Land Loan/Construction Loan Information Needed (custom home, to buy, pricing)

[kittycat270]

Hello,

We are hoping to buy land in Nova and build a house. Has anyone gone through this process? We would especially like recommendations on lenders who give land loans or construction loans so we can get that part settled before pursuing a builder. We did some research and liked what we saw with NDI (New Dimensions Inc.) I saw a couple of older posts on them with good reviews. Anyone have bad experiences with them in building their homes? And also, with the housing market the way it is, is there a way to know if a builder is having financial trouble? I don't want to start a process of building and then have it go south. Thanks for your help!

[bmully]

I had mentioned this before in another posting. You may want to look into Reel Homes. They did a fantastic job for me and I know they are very compettive in their pricing. They actually offer more, and are close to those other on your lot builders in terms of cost. They have a couple of great lenders they work with as well. www.reel-homes.com

Good Luck!!

[jmumaster]

Perhaps Reel Home built better homes in the beginning. But not anymore - I feel compelled to post and warn others when we had yet another major issue surface in our new home.

Recent rains and our basement is wet - the sump pump is not working. Our project manager has yet to return our urgent messages. This is on top of the many many battles we have had with this company since we signed the contract. THEY DO NOT STAND BY THEIR WORK! Look for other reviews on city data and a local moms grup- dcurbanmom and you will see others have had problems, too.

Check the BBB!

They are refusing to settle issues due to the house settling so now we have uneven walls, doors that don't open and close, shifting hardwoods with major gaps in between the planks. Our walls are paper thin and you can hear noises and vibrations everywhere. Flush a toilet and it sounds like a waterfall is running through the house! Windoes installed poorly so they are not tight. As I sit here on a windy day - i can see a stack of paper on the desk next to the window blowing. They refuse to fix anything! Very serioulsy contemplating a lawsuit but in the meantime - I want to warn others who might be thinking about using them.

Nasty employees that get defensive when you call them out on quality control issues.

Find someone else to build your house.

[L Nobles]

I would do your homework (as you are clearly doing). Who do you bank with? I am a commercial banker (and Realtor) and would recommend you sitting down with someone in your bank and get builder references. Hopefully it's a community bank that actually banks builders that build spec homes or custom homes. The Bank will obviously not recommend someone to you that is not financially sound. More than likely if the builder has been banking with them for a while then they're doing a decent job too.

On the other hand, a good bank is going to want to make sure whoever you choose as a builder has the stability and wherewithal to get the job completed on time and on budget. That's the bank's main risk - project completion at the amount stated in the construction contract. Make darn sure your bank has a solid draw procedure in place for construction loans as you don't want a bank that is loose with their draws and lets the builder bend a lot on what they are requesting vs what's been built. This is where you get in trouble financially.

From there, any reputable builder is going to give you a list of at least 5 references you can call and/or see the builders past work. If a builder isn't willing to give you references to check out, run and run fast.

You are always going to find complaints on builders no matter what. Builders are not perfectionists, but often build homes for perfectionists. The two just don't jive.