New Home Inventory - Builder Still Holding Firm Against Negotiating?
 

There was a thread back in September (now closed) discussing whether negotiating was possible on new homes. It was clear the builder does not negotiate on new builds or spec homes but that it's common to watch for discounts posted on spec homes the longer they sit.

Now that Eastport is starting to crank out homes, while Denham and Dabney still have plenty on-hand, has anyone heard of buyers negotiating?

I love to negotiate on whatever I can but, having bought three new build homes throughout my life, actually like the "level playing field" of new home construction's structured pricing/sales.

I purchased a new build in TV summer 2023 and was told the builder used to negotiate years ago, but no longer does for a wide array of reasons. This market might just test that policy.

Don't count on it.

The houses on our street were new in early 2008, when the financial sky had fallen and pillars of big business were on the ropes. No negotiating then or ever since.

It would be crazy for the developer to start negotiating the price of new houses.

Instead of negotiating, my guess would be they would slow down building rate if demand fell. But so far there are more and more and more people retiring to The Villages. I think once all the Baby boomer cohort has retired there maybe a real change in demand for housing here.

NO - never in 20 years I've been here.

They still sell more than 70 homes a week.

It’s pretty clear which areas will sell fast and which will not.
If we can figure it out on TOTV, you know the developer knows.
They don’t need to negotiate. They will lower some prices eventually, but they probably planned for it.

Not sure where you get your numbers from, but based upon the Lake County Property Appriser data (which admittedly is a little slow in recording), Lake Dedham is almost 87% sold (hardly plenty on hand) and Dabney is almost 1/3 sold. Newell is basically sold out, the only unsold are Harper Villas which I believe are being held back for Lifestyle visits.

Gen Xers (the generation after the Boomers) are already moving in...

That is true and they have already heavily invested in industrial land which will be their next big adventure, I can see them owning a Florida railroad in the future to go along with the 4500 acres they purchased in Wildwood and the other parcels of industrial land that they own.. They are far ahead of any of us.

Sure, here you go https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qs2z6dpoG14&t=582s

Sorry to confuse things with facts

At the moment, Moultrie Creek is selling well. Maybe, there will be additional discounts on homes in Lake Denham and Dabney. There were 400 new homes available in that area at the end of December. In January, the Developer reduced the price of 250 homes. Nearing the end of March, even with discounts, 250+ homes remain.

I'm in Lake Denham and it is selling steadily. Maybe no fast, by Covid boom standards, but more normal from how it was before Covid (so I'm told). My little neighborhood has about 3 sold per week. There's only about 17 houses left in my section. I watched the video posted above and wasn't impressed with that realtor. Maybe his numbers are correct but IIRC he didn't really even understand how much was going in to Eastport and I believe he said something like Moultrie Creek was for families.

I agree, the talking head in the video contained misinformation about the Villages. I wouldn't buy a home he represented.

Some locations will be an easier sell than others. (e.g. Richmond, north of Eastport, ...)

They will never negotiate. They will lower prices and the houses will sell. They’re in no rush.

I'm one of them. I'm 58 and not retired yet (remote worker). My boss (also General Xer) was asking about this place too. He likes the idea of being where he was going to retire before he retired so he can enjoy some of the benefits before he's too old.

I’m from NJ and I purchased a new home there many years ago. There was absolutely no negotiating on the set price of a NEW home. I think that is the case everywhere.

We were just in the Brownwood sales center Saturday. They were preparing the 'sales' board for the coming week. They said they had 150 homes closing next week. No need to negotiate the price.

Only time will tell. Econ 101 Supply and Demand will determine. Costs money to sit on un sold properties.

No need for the builder to negotiate, somebody will buy if you don't.

This makes the most sense. They are too big and not set up for haggling. Their way of working is lower the price if need be. Maybe add incentive like washer dryer (I heard they did that in the past but haven’t seen it). This way they don’t deal with all the haggling issues. The prices may come down but the system flows as they like it.

Fifteen years ago, when we bought it was at the end of that market slump where real estate all over fell low. We got a house that was bare-minimum (no ceiling fans, no garage door opener etc) at a pretty good "bargain" price. We could get them essentials and install much cheaper anyway, ourselves, which we did. Even back then we were told NO negotiating on houses!! They might have done that in the 80's and 90's---don't know though. BUT on stick-built it's not happening.

I have been in The Villages since 2005 and built two new construction houses. I have never heard of the "builder" negotiating the price of a new construction house. They will discount periodically if the inventory is too high or the market is slow.

That’s true unless you also own the bank. Then it’s more like you’re paying yourself interest and the impact is less. The normal rules of development doesn't apply to this company because they control their associated cost across multiple industries.

Never negotiated that I’m aware of! Don’t need to! As communities close out, they will change some prices to close out the community, so they can concentrate on new Villages

When we bought in 2012 they wouldn’t negotiate. I’m guessing now TV & Florida is probably one of the 1st places people want to move to, maybe if you buy from the homeowner before they turn it over to a realtor you might be able to get a better deal.But only if it’s a preowned home maybe, a new home only TV realtors can sell them, so if you want to negotiate buy a preowned home!

The holding costs of unsold inventory are baked into the pricing and overall business model.

It’s not a surprise - they’ve been doing this for a long time.

Not even close to accurate. Bank lending is regulated around the concentration of risk and as a percentage of capital., and Citizens First wouldn't come close to being able to finance the construction of all the homes in TV.

I bought my home in 2010 and tried to negotiate but it ended up take it or leave it. The wouldn’t negotiate at all. Doubt things have changed so I think you are SOL.

I bought at the height of the “boom” in 2021 here and even then, in Bradford they had reduced prices on homes backing up to Morse Blvd. I almost bought one but decided to go with Hawkins at full price. If you go to the website it doesn’t seem like they have a ton of inventory. Those homes that back up to 470 will be discounted as were the Chitty Chatty homes close to 44 back in 2022. Yet, Moultry Creek is nearly sold out.

I just counted 55 homes for sale on TV website in Moultrie Creek. Not sold out.

Not sure where you're coming up with "Moultrie Creek" is sold out....going to the Villages website, there are dozens of homes shown and many parts that haven't even been released yet for sale.

Yes I had the CYV filter. There are 9 for sale my bad. :0000000000luvmyhors

Fixed it!!:throwtomatoes:

All 65 million of them?

When we had our home built in 2001, we were allowed to wait 2 years to build. When we came back to buy the land, we were told that they wanted to finish out the street we would be on. If we were willing to not wait 2 years and build immediately, they would let us have the land at 50% off. The land was $50,000 and we could have it for $25,000. It faces Glenbrook golf course. My husband said that could be my furniture money, so we started building. It was cool how our realtor would send us photos from the slab up. I used to look forward to the photos arriving in the mail because I could see it being built. I decided to retire earlier than I had planned and don't regret it at all.

I agree about that YouTube realtor. He seems clueless about new construction every time I’ve watched him. Of course why would he want to share the honest facts about new construction when his livelihood is based on selling resales? I watched 3-4 of his videos then told YouTube not to recommend his channel anymore.

Everything's Negotiable
 

True that TV won't even consider price changes, but that doesn't mean that you can't negotiate with your agent. When you get down to the nitty-gritty, and you're close to signing, that's the time to ask your agent to either take less commission, or to be flexible with upgrades or chargeable extras. They can always help to defray costs...if they want the sale badly enough.