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Old 05-06-2014, 05:45 PM
 
Location: North East
657 posts, read 693,495 times
Reputation: 243

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Hi all,

It's been a while and life has changed. After a failed move to Tampa - we changed course at the last minute. I had received the promotion that was promised to me and arrangements were being made to move my family to Tampa by the middle of 2013. But, as we all know - life throws lemons at you and one must learn how to make lemonade. I was offered a new position within the company and moved to the new role in the middle of 2013. After initially being asked to move to the NYC area, I was allowed to stay put in Delaware for the last year.

We are now making arrangements to buy a home in Pennsylvania - and hoping to move there by the end of this year. We looked at a Centex home and when we asked the sales rep for a spec sheet - she said - "we don't have those, you can call us if you have any questions about any options?"

My immediate response was "huhhhh????".. How can anyone in their right mind buy a home without a spec sheet? How do you know what your house will have vs what it won't have? The materials that will be used? etc...

With all of that said, do builders (like Centex) provide a spec sheet for folks that are interested in buying?
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Old 05-06-2014, 05:48 PM
Status: "Made the Retirement Run in under 12 parsecs!!!" (set 19 days ago)
 
Location: Cary, NC
43,171 posts, read 76,782,186 times
Reputation: 45523
Quote:
Originally Posted by SarasotaBound1 View Post
Hi all,

It's been a while and life has changed. After a failed move to Tampa - we changed course at the last minute. I had received the promotion that was promised to me and arrangements were being made to move my family to Tampa by the middle of 2013. But, as we all know - life throws lemons at you and one must learn how to make lemonade. I was offered a new position within the company and moved to the new role in the middle of 2013. After initially being asked to move to the NYC area, I was allowed to stay put in Delaware for the last year.

We are now making arrangements to buy a home in Pennsylvania - and hoping to move there by the end of this year. We looked at a Centex home and when we asked the sales rep for a spec sheet - she said - "we don't have those, you can call us if you have any questions about any options?"

My immediate response was "huhhhh????".. How can anyone in their right mind buy a home without a spec sheet? How do you know what your house will have vs what it won't have? The materials that will be used? etc...

With all of that said, do builders (like Centex) provide a spec sheet for folks that are interested in buying?
Nope. At least, not much of one. Their sales brochures have a list of included features, but it certainly is not a detailed specification.

Visit model homes, and try to deduce what is included and what is optional.
Walk through a house or two during the final of framing, and get an idea how they assemble it.
Assume you will have particle board cabinets with wood fronts.
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Old 05-06-2014, 05:57 PM
 
Location: North East
657 posts, read 693,495 times
Reputation: 243
Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeJaquish View Post
Nope. At least, not much of one. Their sales brochures have a list of included features, but it certainly is not a detailed specification.

Visit model homes, and try to deduce what is included and what is optional.
Walk through a house or two during the final of framing, and get an idea how they assemble it.
Assume you will have particle board cabinets with wood fronts.
Thanks Mike! Appreciate your input.

This is a very bad thing - this basically means that buyers are at the mercy of the builder. I mean, everyone is used to details when they buy things. Who buys a car, home theater, computer, television, etc, etc without knowing the specs?

To me - that sounds unbelievable and shady. The builder can technically show a great looking model with quality materials and build using the cheapest stuff. I mean - why wouldn't they do it if they don't have to put it down on a spec sheet?

And on top of that - I've been reading countless number of people complaining about the quality of the home - to the point that these are falling down after a few years. This is close to a deal breaker for me - I just can't see why you can't give one if you talk quality when you sell your homes.

We have asked our Realtor for a spec sheet and she is reaching out to the headquarters - just not sure if this will be a useless exercise at this point.
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Old 05-06-2014, 08:30 PM
 
Location: DFW
40,934 posts, read 49,004,046 times
Reputation: 54946
Centex went bankrupt about 4 years ago and Pulte (who's not much better) took them over.

Don't you want to find a better builder ?
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Old 05-06-2014, 08:58 PM
 
2,283 posts, read 3,845,035 times
Reputation: 3680
Both of the last two builders I've used provided one, particularly for options, etc. Honestly, it was more of a book than a sheet.
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Old 05-06-2014, 11:43 PM
 
Location: Mckinney
1,103 posts, read 1,652,659 times
Reputation: 1196
I used to work for centex/pulte. They always, always have standard feature sheets. In fact, we had to have them initialed by the buyer at contract. Obviously the sales person is an idiot. FYI. Centex built a quality home. I left when Pulte took over, but the construction wasnt the reason.
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Old 05-07-2014, 06:31 AM
 
Location: DFW
40,934 posts, read 49,004,046 times
Reputation: 54946
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikestrong View Post
I used to work for centex/pulte. They always, always have standard feature sheets. In fact, we had to have them initialed by the buyer at contract. Obviously the sales person is an idiot.
This is standard procedure and a lawsuit preventer. They are too big not to have a standard features list.
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