Right time to buy a home? (Houston, Roma: sales, how much, first time home buyer)

[ilikehouston]

Hi
I am talking to one builder in Lakemont/Long Meadows Farms area to buy a house. They are offering $20,000 worth of extras( granite countertop,...., but not cash) in incentives on 1,85,000 house. Is it good enough in current condition of market?
Do they come down by 10,000-15,000 if they are not able to sell or getting price cut is difficult in Houston. They asked me to make an offer and I am thinking on what will be a good start.
I have been told by many builders that Houston is not seeing same kind of price decrease as California. Part of which they say is because home prices are not exorbitant here and secondly they are still selling good amount of homes every week. Any comments!

It will be really helpful if somebody can describe their experience with builders and how much they were able to negotiate on price/upgrades. I am first time home buyer.

Thanks guys for your time/comments/suggestions.

[descovy]

If I were in your shoes, I would work with a realtor. They cost nothing to the buyer and lets face it, the builder has already "padded" the price to cover the 3% commissions to give a buyer agent anyways. Remember that the sales counselor is on the builder's side, not yours!

With that said, in our situation, (last Feb) the builder did not want to lower the asking price but offered $15k to spend in the design center. Whatever not spent in the design center could come off the price of the house. We asked for 18k and then only spent $6k at the design center. So in the end we got the house for 12k less than they were asking, even though the builder didn't reduce the price.

At closing we saw the appraisal report and realized that the "comps" in our neighborhood NO ONE payed full asking price everyone got some kind of deal from the builder.

A lot has changed since Feb. A realtor can let you know what the houses are actually selling for. They may be asking for $185k but be selling at $170k.

Good Luck!

[chris_ut]

We got 22k in incentives on a 210k house.

[Benval]

This is the good time to buy a house based on my research, all the builders are offering lot of incentives and you can also negotiate very well on top of that. The builders are generally offer very good incentive on inventory homes and while closeout as well.

Have fun!

[SkyeAnjel]

I would suggest you work with a realtor. It is no cost to the buyer and the agent represents you and your interests. The sales people represent the best interests of the builder. You should also have an inspection done by your own inspector.