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haha. Sorry, title should read gone "down." We are expected to go to closing sometime in mid August and have put down 15K. Now we're seeing on the builders website that the base price of our house is 19K less. Should we be asking our realtor to work for us to get that money off? What would you do? Thanks.
Last edited by autumngal; 06-08-2008 at 10:11 AM..
Reason: fixed it for ya :)
haha. Sorry, title should read gone "down." We are expected to go to closing sometime in mid August and have put down 15K. Now we're seeing on the builders website that the base price of our house is 19K less. Should we be asking our realtor to work for us to get that money off? What would you do? Thanks.
If you walk away and rebuy the house at the new price you save $4K even after losing your deposit. I'd be sure the builder knows that you know that. Sounds like you're working with an agent - this seems like a good opportunity for them to earn their commission.
I've personlly seen three houses in the past few weeks where deals have fallen apart near the end - and I'm just looking casually at a few nearby neighborhoods. From what I've heard from agents, it's harder to close a deal then to sign one these days (lending stuff mostly), so builders are in a tough spot. Can't hurt to ask and see what they come up with for you.
haha. Sorry, title should read gone "down." We are expected to go to closing sometime in mid August and have put down 15K. Now we're seeing on the builders website that the base price of our house is 19K less. Should we be asking our realtor to work for us to get that money off? What would you do? Thanks.
Tell your real-estate agent that you’re prepared to walk away if the builder doesn’t adjust the cost. There are plenty of other builders around Raleigh that would love to have your business. One thing I’d be careful of, though, is that the builder doesn’t cut cost on features and materials to meet the new lower price point.
If the builder has dropped their base price and you signed a contract before the adjustment, the builder should honor the lower price. Talk to the builder.
If the builder has dropped their base price and you signed a contract before the adjustment, the builder should honor the lower price. Talk to the builder.
On what grounds? If they raised the price, would you have to pay more for it? No, you'd hide behind the contract.
I am disappointed with the similarity of all of these responses - search for other threads (this has come up plenty of times here and on other CDF forums) and usually the advice is the same - talk to the realtor, BUT this must be tempered with the fact that legally they do not have to give you ANYTHING in this situation. Sure, in a down market they might bend a little bit, and your realtor can help you with the situation, but all the responses so far seem to treat this as if it is a foregone conclusion that you will be able to get the lower price...and that is far from the case.
Yup, talk to your realtor about this today! Good Luck!
Quote:
Originally Posted by sneezecake
On what grounds? If they raised the price, would you have to pay more for it? No, you'd hide behind the contract.
I am disappointed with the similarity of all of these responses - search for other threads (this has come up plenty of times here and on other CDF forums) and usually the advice is the same - talk to the realtor, BUT this must be tempered with the fact that legally they do not have to give you ANYTHING in this situation. Sure, in a down market they might bend a little bit, and your realtor can help you with the situation, but all the responses so far seem to treat this as if it is a foregone conclusion that you will be able to get the lower price...and that is far from the case.
It seems to me that the OP has been given superb advice, without indication that a price decrease is a slam-dunk.
But:
1. The Realtor can help determine if there is an appraisal contingency, and if comps have been impacted by price decreases, and proceed to help with negotiating a price based on comps.
2. If there is a financing contingency, will the loan be kicked out if the appraisal isn't acceptable to the lender?
3. The Realtor knows the Buyer, Builder, and the details better than anyone who has responded in generic fashion.
The OP should be talking to the Realtor where guidance might be better founded than opinions on an anonymous forum.
The three responses cited above were uncompromised excellent advice, IMO.
I believe responses with more detail/qualification would be more helpful in detailing the true situation.
These responses may be technically correct advice, but I think they are far from "excellent" posts/responses.
As a corollary to your evidence, had I asked on here:
"I just signed a contract on a new construction home and now I decided I want to plate the entire kitchen in 24k gold. Should I ask my realtor to see if we can get the builder to do this after the fact?"
Sure, "ask your realtor!" is a technically correct answer, but I think we'd all agree that it does not truly address the situation in it's entirety.
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It’s called a recession
