A few Home for the next few years.

NEW -> Contingent Buyer Assistance Program
<p>There are differences between builders on this.</p>

<p>I had very little choice to make changes in my current home, but my former home was very different.</p>

<p>That one was built by Brookfield, and they did many, many custom things for us - from dedicated circuits everywhere to changing a bath to a shower.</p>

<p>Of course, they bled us, but we got exactly what we wanted!</p>
 
<p>It's really important to purchase new homes from big builders for warranty service. I have seen enough non-service from small builders, who seem to disappear within a couple of years, leaving the homeowners with big repair bills.</p>
 
I fortunately have had good experience with buying homes from builders, I bought new in 1989 from Cal Prop (probably no longer around) and never had a problem, bought new in 2003 from Vintage Communities and their customer service was fantastic for the very few things that needed fixing. My most memorable fix was when the area between the foundation and the exterior stucco that's supposed to be airtight (forget what that's called) had a small opening that allowed a couple of mice to die in the insulation and smell up the master bedroom, their customer service people did a smell test, cut into the drywall at several different areas in the general area of the "fragrance" and removed the mice and vacuumed up the droppings, and sealed the area even though they said this was not really a builder problem but an extermination problem. Well fortunately they did it because I contacted several exterminators and none of them would cut into drywall. Anyone else have a similar problem?
 
No problems with any builders so far...but horror story with having Direct TV installed! They puntured a water line and didn't tell me. Had to have the drywall removed, a hole cut into the floor of the master bedroom and holes about 1 feet in diameter drilled into the side of the house from the exterior to repair the water pipe. Oh, and it was at one of the T (union of several pipes - that's what they called it), which is why so many holes had to be drilled because they had to replace the T.
 
LL, did Direct TV do the repairs or pay for the repairs? BTW, why directtv and not cable? Just curious, I've always had cable. how many HD channels do you get? I only get around 12 or so HD channels.
 
i think directTV has a chinese language channels package along with other paid package for other language channel. Never looked into though.
 
I had to arrange for all the repairs and Direct TV paid for them. I no longer have Direct TV at that home. Went with cable after that horrific incident.
 
<p>"Is the TIC that powerful such that it can counter the market force?"</p>

<p>It's not so much that they can counter it, but certainly slow the descent of home prices. As has been mentioned, if you control supply, you can keep price higher. And TIC can afford to let all that land remain as agricultural fields. I love Strawberries! You can also look The Segerstroms lima bean fields in Costa Mesa. That is such a nice cash crop it took a lot of convincing ($$$) from IKEA to get that built.</p>

<p>And to Laing_ Lies' comments about VIP's. I read many of your posts. You sound very knowledgeable and at the top of your game. So why are you surprised? Many brochures I've read indicate employees, contractors and the such can move to the top of waiting lists at the builders discretion. At a cocktail party, I mentioned to a relative of the President of one of these builders that I might be interested in one of their homes and "Top of the List" placement was immediately offered. Life is ALL about who you know. Truly, I feel your pain, but what can you do?</p>
 
<p>Cal -</p>

<p>There is certainly nothing I can do, but complain about it. I provide special exceptions for my employees, also. I just don't make it so blatantly clear to my regular patients. My main disappointment with JLH was not that they allowed their "VIP buyers" to select first and to purchase at a discount, but then they also allowed them to change anything about the home they desired. This included adding special recessed areas to changing the entire structural elevation to a different style - things that are not offered to other buyers. Again, company perks are great and I'm all for them. But, I just thought that, especially in this difficult housing market, that JLH would want to extend the same courtesy to their regular, "non-VIP" buyers. And, I certainly don't want anything for free. I'm happy to pay for my upgrades ... if I was even offered the same upgrade selections as their "VIP" employees. </p>

<p>Anyway, I'm really over it at this point. Escrow is closing in one month. I just thought it was kinda funny... well, and sad...but more funny... that one of their homes that was sold to a "VIP" buyer fell out of escrow and is listed on the MLS now (in fact, one of the bloggers on this site was the first to point it out). Sad for the employee who probably lost their job (since that's the only reason I could think of for them to pull out at this late stage), but funny because the builder claimed that they cannot allow regular buyers to change anything about the exterior home( ie. stucco color, shutter color, elevation) because if, for some reason, the buyer cancels, then it would make it more difficult for the builder to find a buyer who would like the changes.</p>
 
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