Saranac Development in Gainesville -- Brookfield Homes? (sales, credit)

[conanicut]

Does anyone have any info about the Saranac development? Does anyone have any comments/suggestions on dealing with Brookfield Homes?

[lbernatz]

I visited Saranac over the x-mas holidays and loved the "look" of the cabin homes. Unfortunately I wasn't overly impressed with their sales guy. The first time I visited he wasn't in during the posted hours. I called the phone number left at the door and never received a call back . I liked exterior look of the homes so much a made a second trip out the site later in the week. The sales guy, "Wayne" I think,was still not there even though is was during the posted hours. I went across the street their other development were apparently Wayne felt a better use of his time was socializing with the female sales rep. Oddly his car was parked over at Saranac and he had to have her drive him back over...! I was with my husband and two kids and granted we weren't dressed to kill but Saranac is totally within our price range. "Wayne" must have thought we weren't real contenders because getting info from him was like pulling teeth, although he did print me out the price list for the options (which was the first time a builder sales rep has parted with that info with fussing). All in all I liked the house, but didn't like the attitude of the sales rep. Thought they were a bit over priced for the area. Don't think I'll be buying from Brookfield simply because if that's the kind of sales rep they have to represent their company I can only imagine what the rest of the food chain is like.

I'd check out Syg Homes just over the hill. Much better value, family run builder even met the VP at the model.

I know that didn't help much with negotiating a deal.

[conanicut]

Thanks for the info- funny we felt the same way about the sales team. I'll check out syg thanks for the tip.

[HEATHER72]

Sales have been slow for Saranac AND SYG homes @ Ellis Mill.

I wouldn't let one salesperson deter me away from buying a house. There is always a bad apple in the bunch (unfortunately). If no one was at the model home in Saranac, I'd go to the model home on Song Sparrow in Morris Farm. Ask for Peter or Donald. They have been with Brookfield for awhile. Surely they can steer you towards a good salesman. I've had a crappy one before... she didn't want to show up for the walk thru. A call to the home office (this was not Brookfield btw) cleared that up quickly -- "If someone doesn't show up here at 4 pm, I'm not closing on this house." One of the vice presidents showed up at 4.

Anyway, I own a Brookfield home. I don't know what things I could suggest w/out specific questions. Am I happy with my house? Yes. Would I buy another Brookfield house? Yes. Was I pleased with the service before and after the sale? Most definitely. Did they fix any problems we had? Yes. Even when we warped the siding on the house with the grill. LOL Free of charge.

The only thing I visually don't like about Saranac is that there are no curbs or sidewalks. I know that's the look for the neighborhood, but at that price range and in practicality, I'd expect those things.

As with any builder, they are more likely to dicker on price of upgrades if you are building a house. If you use their lender, then you'll have credits toward closing costs. We didn't pay any closing costs when we bought a spec home 2 years ago. They cut a bit off the price and painted the garage & installed a garage door opener.

[fdeitz]

If the female sales rep over at the sales office for Morris Farm is the one I think it is, she's next to useless. She became our sales rep after the one we had been dealing with for months left Brookfield about a month and a half before we closed. It was useless to try and get her to return calls on the phone, and when we went there she usually was wasting her time gossiping with other sales reps, and didn't seem in any hurry to see us. She also told us that she used to work at Saranac but came over to Morris Farm to take over accounts from the salesman who left. She did not seem very happy to be working at Morris Farm as opposed to Saranac, and I got the distinct impression she felt Morris Farm was "beneath her". We bought the Yardley model which is one of the more expensive models in the neighborhood - and she made some negative comment in our presence about the lower end models (the Carriage series). If she had been the sales rep when we were looking I have my doubts that I would have bought our house at Morris Farm. I guess I'm not surprised that other sales rep from Saranac comes over there to see her, as they must have worked together over there before she was moved to Morris Farm back in early September.

That being said, I'm very happy with the house and the neighborhood.

I can't speak to Saranac as it was out of our price range and we didn't need a very big house since it's just the two of us. I would think though with the housing market the way it is, deals can be made over there to get the prices down quite a bit from what they are advertised at. The house designs do look nice over there.

[dgtlsunshine]

I love Saranac. I would move there in a heart beat but we need to stay where we are until our child finishes school.

[SandraBrowning]

I have to say experiencing first hand that Brookfield Homes is BIG on customer service. The sales rep I dealt with is very knowledgeable and helpful. I just closed my second transaction with them today. My clients were very very pleased with them and their new home. Saranac is having a little trouble selling their bigger homes due to the price point they are at. They are as we speak getting ready to release two new products at lower price points.

[conanicut]

Interesting- thanks to all for your responses. We love the development too and its reassuring to know that others have had good experiences with the homes.

[dgtlsunshine]

I also want to add we bought a brand new Brookfield home 4 years ago and we are very pleased with the quality.

[conanicut]

I am wondering about the newer lower priced models they plan to put in Saranac. Will they take down the value of the bigger homes?