% commission. THAT SAVED THEM $6460!!!!!

I

[Irishtom29]

I lived in a newly built Ball house for 3 years. It was well built and very good value for the money. I was pleased with it.

[berwin]

we were looking to trade in our old house with ball homes and build a new home. we had heard that ball would give us a low amount for the house we lived in. our house was 3 years old and i had upgraded a few things around the house. i was very pleased with the amount ball offered. they gave us $3000 more than we paid and then took out the 7% for the trade in. we are know in our new ball home and have had NO problems what so ever. the building process was flawless, everything passed inspection on the first go around, and the guys building the house were great. at closing, everything went very smooth, the siging of our new house and the trade in of our old house. it took about and hour and a half to complete the process and we were walking out of the ball office with the keys to our new house. the key is understand what you are trading in, what you are getting, and understanding the building process. Understand your finances, and that you are dealing with people. will there be mistakes along the way, sure, but that is life. the key is, taking care of them early on and being envolved in the process.