Advice on purchasing a new prebuilt home
 

Hi all - we are interested in purchasing a new prebuilt home. I do understand that the price is the price and they do not budge on that. Was wondering however if there are any other possible concessions that they may make. I realize with the home built already this is probably unlikely. One thought is that with there being a golf cart garage, maybe they could prepare for a charging port .

Any advice you could impart to this TV newbie would be greatly appreciated. Sorry if I'm asking a question that was asked/answered many times - I did try to search and had no luck. Leaving soon to come down to the area and meet with the reps, would like to have some knowledge in hand going into the meeting

Thanks!

You can always ask, but don't expect much in the way of concessions, unless the house has been on the market for a long time. To me, doing additional work on the house is pretty much the same as reducing the price. To them, providing concessions will just encourage other buyers to want the same thing, and they don't want to engage in a negotiation on every house.

I do not agree that "the price is the price". That was not our experience a year ago. We made a much lower offer and it was accepted. On top of that, the market has softened more since then so I would not hesitate to make what you think is the right offer and/or ask for concessions that are appealing to you.

You made a lower offer on a Villages pre-built and it was accepted by The Villages? What were the circumstances?

Wow that is incredible. Our real estate agent told us that the price on new homes is fixed and would not even convey a lower offer if we wanted to make one. And this is the first time I have ever heard of someone making an offer on a newly built house and having it be accepted. Bravo.

They probably bought a pre-owned from TV.

I don't believe that happened on a new home in The Villages.

The Villages is current selling 10-15 new homes day, as fast as they can build them.

Sometimes there are price reductions on the last 2-3 spec homes in a Village. There are reasons those homes have not sold. And those reasons may make a resale challenging. This has not happened so far in the Eastport areas.

FYI - You don't need a "charging port" for a golf cart, the charger plugs into any 115v outlet.

Please clarify your post. Was this a new house or a pre-owned house? It would be foolish for The Villages to start to negotiate the price for their new houses. It would result in less profit and more work for the salespeople. What would they gain?

The last couple of posts are correct...I misinterpreted the question reading it as an existing home sale. That was our only experience. Now it makes since why the question sounded very odd to me as pre-existing sales are very negotiable. And it explains why my answer made no sense to others. Apologies for my error.

And to that final point, my new build had a dedicated 20A breaker to a single outlet on the wall in the golf cart garage, presumably precisely meant for cart charging.

No, they won’t budge on anything and they don’t really care if you buy the house because it’ll be sold to someone else. Right now spec inventory is low too. If you buy preowned you can definitely bargain. My garage has an outlet for my electric cart. You only need a regular outlet which comes in the garage already.

The “best” spec homes (location, floor plan, stretches, etc) will sell the day that the section is released. There is no negotiation or concessions buying from the Villages on new construction (including the date that you are told you will close). Best wishes on this exciting decision to purchase a new home!

Your house was a preown or was sitting on the market for a very long time.

Prices are fixed.

Ask what ever you want to ask. The worst that can happen is they will say no.

Is there an easy way to tell what is going on with the outlets in the garage? I thought I heard that the outlet in the golf car bay could provide more amps (for an electric golf car) but not sure.

Joe

Find the circuit breaker in the electrical panel. If it is a 20 amp breaker, and it is only connected to one outlet, then you can plug in anything up to 20 amps without tripping the breaker. If there are more than one outlet connected to the breaker, then anything else plugged in will share the 20 amp capacity of the circuit.

on a new house ?? Unheard of ( TV accepting a lower offer ) but good for you if you pulled it off ……

Garage comes with a golf cart charger dedicate outlet.

I agree
The worst answer from asking is also the best answer of you don't ask...

Occasionally, The Villages may lower the prices of some selected houses. But, as an individual buyer, you have absolutely no bargaining power.

As a new buyer myself, this is a great time to buy. Prices are generally down from last year and this is the right time of season to buy. You can find sold prices (e.g. Sold in the last 90 days) of MLS listings on Zillow for comps. Online county records for all purchases, including VLS.

Also, get a home insurance quote. If you are equipped with data you improve your negotiating position. We bought through a Village realtor and they are friendly and reasonable. You need to be assertive though, and ask for what you think is fair. Good luck

New build homes are Spec homes, which is confusing some posters using terminology “prebuilt”
Preowned (previous owner)
Spec (developer owned)
Build Lot (purchased from developer, only assigned builder allowed)

Answer to you question “concessions or additional electrical outlets” will not be entertained.

We couldn’t add any outlets, change floor plans, add fixtures, to our build lot. Spec homes big NO. Aftermarket is your only choice

Supply and demand

By "our real estate agent," do you mean an agent other than a representative of the developer, The Holding Company of The Villages, Inc., which controls the sale of new homes through its in-house sales team, Properties of The Villages?

Suppose a Florida Realtor (not a representative of The Holding Company of The Villages, Inc.) refuses to submit an offer on behalf of a buyer. In that case, they may be violating the National Association of Realtors Code of Ethics, specifically Article 1, which emphasizes the duty to protect and promote the interests of their client while treating all parties honestly. Additionally, Florida law and the Florida Realtors Bar contracts require that a single agent or transaction agent must present “all offers and counteroffers in a timely manner, unless a party has previously directed the licensee otherwise in writing.” IOW, a Realtor may legally refuse to submit an offer if the seller has provided written instructions to not present certain types of offers (e.g., offers below a specific price or on a particular contract form). The buyer can file a complaint with the Florida Real Estate Commission, which may result in fines, license suspension, or revocation. Complaints must be filed within five years of the act or its discovery.

Contracts | Florida Realtors

A lot of people refer to "our real estate agent", when they don't have any contract with that agent. So, unless the poster and the agent have a signed contract stating that the agent represents the buyer as a buyer's agent, the law does not even apply because the buyer is not a client.

There is no budging on new home prices. Certsinly there’s negotiations on pre-owned homes.

They are not going to negotiate on adds.
If every home buyer asked for something, their highly efficient machine would grind to a halt.

You will see price reductions on the last few homes in a village, mostly so they can wrap up and move on to next build.

If you don’t want it, there are 12 people behind you who do.

I’ll check. Thanks!!🙏

My outlet is not dedicated but is on a 20 amp breaker. I don’t have anything else using that circuit and the maximum current draw from my charger is 11 amps. YMMV.

Closing dates have been negotiated. Mine was pushed out a month. As I recall they asked for more earnest money upfront.

We couldn’t get them to even plant a palm tree instead of a magnolia. Zero negotiating, and this was before any landscaping had gone in.
They will tell you that once you buy it you can make whatever interior changes you want.
Exterior? Get ARC approval.

I checked, mine is same, a 20 amp breaker and I'm getting 12 amps on my charger. I was thinking maybe it was a 5-20 plug but it is the standard 5-15. I was just thinking if it happened to be a 5-20 then I might be able to eek out 16 amps (staying at 80% of rated) and 16X110=1.7KW per hour of charging vs. 1.3KW. But, alas, it's not gonna happen. Thanks for the info, sorry for the thread hijack!

Joe

If you buy a pre-owned home, you have more room for negotiating.

Personally, I think a new house is s better deal than a pre-owned house. Too many people are trying to make a windfall profit by selling their house. This is especially true for people selling after only owning it for a few years. When you buy a new house, everything is new and covered by a warranty, and there are no surprises. If you are retired, you probably don't want any surprises. And often, a new house costs less than a pre-owned one. My opinion.

We've owned two new and one preowned homes in TV's. So far have made much more profit from the sale of the preowned home. Would definitely go that route again.

In a way, you have proven my point. If you are making more profit on pre-owned houses, then the buyers may have been better off buying a new house. But, in my opinion, most retired buyers are not interested in making a profit. They want to buy a hassle-free house where they can live and enjoy their retirement. A new house is a safer way to go, and The Villages has plenty of them.

That is true, but when you buy a pre-owned house, you are at a significant disadvantage. The seller knows everything about the house and the buyer knows nothing. Also, there is usually a salesperson who is working for the seller, and who tends to highlight the good points about the house and to downplay or even hide the bad points. When you buy a new house, you pretty much know what you are buying.

For the love of God, can we just say new and used homes instead of "preowned". That's like saying I'm pre-married instead of divorced.😂😂

Maybe the better terms would be new and existing. On second thought, no, that would confuse people. I think preowned is a fine and clear term in the context of the TV community.

But, maybe you'd identify yourself as a used husband, yes? :a040: