When we visited the model(a Venice), we found that the community was new and they were offering a deal on the Venice floor plan with a selected home site of the month. The deal included an upgraded kitchen with granite counter tops, a morning room, a GE appliance package, hardwood kitchen and morning room, luxury tile packages in the bathrooms, oak stairs, and a finished basement. They calculate these upgrades at a ridiculous $50,000. Most of these upgrades were a "must" want in our new home, so we decided to focus on the Venice floor plan over the the Milan floor plan.
The sales rep team set us up with an appointment for the next weekend (8/16/16) to come in a price out and talk about the home building process.
Recommendation #1, always make your appointments when your rep starts for the day. We made an appointment at 1pm and sat around for an hour until he was done talking to a few clients who had just walked in. PISSED!
Below is a picture of the front of the community. The deals for the Venice Model were on lots 276-278. If we wanted another lot, we could not get the deal. Also there are these things called lot premiums. For any other lots their was a lot premium of up to $20,000.00. The only thing we did not love about this community was that our house would back up to a retention pond as you can see in the picture on the right. It looks CRAZY on this image, almost like a quarry, but it is not terrible. This was not a deal breaker for us. We really liked lot 277 after walking the lots with the sales rep.
After looking at the lots, we went inside to price out our home. The rep added all of the above deals and we chose to add on a soaking tub and separate shower in the master bathroom, a 16x12 deck, and a bunch of recessed lights, ceiling fan rough-ins, and light rough-ins. After we priced our home, the rep wanted us to place a hold on the lot we wanted for I believe a refundable $1,000. We chose not to do this as we wanted to talk it over. The rep was not very pushy, but did try to finish the sale with telling us that a lot of people were in and out all weekend and they had several interested buyers. We let it up to fate, if they all sold in a week or two then maybe it was a sign not to get the place?
I started looking at blogs like this and trying to find anything I could about these options. I found sites with lists of questions to ask the sales rep, things I would never think of myself. I sent them all to the sale rep and we kept researching for about two more weeks before we were ready to make our final decision.
Here is the list of questions I asked the sales rep:
Interior
Style Questions:
Oak
stairs? Provided on upstairs and downstairs
steps? What rails are we getting?
Will
we get to pick interior paint colors?
Following
up on my carpet question. Need carpet
specs. Can an upgrade be done? Do not want
crap.
Closet
– Will standard wire shelving be installed as in the model?
Smooth
or rough ceilings?
Shower
height? Needs to be over 6’2”.
Interior
Other Questions:
Will
the windows have screens?
What
brand of windows will be used?
French
door or sliding door on morning room? Screen Door?
Screen
door/storm door on front entrance?
Kitchen
cabinets as seen in model? No slam
drawers? Pull out drawer in cabinet in
island? Etc.
Towel
bars/accessories in all the bathrooms?
Appliance
Questions:
Who
is the AC and furnace manufacturer? Size of AC unit?
Where
will the windows be in the basement?
What
appliances are included in the package?
Will
the included refrigerator have a water dispenser/ice maker/water line?
Electrical/Lighting
Questions:
Where
is all of the lighting? We went over additional costs for lighting in the kitchen,
morning room, living room, and basement. Is there provided lighting in the
following/what kind?
Front porch?
Back deck?
Inside Front entrance?
Outside basement door?
Laundry room?
Master closet?
Upstairs hallway?
Upstairs/downstairs staircases?
Unfinished basement storage?
Family Entry?
All other bathrooms?
Standard recessed lights over each shower?
Where
will outlets be located?
Will there be one in the laundry room?
Will there be one in the master closet?
Is there an outlet on the kitchen island?
How many outlets in the garage?
Cable
hookups?
-Living room and family room?
-Each bedroom?
-Basement?
Exterior/Garage
Questions:
Will
the community have sidewalks? Will RH do
that?
Are
there outlets in the garage or anywhere on the exterior?
Will
the garage be wallpapered and painted?
Where
are the hose bibs located? Front and back of house?
Will
the lawn be seeded or sodded? If we move
in December, when will this be done?
Will
any other landscaping be done? Trees
etc?
What
limitations do we have in terms of putting in a fence? Any HOA restrictions? What
is the dimension of our back yard (that we can fence)?
What brand of roof shingles (and year) are on the house and what is the warranty?
What brand of roof shingles (and year) are on the house and what is the warranty?
Will
we have a concrete pad outside of our walkout basement?
Auto
garage door openers included? 2?
Covered
front porch? Not sure with our
elevation?
Mailbox?
General
Construction Questions?
What
inspections will happen at each stage?
When
can we visit the site?
Can
I bring in my own home inspector?
