Should I use a real estate agent for a brand new home? (Reston: sales, 2014)

[Panu16]

Don't want to hijack the other thread. I already found a house that I want to buy. It is a new construction house at Goose Creek Preserve in Ashburn. Lennar is the builder. Is there any advantage in using one? The seller sale rep sort of hinted that I may be able to negotiate a better deal if they don't have to pay the buyer agent.

[BOS2IAD]

Hmmm...When we bought our first home, it was with Ryan Homes. At the time, Ryan refused to work with realtors---which was a shame as we had a good realtor and would have loved to have her there for the buying process. Still, we have no regrets about how the buying process went.

Second time around, 10 years later, we traded up to another Ryan built home. At this time, Ryan was willing to work with realtors. I do believe that our realtor got us some upgrades thrown in for free as I'm sure the Ryan salesperson would never have volunteered to give us any free upgrades. We also got a small amount knocked off the price since this was our second Ryan home (but Ryan would have done that anyway).

Also, our realtor was willing to talk to the Ryan sales agent when there was a misunderstanding about when we wanted to close and she pushed hard when it was taking Verizon forever to bring phone service to our development.

So...it's up to you...

[HokieFan]

Personally, I would use a real estate agent. I want someone who is negotiating and advising me on my best interests. Keep in mind that the sales rep is working on the builders best interest, and their advice will favor them.

If you're comfortable with negotiating and deciphering/understanding the legalese of contracts, you may not want to bother with an agent as many people don't.

[merlinflex]

Originally Posted by Panu16

Don't want to hijack the other thread. I already found a house that I want to buy. It is a new construction house at Goose Creek Preserve in Ashburn. Lennar is the builder. Is there any advantage in using one? The seller sale rep sort of hinted that I may be able to negotiate a better deal if they don't have to pay the buyer agent.

When I saw "Goose Creek Preserve in Ashburn" alarms in my head went off. We looked at them in March and we liked them and they were #1 on our list. But we decided to look a little further in and went to Brambleton and saw some builders in Broadlands as well. We decied to go with Goose Creek and went back a few weeks later and there were protests out in front that their condos and townhomes and SFH were experiencing leaks, the dry wall too thin and no sound proofing between walls. Right as you drove in, the people living in the condos/townhomes right next to the builders office had huge signs in their windows about roof leaking, ruining clothes and carpet and furniture, etc ,etc.

Soooooo....we said no way....not paying $600K+ to go through that, so we got a SFH lot in Brambleton and moving in at the end of the month.

From time to time when we come in from the toll way, we go and drive around Goose Creek just to see and those signs were there from March 2014 to August 2014 and we saw people working and figure the builder couldn't deal with the bad press in front of their office that they caved in and fixed everything. But if you read the blogs, the owners had to go to court and do that protest for the builders to admint they messed up.

my two cents...

[kww]

Originally Posted by merlinflex

When I saw "Goose Creek Preserve in Ashburn" alarms in my head went off. We looked at them in March and we liked them and they were #1 on our list. But we decided to look a little further in and went to Brambleton and saw some builders in Broadlands as well. We decied to go with Goose Creek and went back a few weeks later and there were protests out in front that their condos and townhomes and SFH were experiencing leaks, the dry wall too thin and no sound proofing between walls. Right as you drove in, the people living in the condos/townhomes right next to the builders office had huge signs in their windows about roof leaking, ruining clothes and carpet and furniture, etc ,etc.

Soooooo....we said no way....not paying $600K+ to go through that, so we got a SFH lot in Brambleton and moving in at the end of the month.

From time to time when we come in from the toll way, we go and drive around Goose Creek just to see and those signs were there from March 2014 to August 2014 and we saw people working and figure the builder couldn't deal with the bad press in front of their office that they caved in and fixed everything. But if you read the blogs, the owners had to go to court and do that protest for the builders to admint they messed up.

my two cents...

mind posting a link or two (if easily accessible)? I'm definitely curious

thanks in advance!

[merlinflex]

There is facebook page as well. Go and read the reviews: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lenna...614?sk=reviews

(make sure to expand the reviews, they are long and just posted in the last few months).

Some here to in NOVA: https://www.consumeraffairs.com/housing/brookfield.html

More info on real estate in Loudoun County, our area >>>> Want to buy a house in Loudoun? Think again

I actually think my wife took some photos with her phone, if I find, will post.

Now, that said, I am sure that every builder has complaints against them for one thing or another....but for me, after dropping $600K or so, that is a lot of money for me, and whatever I buy, better be damn rock solid!

[Panu16]

thanks @merlinflex. I was aware of the complaints but was not aware of the protests. It is coming down to two builders for me - Toll Brothers at Loudoun Valley and Lennar at Goose Creek Preserves. Both of them have plenty of similar complaints online (poor customer service, water leaks, scratched appliances, etc). I will be spending $730K+ in either of these homes. I am leaning towards Lennar because of the proximity to the Greenway thinking that I could escape traffic by paying the $6+ toll. Also, I like the thick trees behind the lot at Lennar although the lot seems smaller (about 7,200 sf from what I was told). It seems that the market has slow down and many builders are offering big incentives right now.

What builder did you buy from and what have been your experience so far?

[merlinflex]

I would go with Toll Brothers, better than Lenner, but not by much, but better. I went with Miller & Smith in Brambleton. So far so good. Of course M&S have issues too, but I keep on top of them and force them to get off their lazy butts. I went to Toll Bros, but I have my own financing lined up with a good rate and over 20% down and credit above 745 across the board. But Toll Bros gave me attitude, they would not even go into detail on anything without me signing a paper and wanting to get my social security info and such "in case they could offer me a better" deal.....I told them no and they insisted and I walked out the door and went with M&S.

I am from the Sierra Nevada's, Lake Tahoe ....so I don't consider anything here in NOVA to meet any sort of the definition of mountains and trees...to me, NOVA is just a bunch of hills and shrubs, there are no "real" mountains here. That said, if you like that, then yes, Lennar will offer more given their location over Toll Bros. But they have their issues to.

Are you buying a condo? townhome? single family? We will be using the Tollway coming from Brambleton to get to Fairfax, but there is also 50. Is that why you would be using the tollway?

[Panu16]

I actually work from home a lot as a federal contractor. My employer's office is in Reston. But I could be sent to work in DC or other city on my next contract. My wife works in Cascades. So, for her it is same distance from either Loudoun Valley or Goose Creek (14 miles either way). However, I think that commute will be better for her on Route 7 (it is usually clear to Cascades Parkway once we got past the two Ashburn traffic lights). From Loudoun Valley, she will have to use Loudoun County Parkway to 28.

We are leaning more towards Goose Creek single family home. The prices at Toll Brothers have shot up significantly since we started looking in June. The price now is north of $760k for a Yates model with the upgrades/options that we want compared to $730k at Goose Creek. Plus, we will get a walkout basement at Lennar instead of a walk-up at Toll (in their wooded lot). We also looked in Brambleton (the internet + TV inclusion in HOA fee is a sweet deal), thought about buying a Beazer home at their storm water management pond lot, but decided that we don't need that big of a house since their will only be for the two of us (for now).

It is certainly a hard decision.

[merlinflex]

I work from home as well....so driving to the tollway or 50 does not matter to me as much.

Toll Bros is nice...but they are ass' and they charge the same way....nevermind that the last 2 years+ their earnings have been dismal...they are trying to make up for that all over the US and the world by overcharging in markets like DC, SF, Miami, Texas, etc, etc

Lennar....just see my post and facebook posts earlier and go "google" it for yourself.... etc...they are "ok"...but for the same amount as their townhomes/SHF a mile down the road you can get the same, but bigger and better. And the whole "goose creek" has a very bad rep right now...that is why they are having "fire sales" and 50% of their lots are sitting waiting....do the math....