Negotiating with Heartland Homes (Pittsburgh: insurance, construction loan, house)

[greg42]

Maybe Heartland is the worst, except for all the others. ;-) I dunno. My general meter without much personal experience was that Heartland built a halfway decent product. I know from close (though not direct personal) experience that Ryan is crap. And everything tells me Maronda is crap. I know even less about any others, except one high-end one I can't remember the name of. (But you have to be careful even here; it's possible to have a $700k house be quite screwed up, as I have heard.) But were I looking for new construction, or recommending it, I personally would steer away from Ryan and Maronda at least, would not even consider.

[BeenkenBob]

My experience with the "holier than thou" Heartland Homes is not good at all. If you want to build your house with a local builder, trust me, you would be better off by not going with Heartland. They are very good at getting your money, but that does not mean they will deliver a "Quality" home as they promised for your hard-earned dollars. The workmanship is questionable at the best - there were issues that we found right after we moved in! When we requested for fix up, our request was simply handled by very rude and rough fashion !! I totally agree with the other homebuyers on this board - Buyer Be Aware is all I can say. This is the builder will for sure amaze you with the lousy work, greedy thirst for the maximum profit, and of course - the "holier than thou" attitude.

They are not a jewel in this business for Pittsburgh, they are in fact, quite the opposite!

[Limber10]

We are close to building with Heartland Homes. I read all your messages, however, no I still am not clear as to how much you are able to push back and negotiate with them. Lets face it, there overhead is extremely high, and you would expect some give. We are planning to build in the Stonecrest community. If anyone has or is building there, please drop us a message and let us know how it is going for you.

[pens2010]

Limber10, we were also looking to build (for the second time) with Heartland recently-very close by Stonecrest...They will not negotiate. According to them they dropped prices so they were adamant about no negotiations. I have decided to go else where with my business. How can a builder be so pompous to say there is no negotiating? it is a SALE after all! For those who are willing to be told that, it is a shame because they are not getting my business and may lose more than they attract with that attitude.

Good luck with your negotiations! if you have any luck I would love to hear how you did it.

[rugerjitsu]

we just moved into a Heartland Plan...it's a mixture of Townhomes and Single Family homes that was built in the early to mid 90's.

before buying, we walked the house with an Inspector, who is also a friend of the family, and my father, who has over 30yrs experience in Construction.

our Heartland home was built solid. it's 15 years old, and everything from the electrical to the plumbing was built extremely well.


**i just want to add something that I don't think has been covered...

if you're wanting a "deal" on a Heartland Home, try looking to negotiate on an empty home that's just waiting to be sold...i know you're most likely preffering to build your own, but that's where you pay a premium...if there are empty homes waiting to be sold. hope that makes sense...i guess i could be wrong.

[Burghgirl17]

Originally Posted by rugerjitsu

if you're wanting a "deal" on a Heartland Home, try looking to negotiate on an empty home that's just waiting to be sold...i know you're most likely preffering to build your own, but that's where you pay a premium...if there are empty homes waiting to be sold. hope that makes sense...i guess i could be wrong.

Agreed. There was a spec in our neighborhood (we built a Heartland last year) that was on the market forever. When we decided to build, they had it priced way out of our price range (though it was the same model, but with the breakfast rooms and a few more upgrades). They ended up selling it well over a year later for maybe 10-15K more than we paid for ours. Silly, we would've considered buying it if it had been priced that way to begin with.

Also, if you're not picky with location, try to get into a neighborhood that is almost finished. They tend to have a lot more incentives. I think ours was about 10% off everything.

It's silly, they charge for certain things (such as opening the wall by the stairs into the dining room, or opening the wall between the family room and living room). We wanted those things, but didn't want to pay for them, so we didn't do them as options. However, when they built the house they opened up both anyway! Our neighbors were a bit ticked because they paid to open those spaces.

You can also get them to deal on things that don't really cost much, but that they charge for anyway. For instance, we were really against a front garage - not our style and didn't fit with the neighborhood. The default on the model is actually a back garage. However, the developer didn't like what that would do to our yard, so we got them to do a side entry free of charge (usually an additional cost).

Just do as much of the negotiating beforehand. Once you put money down it becomes a lot more difficult, because you're tied to it.

[Heit]

Originally Posted by Burghgirl17

Agreed. There was a spec in our neighborhood (we built a Heartland last year) that was on the market forever. When we decided to build, they had it priced way out of our price range (though it was the same model, but with the breakfast rooms and a few more upgrades). They ended up selling it well over a year later for maybe 10-15K more than we paid for ours. Silly, we would've considered buying it if it had been priced that way to begin with.

Also, if you're not picky with location, try to get into a neighborhood that is almost finished. They tend to have a lot more incentives. I think ours was about 10% off everything.

It's silly, they charge for certain things (such as opening the wall by the stairs into the dining room, or opening the wall between the family room and living room). We wanted those things, but didn't want to pay for them, so we didn't do them as options. However, when they built the house they opened up both anyway! Our neighbors were a bit ticked because they paid to open those spaces.

You can also get them to deal on things that don't really cost much, but that they charge for anyway. For instance, we were really against a front garage - not our style and didn't fit with the neighborhood. The default on the model is actually a back garage. However, the developer didn't like what that would do to our yard, so we got them to do a side entry free of charge (usually an additional cost).

Just do as much of the negotiating beforehand. Once you put money down it becomes a lot more difficult, because you're tied to it.

A deal???????? You are STILL getting a product built by Heartland Homes. What may SEEM like a deal, numbers-wise, will soon have you in the RED as a result of POOR construction practices.

[Burghgirl17]

Originally Posted by Heit

A deal???????? You are STILL getting a product built by Heartland Homes. What may SEEM like a deal, numbers-wise, will soon have you in the RED as a result of POOR construction practices.

Ehhh, that's your opinion, and seemingly without much to back it up. If you have evidence to back it up, that's fine. But to state a harsh, absolute opinion like that with nothing to back it up doesn't give me much concern.

My brother is in the industry in another state. He visited our home during various stages of construction and after. He was pretty pleased with the quality of workmanship. Even to the untrained eye, the house is much better constructed with much better quality components than family members' homes that are Ryan or Maronda.

[rugerjitsu]

Originally Posted by Heit

A deal???????? You are STILL getting a product built by Heartland Homes. What may SEEM like a deal, numbers-wise, will soon have you in the RED as a result of POOR construction practices.

please show some proof of POOR construction practices...as i stated before, my home was built only 15 yrs ago by Heartland, and it's solid.

[Heit]

Originally Posted by Burghgirl17

Ehhh, that's your opinion, and seemingly without much to back it up. If you have evidence to back it up, that's fine. But to state a harsh, absolute opinion like that with nothing to back it up doesn't give me much concern.

My brother is in the industry in another state. He visited our home during various stages of construction and after. He was pretty pleased with the quality of workmanship. Even to the untrained eye, the house is much better constructed with much better quality components than family members' homes that are Ryan or Maronda.

I would not make a statement like I did without reason. I have friends(2) who purchased Heartland Homes(within the last 2 years) and are a sick about the lack of quality they got for their money$$$$. I am building a home as we speak.(small custom builder) I looked into Heartland and the other cookie-cutter builders in the area and did not like what I saw and in what others in the industry shared with me. I have built homes in the past and know what to look for in residential construction regarding "quality". I did not see that being offered with Heartland and the others. Yes MY opinion.

You may have a favorable opinion regarding Heartland and I respect that, I however do not.