Considering buying in Riverstone...Relocating from NY (Naples: house prices, landscaping)

[InPlaneSight]

Originally Posted by ILoveLidoBeach

Well, with all due respect...you will bever be "from" Naples. You will always be a transplant. I invite you to come back to your post about "not sweating the small stuff and not complaining" in a few years and see what you have to say.

Living in Naples is different than flying in to see the progress of your home construction and driving around in your convertable with your big hat and sun screen on for a few weeks at a time vs living here. Transplants always seem to know more, be smarter and love to tell others how things should be done or how things were done where you came from.

You don't have to respond to this post because I am not here to argue. I just made a statement about traffic and you chose to insert your Naples expertise. I won't be back to read any rebuttal.

Well, this transplant, who will never be from Naples is flying in again to see the progress of my home construction. However, I won't be in my convertible with my big hat and sun screen. Rest assured, I won't try to influence anyone while I'm there with my Naples expertise.

[CH183]

I am negotiating contract now with GL Homes/Riverstone.

Interested to know if anyone on this forum who has or knows someone who has built in Riverstone if they were able to negotiate any kind of incentives (% off options cost, cash back, lower base price, etc) to sign the contract.

I know they are offering $5000 incentives if you use GL financing but has anyone received anything else?

Thanks.

[Jingie]

When we purchased, they would not negotiate at all.

[movin1]

I had read somewhere (I think it was here) that a realtor got someone a better deal. We had worked with a realtor before we decided to buy in Riverstone. He said he could not help us get a better deal there. White Sands website says it can not get you a better deal, but can help you keep track of things if you are not in town while construction is going on.

GL Homes had offers to pay for flight and hotel in some of their other locations. No deals like that offered in Naples, I asked because we had to go back down to do the design options. Airfare cost us a bundle.

I think the days of "deals" in Riverstone are long gone if they ever existed. Base prices of the homes have gone up $14,000 since we bought 4 months ago. They had gone up $35,000 since they first opened two years ago. They only had one lot we liked and we bought it. If it hadn't been available, we would not have built there. I don't know how many lots are still available, but I think they are selling and the inventory is dwindling.

[InPlaneSight]

I was there this week looking at our home progress. We are in the final section, Plat 5, and there are 16 homes going up right now. GL Homes has no reason, whatsoever, to offer any "deals" when they can even raise prices in the "slow" season.

[nyflbound]

They would not negotiate at all and I had a realtor. The homes have been selling like crazy and the prices have been rising. In the year and a half since going into contract my home is now 75,000 more to build.

[CH183]

Originally Posted by nyflbound

They would not negotiate at all and I had a realtor. The homes have been selling like crazy and the prices have been rising. In the year and a half since going into contract my home is now 75,000 more to build.

Thanks for all the input guys. NYflbound, have you moved in? Was estimated closing date met?

Any advice (what would you have done differently? Etc) to a new buyer who is just now signing contract and will start picking out options next month?

[nyflbound]

Originally Posted by CH183

Thanks for all the input guys. NYflbound, have you moved in? Was estimated closing date met?

Any advice (what would you have done differently? Etc) to a new buyer who is just now signing contract and will start picking out options next month?

Yes, I'm here. I moved in a couple of months ago. We ended up closing a few months after the original closing date, but my neighbors closed right on time so I guess it depends.

Have fun picking out the options next month! Some things I found were:

The options can get very expensive and some things you can definitely do cheaper after you move in, like crown molding. We put in a pool when we built but I've heard others say that it was cheaper to do it after. If you go with a counter depth refrigerator be prepared to buy an extra one for the laundry room or garage because they have a lot less space than the standard fridge. We upgraded the downstairs bathroom and the master but for the others used standard tile but added a few strips of decorative tile to it which made it look more custom. They came out nice and we spent less. We decided to spend a little more on the kitchen and put hardwood floors on the staircase and loft. We get a lot of compliments on this and I think it looks nice.

There's nothing I can think of I would have done differently. Good luck with everything, and welcome to Riverstone!

[MovingToNaples]

Good luck with getting anything for the options. No luck here.

We'll be moving in a few weeks! Very excited. We didn't do any millwork or pool, as we were told it's cheaper later. We'll find out soon if that's true. In hindsight, with the clubhouse not opening until after summer, I might have done the pool with them. I hear it gets a little hot in July/Aug in FL. lol.

As for the timing of the close date, the told us July/Aug and we are expecting to close in a few weeks, so they delivered on that promise.

[CH183]

So I've signed the contract and am flying in to pick options in mid August. Closing is set for May/June next year. Quite excited. Hope to meet some of you when we (me, wife, 6yr old son and 3 yr old daughter) move in next summer.

If any of you have any advice or recommendations on vendors for various things around the house, please do share.