[angiefox10]

Originally Posted by zummy

It does cost the sales rep part of his commision on a build but it is worth it for two reasons. He doesn;t have to spend a day of his valuable time and the knowledge of the design team is worth it. We just spent 6 hours in mid july ordering our Gardenia for lot 13 on Bradford loop. We wanted all the bumps and a three car garage. We weren't aware you could bump the master 2' and neither was the salesman. If you can use the design team , do it. You won't be sorrry. It may be the saleman that says there is no openings wants to save his money to your loss.

Thanks Zummy!!! I'm going to make an appointment.

[BookBarb]

We went down last weekend to meet with Melissa of the design team. It was awesome. We've build several other new homes and this was by far the best experience. We picked out tile, cabinet colors, granite, faucets, etc. and Melissa made sure that we saw everything in a model home. Tile looks so much different when viewed as a whole. We were very pleased with the whole process and got everything we could want. She was very helpful.
Guess we lucked out, because we had scheduled our selection process before the discount was announced, so it was a pleasant surprise to be included in the 4% discount. I know our salesperson said that appointments were quickly filling up, so that may be the case, but don't give up. Like mentioned before, someone may cancel; then jump on it. Our closing is October 7, a lot earlier than we had planned. Now to sell our house here in Maryland so we can enjoy Paradise.

[Pturner]

Originally Posted by Kelsie52

We built our home last year closed in Oct -----

We never met a design team ! We visited many models with our salesperson
(who was great ) --he gave us options and we picked our own

Its not like you are going to design something that no one else has here !!

I dont think that is a step that is required before they take YOUR money


Good Luck

Hi Kelsie, It was mentioned on another thread that meeting with the design team is a requirement to get the 4 percent discount.

OCsun, welcome to you. We are honored that you came here for info and advice. I agree with GG: see what you can do to get the discount, but if you can't get it, take your time. Various discount programs come and go. Is TV the friendliest hometown? That you can count on no matter when you buy. All best wishes to you!

[gmcneill]

Originally Posted by skyguy79

Have you asked your sales person if making a purchase agreement while there or before and working out the details or nitty-gritty later on is an option? Don't hurt to ask if that's a possibility on your part!

I am with Skyguy on this one.

I would ask (strongly!) your sales rep to inquire that if you and your sales rep were to completely select all options for your home and submit the purchase agreement for a design team "mother-may-I review" w/in the required timeline, that you could receive the discount w/out the actual face-face meeting.

(I would ask my sales rep for her input on this but she is away from work for a week or so.)

Saves you $$, saves the sales rep $$, and gets the developer another step closer to selling out the neighborhood sooner, thus saving them $$.

If that cannot be done, then I would do exactly as you plan: delay building until it best suits my situation and on my schedule.

Regarding "friendliest hometown"...please try to not let the process sour you on the people. We close on our St James new build home in 20 days...we have already met many of our new neighbors, all of whom have been gracious and welcoming.

You will love St James. You might want to email Laura Bales stjamesmembership@gmail.com for information about the very active st james community club events and programs.

George

[OCsun]

Originally Posted by gmcneill

I am with Skyguy on this one.

I would ask (strongly!) your sales rep to inquire that if you and your sales rep were to completely select all options for your home and submit the purchase agreement for a design team "mother-may-I review" w/in the required timeline, that you could receive the discount w/out the actual face-face meeting.

(I would ask my sales rep for her input on this but she is away from work for a week or so.)

Saves you $$, saves the sales rep $$, and gets the developer another step closer to selling out the neighborhood sooner, thus saving them $$.

If that cannot be done, then I would do exactly as you plan: delay building until it best suits my situation and on my schedule.

Regarding "friendliest hometown"...please try to not let the process sour you on the people. We close on our St James new build home in 20 days...we have already met many of our new neighbors, all of whom have been gracious and welcoming.

You will love St James. You might want to email Laura Bales stjamesmembership@gmail.com for information about the very active st james community club events and programs.

George

My rep was supposed to ask if we could put down 20% of and estimated cost of the house we will build . . . but I guess that did not fly.

Thanks for the information on St. James. I am very excited about moving to the Villages in spite of this bump in the road. I am glad to hear we will be living in a very active community since I am banking on meeting lots of new friends and keeping busy. As with everyone, leaving my grandkids is going to be hard. Thanks again to everyone!

[OCsun]

Just wanted to tell everyone here, that our sales rep was able to get us an appointment with the design team. Yippee! We will be ordering our home with a 4% discount. If everything goes as expected, we will be moving to St. James before Christmas.

[champion6]

OCsun, life is good!

[Pturner]

Originally Posted by OCsun

Just wanted to tell everyone here, that our sales rep was able to get us an appointment with the design team. Yippee! We will be ordering our home with a 4% discount. If everything goes as expected, we will be moving to St. James before Christmas.

Yea! Persistence pays. I'm so happy for you!

[Schaumburger]

Originally Posted by OCsun

Just wanted to tell everyone here, that our sales rep was able to get us an appointment with the design team. Yippee! We will be ordering our home with a 4% discount. If everything goes as expected, we will be moving to St. James before Christmas.

OCsun, Congratulations and good luck on your impending move to St. James.

[JayShy]

Hi OCsun. We put a deposit on a lot in March and have one year to build. Our sales rep has stayed in touch with us to see how our we are doing with the sale of our house. He called in us about a month ago to let us know about the 4% promotion and said there were only 200 openings and they were already booking fast. He gave us an idea what dates were open, we picked one and he booked the appointment with the design team. I then booked our flights and he reserved their preview housing for us at $75 a night (the same as the lifestyle housing we did in March which includes a golf cart but no coupons or golf). Our rep's name is Jason Kranz and he is super (no pressure and very informative-a nice guy). It sounds like there was some type of miscommunication. Yes, TV is a business but so far, everything for us has been very positive.

[JayShy]

OCsun-glad to see everything worked out before my previous post posted.

[rubicon]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

Actually Rubicon, when we bought in June of 2008, building a home was NOT an option. You could buy the new homes already built and believe me, you could NOT change a thing in them. Cheerily, we asked our sales rep if we could change our smaller no ice in door refrigerator for a fancier one. Nope, not an option.

We bought the brand new Camellia, no washer and dryer, (some homes came with them) no blinds ( some homes came with them) and just enjoyed everything about it until we sold it last month.

Now Jackkel and his bride are living there and enjoying it.

And we are building. But we didn't do selections. I saw a model, and said...I want everything like this house. spit spot...and out.

Dear OCSun, don't trouble yourself about losing the discount. When the next neighborhood opens up, you will have a wider choice of lots and will be able to have the time to make your choices. And there is always some marketing discount going on... They have to keep the sales manager occupied.

It will be fine. I think they told you truthfully that the designers were booked. They are selling a LOT of houses these days.

You will see that this is indeed a friendly place.

Welcome to you.

Kindest wishes,

Gracie

Gracie...thank you, I hought that all ended in 2007????