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I'm not sure what rdlr is talking about but I've found all the posters on this forum very helpful and welcoming of newcomers and I hope we can keep that up. Let's keep this forum honest and open and share information with everyone and that goes for long time residents, people that have recently moved or those of you that have been searching but have not yet taken the plunge. There is always something new to learn.
Ouch! I apologize for my tardiness, just realizing that it's been a week since I was last online. (I don't even want to LOOK at my email inbox! That's why I came here first -- well, that and the embarassment over not having posted on the forum after promising to do so. ) I'm sorry. (Little Eggplant, thanks for the DM and helping to keep me honest and on track!)
Due to last Friday's snow, McKee's Smart Buyer Program event at Champion's Club was cancelled. Delaware was fine as snow goes, but all who had RSVPd were coming from the north which wasn't exactly fine. We got another foot at my house and all around us, others had 18-20" totals. The good folks at CC decided that it would be in everyone's best interest to reschedule. Debbie's feeling is that it will be rescheduled sooner rather than later. It's my guess that the event won't be scheduled until there's a reasonable expectation of no wintry weather but, when I hear something, I'll put it out here.
I still went down on Saturday. (it was my daughter's b'day and I HAD to be in MD which had dry roads by then! Plus, I needed some grandson[s] time.) Anyway, I did get a quick primer from Debbie on the program and hope I'm reporting as told. Here goes:
You decide you want to buy @ CC, choose a lot and provide a small (3%) check toward your down payment (this holds your lot) at which time you are given a copy of the agreement to take home and read, even get checked out by an atty if you wish, for a 10-day period. (When I say 'agreement', I mean the SB program PLUS the McKee sales contract.)
If you wish to proceed, you provide a check for the other 7% constituting a 10% down payment, and the relocation agent contacts 2 (possibly 3) real estate agents in your area. Those agents visit your home, provide tips (staging?) and work up comps. They present the comps with a suggested sales price which you can negotiate. You then choose an agent from the 2 or 3. The program requires that your chosen agent report to the relo agent at appointed intervals with data covering his/her efforts toward selling your home. Upon sale, 1% of your agent's commission will go to McKee's relo agent.
The incentives are: You get your home sold at an agreed-upon price; the relo agent gets a stipend for helping you sell your house and makes both you and McKee happy; the local agent not only gets the sales commission, less 1%, but also gets called again with leads from the relo agent for another potential commission w/out having to search out clients.
When you make the agreement to participate in this program, it's for a specified period of time which, I believe, is 90 days. If your home doesn't sell within that 90 days, you can either end the process then and there and get all your money back or ask for an extension from McKee which might be an additional 30 or 60 days.
THERE! I hope that conveys the essence of the program.
Now, for the rest of my visit: Ohmigoodness, 'can't wait...'!!! I LOVE your new house! I did, indeed, tromp across your not-quite-driveway and into what's going to be a sweet slice o' heaven. The drywall is all up and I tried very hard to envision that Austin without the extra space. (I really do like that sunroom though!) Your utility room (not 'area') is going to be nice too. I'd love to see it again when the kitchen cabinets get installed. Hope to make that happen. It's still my 1st choice although the Hampton at Noble's Pond is more affordable -- the house, NOT the HOA fee -- and offers more room.
Some practical items: Mary2014, I read here where someone provided the square footage of the Austin (1,224). It is right on target and it includes ONLY the living space. The Austin (and other Americana homes) comes standard with a 1-1/2 car garage (I like that a lot) but that space is not included in the sq. footage. Neither is either porch. As for the others in the Americana series, the Charleston is 1,324 and the Savannah is 1,477. Putting a sunroom on either adds another 100+ sq.ft.
FYI: the March incentives are $10,000 to use as you like (off the price of the home or toward options; I think they call these 'flex dollars') PLUS either a free sunroom, unfinished basement or screened porch.
It seems the questions about sump pumps as being standard have been answered here so I'll just add that SPs must also come w/crawl spaces. Also, a few stairs (3?) can be added right off (I believe) the utility room to simply step down and change a furnace filter. Debbie told me that she has that in her house and it's a snap to do. (Whew!)
So there's my adventure in CC-land. I'm glad I went, even though the event was cancelled. (I did get that word on Friday morning, by the way.) Needless to say, the true making of those few days was the time with my family but it was good to visit CC and get more info. Even though I've provided some info about the Smart Buyer Program, I'll add a disclaimer here that I may have gotten some detail wrong or forgotten some other(s) so, when the next info event is scheduled, I highly recommend that anyone interested attend.
With that, I will close this L-O-N-G missive and dream of spring!
Hey Jude, Thanks for sharing info. about McKee's program to help folks get their existing homes sold. Sounds like a good program for those who need it. Glad you liked our little house! Thanks for talking about it and I hope you were able to see and understand the changes that we made in our Austin. I'm so excited! We love what we have seen in the photos that darling Debbie @ CC continues to send us. We hope to make another trip over to DE in a few weeks. We need to get our appliances ordered. Right now we are in the final 48 hrs. before our house goes on the market. I'm exhausted, nervous to the point of making myself sick, and SOoooo ready to move on. I have contemplated dozens of possible sales scenarios and the timing of each and know that unfortunately the timing of our move will be determined by our buyers, not us. My grown daughters have been here this weekend and today we did some "sterilizing" of our house. Even me, the Realtor and home stager, needed encouragement (and independent input from the girls) to "lighten our look." So I'm up late tonight sorting and boxing even more "stuff" in the hopes of making our home look less like my crazy primitive decorating style and to have more general appeal. I put out e-mail notices to all my Realtor friends this week that our home is coming on the market and some said they would have buyers IF we had four bedrooms (we have three) and IF we had a basement (which we don't). Plus I had an indepdent fee appraisal done last week and the price came in almost $100,000 OVER what I think we can sell our home for. (I begged the appraiser for a true market appraisal and not to just please me). We have absolutely NO valid comparable properties and I truly don't know what our buyer's appraiser will use when we get a contract. Good luck to all of you with homes to sell and I hope you have four bedrooms and a basement LOL......
Thank you for replying privately ...you stepped out and shared what could have been critical information for me to know before making a decision. This forum should be about that sort of gesture...personal opinions and experiences are helpful, of course, but why I joined this forum (my only non-professional one at that) is to get factual unbiased information, that might not be found easily in a web search.
It should be politically 'correct' to help others without any reprecussions, when comments are not liable or slanderous and not paid to involve because of kickbacks from the builders themselves....you just keep on speaking your mind, and helping those of us who are not from this 'neck of the woods' to not be taken advantage of, or make unwise life altering decisions.
Kudos to you!
I bought into this community, LEGACY, and so wish I'd have asked more "RIGHT" questions outside the sales office. Issues everywhere here, so don't be afraid to ask questions about Ryan and especially the developer........
Thanks ever so much for your detailed report! Sorry I had to nag you with a DM. Had no idea the event was postponed due to weather (what would I know here in Maine? It was 55 and sunny yesterday!). We are going down to DE in April and it would be great if it were rescheduled then.
I got a fairly good grasp of the program but still wonder if you sacrifice $ for a quick sell. We have a wonderful agent already here that I would use again but am always open to new options like this program.
I can empathize with you about coordinating sell time with purchase time, something one has no control over. You are very brave, in my opinion, to have your new home built before listing the old one. Too much angst for me!
Continue to love the back and forth exchanges on this site. I hope we all settle where we are supposed to, for a good price, and with minimal stress. Yes, the enthusiasm in others IS contagious!
Hello, I was wondering if anyone had any information about Longacre Village in Camden. I understand K.Hovnanian Homes is going in there. I live in N.J. and I have family that have a K.Hov home. I went on their website and it said that were coming soon to Longacre Village. Any insight will be greatly appreciated.
Hello, I was wondering if anyone had any information about Longacre Village in Camden. I understand K.Hovnanian Homes is going in there. I live in N.J. and I have family that have a K.Hov home. I went on their website and it said that were coming soon to Longacre Village. Any insight will be greatly appreciated.
Happy to report that, YES! They are there, and it is a very nice looking subdivision, and very conveniently located. There's a mix of single family detached and townhome units. Most notably is their gorgeous strip center (shopping center) with beautiful copper looking roofing. There are a few stores in there - a very nice deli, a liquor store, and others. The biggest news is that the Kent County Library is moving to that center in the near future. What else do you need to know?
Hello, I was wondering if anyone had any information about Longacre Village in Camden. I understand K.Hovnanian Homes is going in there. I live in N.J. and I have family that have a K.Hov home. I went on their website and it said that were coming soon to Longacre Village. Any insight will be greatly appreciated.
I wouldn't get too excited about K. Hovnanian. They were supposed to be building a 575 home development here in New York and they pulled out because, according to them, it "no longer made financial sense given the downtown in the economy".
The company, not including a one-time $291 million dollar "tax benefit", has lost money in fourteen consecutive quarters. (That's three and a half years dating back before the economy turned.)
K. Hovnanian is a publicly traded company. Their stock symbol is HOV. As a publicly traded company, there is lots of information available on their history and financial status. Do your homework.
some close to me lives in a K Hov in PA........a 55+ community.
After 3 years....every house had the whole front rip due to leakage and rot. The builders did make good but the same thing happened the following year.
Beautiful homes too. Really lovely and so is the price.
Charley, thanks for the insight but you seem a little harsh.
First, I am buying in DE not New York. Also, you might want to acknowledge that "pulling out" might have been a sound financial decision. In the past several years, many builders had to make tough decisions and one of them was "pulling out" of communities where it did not make financial sense. You may look at it as a negative, but others may see it as sound business decision. The Builders that did not "pull out" or just rode the wave, are probably no longer with us today and now the bank owns the land.
Secondly, who has not enjoyed a "tax benefit" over the last several years. Your financial statements intrigued me so I did do some research. I come to find out that they did just post profit for the first time in a long time. And yes, it was because of a tax benefit - but who cares and I am sure you benefited as well. Not only that, I looked at other builders as well and they are all in the same boat. Maybe pulling out of some of the lag communities does not look so bad now.
By no means am I on a bangwagon here, but when I see statements made critizing something or someone without knowledge or thought, it requires a response.
You really turned me off to this board. I was hoping for some thoughtful insight, not just headlines from bloggers that you got by googling.
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Smart Buyer Program
) I'm sorry. (Little Eggplant, thanks for the DM and helping to keep me honest and on track!)
...you stepped out and shared what could have been critical information for me to know before making a decision. This forum should be about that sort of gesture...personal opinions and experiences are helpful, of course, but why I joined this forum (my only non-professional one at that) is to get factual unbiased information, that might not be found easily in a web search.
Smart Buyer program at CC
