Trendmaker Builder - Awkward situation sell ever (Sugar Land, Cinco Ranch: sales, house) - Houston - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum

butterflies105 · 05-23-2013, 05:00 PM

This is my experienced with Trendmaker builder in Riverstone.

We spoke to the Sell Agent, he's the sale manager of Trendmaker builder. After we sit down and discussed about the price. The price was listed for $367,000, he offered to give us discount down to $347,000, after go back and forth the final price was $345,500 with the sprinkler system. We shook hands, he congrats us. We were happy because we love the house and it will be nice when I can work close to where I live. Only 15 minutes away from work...

So I took my checkbook out, waiting for the sale man to print out the contract. However, after a second thought ... yeah a second thought, he said that "sorry but the system won't let me enter the price ...blah blah blah...so I don't know what's happening, but I will email or call you tomorrow and let you know why" ... HUH ??? ... what's wrong? after all day long discussion and back and forth ... with all the researched I've done for this builder and the area, he turned us down just like that ...

Anyway, he asked for my phone number. I gave it to him expected he would call me in the morning but he never did. My Realtor told me that after the second thought the sale rep thinks the selling price is low so he wanted to increase the price ... this made me really upset... that's not professional at all for not calling back to let us know what's going on or what's the status ... I just know this through my Realtor but wasn't sure if it's true.

Here is the trick, after the deal was done, my Realtor said he will contribute some part of his commission toward the price, or closing & upgrade. At that time, the Sale Rep changed his attitude because he thinks the price of the house will be lower. He said we cannot put it toward the price. OK, that's fine but we can't put it toward closing and upgrade????? honestly, I understand that we cannot use the Realtor's contribution for the price but why not the closing and upgrade???? That was none of his business because this is Realtor's commission not his, why would he care? ...

Anyway, to make it short. So we left, the Realtor called us back, asked us to come back, he told us that the Sale Manager agreed to sell us for $345,000 which would already included the Realtor's commission. HUH ??? I thought that we cannot use the Realtor's commission toward the price ??? What's going on now? There was something strange about these 2 guys so we decided not to purchase the house from this builder. But honestly, I really like the house and I like the lady that assisted the Sale Manager. Too bad and so sad we didn't purchase the house ...

BTW, when we went to the Model home, this Realtor handed us his business card. On his business card saying that he will give us 2.5% of his commission. He told us that he knows the Sale Manager, they are working really close to each other and know each other for very long time ... We saw he gave every walk in customers his business cards ...But ... yes But ... the Sale Manager were surprised when the Realtor said that he will give us 2.5% back ... If you know each other for long time, and the Realtor gives everyone his business cards, on his business card stating 2.5% Commission back, then how could you NOT know about this????? ...

Is this sound awkward to you????

I know it's long but trying to make it short so everyone should be aware about this ...
We ended up ...back to Cinco Ranch ... It's going to be a long drive since I work in Sugar Land, but too tired of looking, searching for the house now...it's been 9 months already ...

swopoe · 05-23-2013, 05:13 PM

I am sorry. Something fishy going on there for sure. We moved to Riverstone in March and love it here. If you want the info for our realtor, let me know. Good luck.

chris_ut · 05-23-2013, 05:23 PM

I wouldn't give up on the house, get yourself an agent you can trust.

creekstone · 05-23-2013, 06:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chris_ut

I wouldn't give up on the house...

I agree completely. If you love the house, the location, and the price, this can be salvaged... regardless of the agent. (You may have some difficulty divorcing yourself from the current agent. No matter...)

Instead of focusing on the nuances and game playing, make the final price and closing costs (including realtor commission) your only concerns.

In the end, getting the house you want at a price you can live with is all that matters.

a_guerrajr · 05-24-2013, 09:38 AM

just get an agent that is going to make sure you don't over pay for the home.

butterflies105 · 05-24-2013, 07:28 PM

Thanks a lot guys!!!! But it's too late now since we already put down $5k and if we cancel the house in Cinco Ranch we will loose that for sure. So now we have to stick with Cinco Ranch. I'm not really happy with the house that we choose but Oh well ... it's not bad anyway ...

Sometimes I just hate myself so much when I made this decision ... but since we can't afford to buy a better house with higher price then just stick with this one. I appreciate for all your inputs!!!

This is my lesson learn. I will keep this in mind, next time, yeah, if ever next time I purchase a house, I will make sure I love it and try to buy it not because I'm upset with the sale rep and drop it...

Houston321 · 05-25-2013, 12:47 PM

I would be interested to hear the other side of this story. It is pretty typical for a builder not to allow an agent to use their commission to lower the sales price. This could really affect future appraisals in the neighborhood. Now, it is typical for a builder to allow the realtor to contribute to closing costs. But if it became an issue, why not just let the realtor write you a check after closing?

It is unusual however to have a realtor handing out business cards inside of a model, this is highly frowned upon in the building industry.

Also, if you realtor is giving you all that money back? What is really in it for him besides a quick buck? If you want true representation from a quality realtor, then let the builder pay the realtor his full commission and you just worry about the price of the home.

texasroots77 · 05-25-2013, 03:19 PM

Which builder did you buy from in Cinco?

astrohip · 05-26-2013, 06:32 PM

It's dificult to give an honest opinion, as we are only hearing one side of a story. I'm not saying you aren't giving us the unvarnished truth, just that we need to see the complete picture to truly understand what is happening. Too many missing pieces for an outsider to understand this mess.

Quote:

Originally Posted by creekstone

I agree completely. If you love the house, the location, and the price, this can be salvaged... regardless of the agent. (You may have some difficulty divorcing yourself from the current agent. No matter...)

Instead of focusing on the nuances and game playing, make the final price and closing costs (including realtor commission) your only concerns.

In the end, getting the house you want at a price you can live with is all that matters.

This. A million times this. Forget the games, get a price, get it in writing, forget all this political, realtor politics.

Good luck!