Glengoyne
06-11-2007, 08:15 PM
My wife and I have been looking at purchasing some land with the intent to put a house down for some time now. We've been selective, probably too much so, and have recently decided that we would look into buying in a subdivision rather than buying the land, drilling a well, and then building a custom home.
The two most appealing options are finding something nice that is being foreclosed on, this isn't too hard to do right now, or to go to a new development and have something built new.
I'm not the best negotiator in the world, but I'm fairly confident that my meager skills combined with the fact that, to this point, I'm honestly not afraid to absolutely walk away from any deal on the table will get me pretty far.
One thing that I'm questioning when dealing with an agent at a new development is this;
ME: Well if you don't have any more lots of that size, we'll just wait six months til you open up that new phase of the development.
Agent: Oh well if you do that, then you will pay more for the lot and the house.
ME: Come again?
Agent: Well the price will go up every time we open a new phase.
ME: In this market? Prices are pretty much in free fall. That's why you are telling me that I won't have to pay extra for any of the options.
Agent: That is only for a limited time.
Me: If I wait six months, it seems to me that the prices will only drop. The market is trending seriously down.
Agent: The prices will ALWAYS go up on a new phase.
--More rambling then my question...
Just as a note, they have a "spec" house they are trying to move. I liked the house except I didn't like the counter tops. I said as much, and they offered to rip out the existing counter tops, replace them with the high end granite option for no additional cost.
The models we're looking at are priced at about $151 a square foot, the houses selling in the community are selling for $128 a foot based on the news paper. I'm of the belief that the homes are 10 percent high at least.
So here is my question. Not only do I question her certainty about the prices going up in the next phase, but I am wondering if the base price is really negotiable in these types of purchases.
All of the extras are certainly in play for negotiation. I'm wondering how far this goes. Are some of the structural upgrades fair game as well? If I convert the third garage to a media room, the "base" price increases twenty thousand dollars...I want the room but I'm not going to pay 20k. How is that going to float? I'm just wondering how much leeway these agents have? They are locking me into their own lender, so that represents several thousand dollars in ripping me off in addition to their projected 3% in closing costs.
The two most appealing options are finding something nice that is being foreclosed on, this isn't too hard to do right now, or to go to a new development and have something built new.
I'm not the best negotiator in the world, but I'm fairly confident that my meager skills combined with the fact that, to this point, I'm honestly not afraid to absolutely walk away from any deal on the table will get me pretty far.
One thing that I'm questioning when dealing with an agent at a new development is this;
ME: Well if you don't have any more lots of that size, we'll just wait six months til you open up that new phase of the development.
Agent: Oh well if you do that, then you will pay more for the lot and the house.
ME: Come again?
Agent: Well the price will go up every time we open a new phase.
ME: In this market? Prices are pretty much in free fall. That's why you are telling me that I won't have to pay extra for any of the options.
Agent: That is only for a limited time.
Me: If I wait six months, it seems to me that the prices will only drop. The market is trending seriously down.
Agent: The prices will ALWAYS go up on a new phase.
--More rambling then my question...
Just as a note, they have a "spec" house they are trying to move. I liked the house except I didn't like the counter tops. I said as much, and they offered to rip out the existing counter tops, replace them with the high end granite option for no additional cost.
The models we're looking at are priced at about $151 a square foot, the houses selling in the community are selling for $128 a foot based on the news paper. I'm of the belief that the homes are 10 percent high at least.
So here is my question. Not only do I question her certainty about the prices going up in the next phase, but I am wondering if the base price is really negotiable in these types of purchases.
All of the extras are certainly in play for negotiation. I'm wondering how far this goes. Are some of the structural upgrades fair game as well? If I convert the third garage to a media room, the "base" price increases twenty thousand dollars...I want the room but I'm not going to pay 20k. How is that going to float? I'm just wondering how much leeway these agents have? They are locking me into their own lender, so that represents several thousand dollars in ripping me off in addition to their projected 3% in closing costs.