Yulee, Fl (Jacksonville: sales, lender, new home)

[rgsg]

We are considering building with DF in Yulee. Anyone have any comments/concerns about the process and how it is going in Yulee?

[Wunderkinder]

Where in Yulee and how what is going on in Yulee?

[jmc912]

We are building with DF in Plummer Creek. So far it has been pretty good. The only annoyances and hold ups so far have been with corporate and the design center. Both of the sales agents at the model are great.

They haven't started building yet. We are supposed to have our plan review this week so I will update after that. I'm not expecting the house to be done until march.

Overall there is a lot of value in the items they offer as standard features which are upgrades with most other builders.

Beware that the model home there is loaded with upgrades and the upgrades rack up quick. We were told that the gourmet kitchen as pictured in the model would be about $5,000 and it was more like $9,000 which we didn't find out until we got to the design center (we were already under contract at that point). They really try to get you to upgrade everything which is where they make their money, so if you can avoid falling for it you will get a nice home at a good price. We added about $14,000 at the design center and we were being cautious.

[HippyMama]

My family is currently moving to Yulee, around the end of October.

Here is how it worked out for me. We went to Dream Finders and had an AWFUL experience. The woman was nasty, they raised the prices on us on the day of the contract meeting and gave no warning when speaking with us before hand, they also want more than triple what others ask for as a binder. For that reason we decided against them. We went next door and met with Dave from advantage and they had one floor plan I LOVED. I ended up not going with them due to financing and because I did not want to wait until April for the home to be built. I wouldnt even look at KB homes seriously. They charge for everything! BUT someone build a home FULL of upgrades over 3000 sqft and they could not follow through with the home. We put in an offer and should close in October!

As far as the area, I have spent a lot of time there lately and I love it. It's not very diverse and I do worry about moving to the country, simply because my child is biracial, but I think the fear is probably due to living in a bumble errk area in Ohio. Everyone I've met has been nice. There is a publix and a target not to far so I really like that.

[jmc912]

rgsg, I just wanted to update you since I said I would come back once we had our plan review with Dream Finders.

Everything went really well, they had almost everything perfect and I really couldn't be happier with the choice we made to go with them. The plan review was very thorough and they really worked with me to be sure I could be involved as possible. We are now 5,000 miles away from Yulee and Melanie has been awesome and keeps in constant contact with me about everything that's going on. She even arranged for us to have the plan review via Skype. It has definitely made it easier being so far away that they have remained so accommodating.

Everyone has been great so I'm not sure what exactly happened with the situation the above poster mentioned. Every builder is going to ask for a binder and it's a percentage of the sale price. I thought their binder was very reasonable considering they are fronting the costs to build the home. At closing, you simply pay them that much less (it comes out of your down payment). As far as the pricing, as their website says, it is always subject to change. They increase the pricing as they sell more homes. It is just like purchasing anything, the price is determined at the register. Prices fluctuate with virtually every purchase that you make in life so that's to be expected. That's their corporate policy. They still remain very competitive price-wise with other builders and they offer better included features. When we first started looking at DF, the prices were lower, and a few days before we got into town the increased. I expected that could happen. We paid the increase, and still got a nice home at a competitive price. Just give yourself some wiggle room and pick a floor plan that is affordable to you so that you can add upgrades or have room for a price increase. The increase wasn't that significant in the scheme of things, only about $4,000.

All in all I think if you have realistic expectations then you will have a good experience with DF. Most everyone there has been great (with exception an issue we had at the design center). Melanie and Jim at the model are awesome. Also, we used their preferred lender and their contact there is amazing. She is very attentive and helpful. If you use their preferred lender they pay closing costs which is a good deal.

I think you will know if you go visit there if it feels right. You really have to be confident in them since you will be dealing with them for a long time.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions and best of luck!

[HippyMama]

Kb homes has a $500 binder. Advantage homes has a $1000 binder. Dream Finders has a $3000 binder. All of them pay closing when you use their lender.

Prices change, that's understandable BUT to do so the morning of a contract meeting and not telling anyone until they drive 45 mins to that meeting AFTER speaking to them on the phone twice is unprofessional and seems like a bait and switch. The base price increased 6000 the morning of our meeting. That's not acceptable.

After speaking with an agent who worked with her previouly the guess is that she didn't take us seriously due to our age. Bait and switch + age discrimination is bad business.

I've gone to many communites and that woman was by far the worst sales assosiate I've ever delt with.

[jmc912]

I'm sorry you had a bad experience with them. It sounds like it was really frustrating, but luckily everything always works out in the end.

We traveled 5,000 miles to spend a weekend looking at builders and had made an appointment to go under contract with DF. We had been talking to them for several weeks when the prices went up (I think you are the one who posted on here saying they went up and that's how I found out). They did not contact me and say the prices were going up. I didn't think it was an issue and I don't think it's fair to expect them to contact everyone who's interested informing of price increases.

I have to disagree with you that they discriminate based on age. I'm in my mid-twenties and they took us seriously. My husband is also covered in tattoos, and while he gets judged a lot of places we go, there was never any judgement from anyone at DF. They were super nice to us.

Regardless it's a personal decision and I'm glad you are happy with KB. I guess not every builder and sales agent are for everyone.

I think we have provided the original poster with both sides of the coin and hopefully they will be able to make their own decisions and judgements. Best of luck.

[HippyMama]

My appointment was at 4pm. The price increase was at 10am. She called and confirmed knowing there was an increase and made the choice not to inform us.

My husband and I are both 21 with a baby and I am more than sure she was out of line for not notifing us expecially when she spoke with us and made the choice not to tell us and stating that they would refuse to sell a house to us if we "ruffled any feathers" was the cherry on top.

Whatever the case may be dream finders isn't very popular for a reason. The houses are just like any new home. Beautiful. But they are smaller and cost more per sqft. Dream finders is one of the only builders in the entire Jacksonville area that doesn't negotiate anything. I haven't been to all but I have been to at least 5.

The quality of the construction will be up to standard with any builder. If you make sure if it.

In the end a new construction is also about the experience. And they do have a repuation for being rude.

My only regret about moving to Yulee is that the first neighbor I met was very unpleasant.

I'm glad you are not phased my a significant price increase on base price that gives nothing in return. I'm also glad that you don't feel as if they treated you any less than they should have.
But it doesnt invalidate my horrible experence with them nor does tollerance for bad customer service make their methods moral.

[jmc912]

I'm hoping some more people will visit DF and post about their experiences. I'm curious to hear from someone else if they are as horrible, inconsiderate and judgmental as you make them out to be. In all of the posts and reviews I've read about them, I haven't seen anyone else with quite the vengeance towards DF as you have.

We could run around in circles about this for days but I'll let you have the last word on this one. We can agree to disagree.

[Wunderkinder]

Sounds like someone here needs to learn the old bible verse;
Galatians 6:7 ... Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.