Thanks, Travis Hayes, krw, and aemeijers for the timely and thoughtful
responses.

Travis, we'd heard that the J.D. Power surveys weren't as good as
Consumer Reports, but we had no idea they were that bad.

krw, thanks for mentioning about the web search and "local consumer
resources", and also mentioning that you can get more aggressive with a
buyer's agent than we'd thought possible.

aemeijers, we completely agree with you about your description of the
buying experience - it was exactly like going to a car dealer. Also,
we liked your idea of going to a locat independent builder - would this
be like a custom builder? I assume this would also be like David
Powers, who, although he's not a custom builder, just builds houses
in the Houston area, and has an excellent reputation. (We can't,
however, afford him.)

BTW, we're now strongly considering going with David Weekley in Seven
Meadows. If anyone knows anything about them, I'd love to hear from
you. Locally (realtors, tax assessors, etc.), Weekley and Pulte seem
to have the best reputations in the Houston area. And Weekley is
headquartered locally, and seems to treat us more nicely and honestly
than Pulte.

Tony