Options on New Houses

[k2at]

Friend wants to build a new house in Villages from the ground up and was wondering whether he could ask for various options like upgrade kitchen appliances, upgrade rugs, put in wood floors, corian or granite counters, etc. I told him I believed you bought the house with what they normally put in and that is that. No negotiation. Also can one pick out the colors of the rooms before they are painted? Comments would be appreciated.

[herbaru]

Friend wants to build a new house in Villages from the ground up and was wondering whether he could ask for various options like upgrade kitchen appliances, upgrade rugs, put in wood floors, corian or granite counters, etc. I told him I believed you bought the house with what they normally put in and that is that. No negotiation. Also can one pick out the colors of the rooms before they are painted? Comments would be appreciated.

You do have some choices. Let's see if I get this correct. They want you to pick a full decor package but I think you can sometimes have choices within the package. Seem to remember the tile and rug went together and the cabinets and counter top went together. Not many granite choices. Once you pick the home you want they then show you samples of the interior packages. You choose the ones you think you would like, than they take you to a model home with that package in it. Many of the homes have structural options, like 2 foot stretches to garage and other rooms, extended lanais. This is why you will see different sf. shown on the listings for both new and used homes on the web site compared to the floor plans. When your friend first looks with a sales agent tell them to be sure to ask about the different options (stretches) available for the different homes. When I first looked I think the sales person did not really tell us much because he knew we were not quite ready to buy. I have ruled out some homes because of bedroom size and have since learned about some of the options.

Hope this helps.

[TomW]

One strategy to have them put in the lowest grade (cheapest) example of anything you want to upgrade and then do it yourself (hire your own contractor) after the sale. I expect you will find you will save money as well as get exactly what you want. My observation is that many of the upgrades are way more expensive if you have TV do them.

[Hawkwind]

One strategy to have them put in the lowest grade (cheapest) example of anything you want to upgrade and then do it yourself (hire your own contractor) after the sale. I expect you will find you will save money as well as get exactly what you want. My observation is that many of the upgrades are way more expensive if you have TV do them.

I was told exactly that by sales agents at a couple of open houses I attended. Get it done later.

[swrinfla]

When I bought and built in late 2004, this wasn't so much the case, as then I had every option to do what I wanted (within some wide parameters).

Now, I suspect that TomW has the right idea: choose the cheapest option, then upgrade "at your leisure." The only downside to that plan is probably that you may become so busy once you're really here that you'll never get around to living through the hassle of all those upgrades!

I recall wanting a front door with a nice glass insert in it. My counselor for structural changes said, "Do it separately." He was right. (And, of course, it still hasn't been done!)

It relates to the "first" project my late wife wanted done when we moved into our house "up north" in 1962. When I moved away in 2005, that project still wasn't done!

SWR
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