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Old 03-07-2011, 08:40 AM
 
17 posts, read 94,108 times
Reputation: 27

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I recently purchased a Grand home, and am VERY happy with it. I have owned many homes, and so far (only about 6 months) this home has been fine.
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Old 03-07-2011, 09:24 AM
 
Location: Mckinney
1,103 posts, read 1,659,671 times
Reputation: 1196
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1TBH View Post
I recently purchased a Grand home, and am VERY happy with it. I have owned many homes, and so far (only about 6 months) this home has been fine.
Give it time. You generally dont start seeing issues for a year.
It would be a good idea to have a thrid party inspection at 11 months, that way you are still under warranty and can have things fixed for free. More then likely you won't have them, but with Grand there is a much better chance you will versus good builders. Just saying.
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Old 03-07-2011, 10:23 AM
 
Location: Frisco, TX
325 posts, read 756,811 times
Reputation: 420
Although I'm steering away from Grand Homes in what I'm considering, there's no guarantee that a Grand Home will have problems, any more than a home from one of the more reputable builder doesn't turn out to be a lemon. It's just that the chances may be higher for issues based on some of the feedback that previous owners have had, just as the chances are houses from the highest rated builder will have fewer issues.

I've lived in a house from a reputable builder back east for several years with no major problems, but one of my neighbors has had nothing but problems. Sometimes it's just the luck of the draw (in terms of what crew you had doing the actual construction, whether or not the site foreman actually was good at what he was doing, or even if the original site survey missed some potential issues where the foundation was being laid).

I personally prefer to minimize the chances, which is why we're likely going with a Highland built home (albeit used)...
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Old 03-09-2011, 07:16 AM
 
43 posts, read 115,209 times
Reputation: 22
Thank you all, for some good advises. I will surley do my homework before i purchase a house. I like toll brothers homes in KINGS LAKE, Toll B is making houses in Kings lake. I am qurious are you all live i Dallas suburbs?
Plano west senior high school is good school by www.greatschool.com I have 2 kids ready for high school. I just dont know what to do. R There lots of jobs in IT field. I am working as Network Administrator I do have Secret Clearance also, currently I am working with US military in Iraq. My contract ends next january after that i might move to Plano or wherever you folks suggest. Thanks in advance
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Old 03-09-2011, 08:27 AM
 
Location: The Big D
14,862 posts, read 42,858,565 times
Reputation: 5787
Quote:
Originally Posted by qmoosa View Post
Thank you all, for some good advises. I will surley do my homework before i purchase a house. I like toll brothers homes in KINGS LAKE, Toll B is making houses in Kings lake. I am qurious are you all live i Dallas suburbs?
Plano west senior high school is good school by www.greatschool.com I have 2 kids ready for high school. I just dont know what to do. R There lots of jobs in IT field. I am working as Network Administrator I do have Secret Clearance also, currently I am working with US military in Iraq. My contract ends next january after that i might move to Plano or wherever you folks suggest. Thanks in advance
You seem to be the target market for Grand Homes. They attract a lot of foreign buyers that are not familiar w/ real estate in the states. Reason being is that they offer that BIG NEW SHINY house that some people falsely believe is the "All American Dream". DO NOT BUY INTO IT! Another reason that Grand likes this market of buyers is because they do not understand the building codes, inspections, warranty issues, etc. They can literally snowball them.

So, you will be moving here without a job and looking to find one in IT. Along w/ the 1000's of unemployed people already living HERE that are looking for the exact same job IF it should come open. Good luck. Jobs are not plentiful like you have been told. You must be reading all of the media reports saying that Texas is doing better than other parts of the country. Sure, we are. To a point. That does NOT mean that all things are rosey here and that there are jobs a plenty. There simply are NOT! And things are about to get even worse. There is a HUGE deficit in the state budget and 1000's of teachers are about to be let go. Many of these teachers are qualified to work in the private sector in other professions, including IT. Considering that even the IT people that DO have a job right now in the Dallas area are facing lay offs. I know personally of 3 people in IT out of a small group that their jobs are in jeopardy as their companies are about to shut down offices here in Dallas.

You have another year to go and by then I'm not so sure that anyone can claim that Texas is doing better than any other area of the country.
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Old 03-15-2011, 03:19 PM
 
1 posts, read 2,605 times
Reputation: 10
All i can say is don't sign anything with grand unless your truly ready to build with them. They are known to keep your earnest money, and they are trying to keep mine, and they haven't started anything.....so please beware.
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Old 03-15-2011, 04:18 PM
 
Location: Mckinney
1,103 posts, read 1,659,671 times
Reputation: 1196
Quote:
Originally Posted by arizcats13 View Post
How much equity would it take for you to purchase a Grand in today's market (assuming financial foreclosure), knowing you might have quality and re-sale issues to deal with later?
If I could get it 35% or more under appraised value, I would have no problem getting it if it was close to new . Just a few years old at most. Everything has a price.
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Old 03-15-2011, 07:08 PM
 
Location: DFW
40,952 posts, read 49,155,879 times
Reputation: 55000
Quote:
Originally Posted by deeastevenson View Post
All i can say is don't sign anything with grand unless your truly ready to build with them. They are known to keep your earnest money, and they are trying to keep mine, and they haven't started anything.....so please beware.
This is a common practice with Grand from what I hear. I think they make more money from forfeited deposits then selling homes.
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Old 04-14-2011, 02:01 AM
 
2 posts, read 4,763 times
Reputation: 10
Hi, KLHunt. I don't know if you are still looking but we just started shopping around. We love Allen, def going to make the move there from Flower Mound. We've been to Highland, Grand, Drees and Toll. We visited the Design studio at Grand and Drees so far. I'm so confused now! I take no account of the silly awards. Especially JD Powers. I stay at W hotels worldwide with my job and they are absolutely awesome - they have a 2 rating with JD Powers. Hmmm?

Anyway, so Drees and Grand are equal on most Energy effeciency. 16 Seer, Low E windows, radiant decking. But Drees does R40 in attic, Grand does R30. But Grand does R22 in the exterior walls, which is 2 x 6 construction instead of 2 x 4. Drees also does the low voe paint (I think that is the right acronym) but I wasn't too keen on the colors.

I'm def going to talk to the neighbors. I think that is a great idea. I was impressed with the sales counsel at Grand, it was so-so at Drees (she seemed bothered though - not really even into helping us figure out what would work for us in a plan). Highland was great - very helpful! Toll is out. Didn't even come out of the office! I will not do business with someone who doesn't get off their butt to help us!

Keep us posted, as will I!!
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Old 04-14-2011, 02:44 AM
 
2 posts, read 4,763 times
Reputation: 10
Just read through ALL the other pages Just another comment that our Realtor told us - she said that she wouldn't show Grand homes a few years ago but that now she has no problem because of the new construction standards and energy star cert they are doing. Also, she's had 2 clients come from a Grand community to buy in another - one was in Cumberland Crossing and one was in Crown Ridge in Frisco (not sure which communities they were in before but I met one family and they weren't immigrants). She said they both couldn't be happier. Also, she loves Highland in Star Creek, says her clients are soooo happy. But not Darling. Had lots of problems with Darling, so we didn't go there.

I HIGHLY suggest going to the design studios - it doesn't get any easier than walking through and picking what you want and then the agent pricing your upgrades before you decide to buy! And everything is there - you KNOW the quality. I saw absolutely NO difference in the 2 design studios "stuff." Grand's options were less expensive in some instances but more in others (for instance the seamless shower was $3250). But Grand had way more "pretend" areas to help visualize. (I do better in real life rather than with pictures)
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