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Has anyone purchased a home from Pulte Homes? They are a national builder and are no strangers to the Washington, DC area. This will be my first home purchase and the price I am looking at is $650k+ but the whole going through upgrades and hearing their lender specials is making me feel anxious. I feel like I am dealing with a shady car dealer. Any tips or other advice? Anyone purchase through Pulte and have a positive or negative story?
You are.
You either accept it or find a small builder.
If you can find a small builder in the area that has locations to build on. The problem in the MD-VA market is most of the buildable land is now controlled by large builders. Small builders have very few lots to build on. Most are now doing custom jobs where the customer already has the land.
Yep, the builders get you all excited looking at the model home which your new home won't look like BTW, then, they send you to the design center. Yikes. If you are anxious now (I get it), then just wait until you see how much the options or upgraded flooring costs. Stressful
Most new home sales are experiencing a slow down and are offering incentives to purchase. The homebuilders don't normally discount the price but will often give a credit towards upgraded flooring, refrigerator, blinds or something. If you have already signed on the dotted line about the best you can do is go to the design meeting and pick out what you want and then wait for the price and freak out on the designer then afterwards call your new home salesperson and tell them you can't afford the house with the options so you will have to cancel your contract. See where it goes from there
Yep, the builders get you all excited looking at the model home which your new home won't look like BTW, then, they send you to the design center. Yikes. If you are anxious now (I get it), then just wait until you see how much the options or upgraded flooring costs. Stressful
Most new home sales are experiencing a slow down and are offering incentives to purchase. The homebuilders don't normally discount the price but will often give a credit towards upgraded flooring, refrigerator, blinds or something. If you have already signed on the dotted line about the best you can do is go to the design meeting and pick out what you want and then wait for the price and freak out on the designer then afterwards call your new home salesperson and tell them you can't afford the house with the options so you will have to cancel your contract. See where it goes from there
Yeah they were telling us about the design warehouse and all we could think of afterwards was dollar signs. They want a $30k non-refundable deposit before moving forward with anything at this point.
You are the one with the money. They want your money.
Make sure that BEFORE YOU SIGN ANYTHING you have an EXACT understanding of what it is you're buying, and the EXACT price.
Then, once they start the building, walk the site frequently and check every single thing to make sure they're building what you agreed to.
The whole buying process, both at the shady car dealer, and at the tract house builder, is designed to make you feel like you're already so far in you can't back out and to make you feel like they are in charge. Don't forget, all the power is in your hands, because IT'S YOUR MONEY.
Finally, always keep in mind that contracts are human creations and can always be modified.
Personally I would not put down a $30,000 non refundable deposit until I had the detailed specifications of the house and the exact sales price in writing.
You are the one with the money. They want your money.
Make sure that BEFORE YOU SIGN ANYTHING you have an EXACT understanding of what it is you're buying, and the EXACT price.
Then, once they start the building, walk the site frequently and check every single thing to make sure they're building what you agreed to.
The whole buying process, both at the shady car dealer, and at the tract house builder, is designed to make you feel like you're already so far in you can't back out and to make you feel like they are in charge. Don't forget, all the power is in your hands, because IT'S YOUR MONEY.
Finally, always keep in mind that contracts are human creations and can always be modified.
Personally I would not put down a $30,000 non refundable deposit until I had the detailed specifications of the house and the exact sales price in writing.
How many national builders have you built with and how often have you succeeded with them with this approach? Pulte (And you can substitute a builder name from a long list of national production builders) pretty much doesn't much care, and doesn't modify their contracts, IME.
Have they modified contracts for you?
Pulte is not without leverage. Pulte has the dirt. And the house. Or one could say, MI or Lennar or CalAtlantic or Beazer or Drees or DR Horton or (insert national builder name) has the house.
How many national builders have you built with and how often have you succeeded with them with this approach?
Pulte (And you can substitute a builder name from a long list of national production builders) pretty much doesn't much care, and doesn't modify their contracts, IME.
Have they modified contracts for you?
Pulte is not without leverage. Pulte has the dirt. And the house. Or one could say, MI or Lennar or CalAtlantic or Beazer or Drees or DR Horton or (insert national builder name) has the house.
But, yeah. The process is awful.
OK, I'll be honest, I have not actually modified a contract for a tract house build.
However, I did require a complete price and detailed spec before signing a contract with non-refundables. The gal at the sales center had to be sat down and told that this was the way it was going to be.
I also cancelled one contract (nothing non-refundable had been put down) because that builder would not ever get started.
If it gets to the point where I have to put down nonrefundable money to secure a place to buy something that isn't defined for a price that isn't defined, I will do something else. I was born at night, but not last night. The old fart term for that is "buying a pig in a poke" and I am not going to participate in it. The only reason businesses get away with doing things like making customers buy a pig in a poke is because customers will go along with it. It's the same thing as selling a car based on the payments. The reason car salesmen can sell cars based on the payments is because people will buy cars based on the payments.
In the subdivision I'm talking about, some people down the street came to closing and found a $40,000 surprise! (The house was probably around $250,000.) That is not going to happen on my watch, thank you very much.
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then afterwards call your new home salesperson and tell them you can't afford the house with the options so you will have to cancel your contract. See where it goes from there 
