My daughter is buying a new town house in Florida. She has a contract
to build a model X home on say lot 4, built along with 5 other homes
all on a comon concrete slab.

The builder poured the slab and started the block work and my kid
found out that her model X is on lot 3 and model Y is on lot 4. The
builder/realtor says, no problem, we will amend your contract and put
you into model X on lot 3 and switch the other owner.

I suggested to my daughter to do it but ask for a small extra perk
like wood floors that she could not afford. This would compensate her
for not having the lot she wanted and purchased. Builder/realtor said
flat out no. My kid says, ok I'll make them tear it all down and build
it right.

Question is, how strong is a real estate contract and should she push
the issue. The builder/realtor is being very cold about this and
didn't make a big deal about their screw up. Any ideas as to what she
should do. This builder is one of the largest is Florida.

Lori

no-one wrote in
:

My daughter is buying a new town house in Florida. She has a contract
to build a model X home on say lot 4, built along with 5 other homes
all on a comon concrete slab.

The builder poured the slab and started the block work and my kid
found out that her model X is on lot 3 and model Y is on lot 4. The
builder/realtor says, no problem, we will amend your contract and put
you into model X on lot 3 and switch the other owner.

Heh. Of course they would suggest the path of least resistance.


Builder/realtor said
flat out no. My kid says, ok I'll make them tear it all down and build
it right.

Your kid is right. Have her stick by her guns.


Question is, how strong is a real estate contract and should she push
the issue. The builder/realtor is being very cold about this and
didn't make a big deal about their screw up. Any ideas as to what she
should do. This builder is one of the largest is Florida.

Get a lawyer involved. If she contracted for a house X on lot 4, then
the builder has to build that. If they can't, she should be compensated
for it. And compensation isn't "We'll move you next door and that's
it."

But IANAL; get a legal opinion.

Soon.


Lori

No way should your daughter let the builder push her around.

My guess is that someone else wanted your daughter's part of the slab so the
builder sold the part that your daughter bought to the other person in other
to sell another home and then told your daughter that they made a mistake.

If she's happy with the "wrong" slab position, then let them compensate her,
but she needs to get adequate compensation, like a signficant price
reduction. I wouldn't settle for less than 5%, even if the location of the
other slab position is just as good as the one she contracted for. If the
"new" house location is inferior to the location that she contracted for,
she should demand much greater compensation. At some point, either the
builder will decide to just follow the contract, or your daughter will get
enough compensation to make it worth her while to accept the alternate
location.

This is the time for your daughter to put her foot down. Otherwise, the
builder will make lots of other "mistakes" and take advantage of her over
and over. If she sticks to her guns, the builder will be more careful in
the future and won't be as likely to play games with her.

Your daughter has the upper hand. There's no need for her to just "be nice"
to accomodate the builder.

One other thing: If your daughter is not a strong negotiator, she
shouldn't hesitate to get an attorney involved. A letter from an attorney
to the builder will likely have huge impact.


"no-one" wrote in message
...
My daughter is buying a new town house in Florida. She has a contract
to build a model X home on say lot 4, built along with 5 other homes
all on a comon concrete slab.

The builder poured the slab and started the block work and my kid
found out that her model X is on lot 3 and model Y is on lot 4. The
builder/realtor says, no problem, we will amend your contract and put
you into model X on lot 3 and switch the other owner.

I suggested to my daughter to do it but ask for a small extra perk
like wood floors that she could not afford. This would compensate her
for not having the lot she wanted and purchased. Builder/realtor said
flat out no. My kid says, ok I'll make them tear it all down and build
it right.

Question is, how strong is a real estate contract and should she push
the issue. The builder/realtor is being very cold about this and
didn't make a big deal about their screw up. Any ideas as to what she
should do. This builder is one of the largest is Florida.

Lori

Folks, a lot of new construction contracts are so hideously one-sided,
that she may not have as many options as we'd think.

She absolutely needs to talk to a real estate lawyer.

Dan's right a lot of new home contracts are almost unbreakable by the
purchaser.

Ex: Bunch of uncompleted new homes in Toronto burned down leaving
purchasers with their own homes sold or apartments leases run out and no
where to live.

The contracts they signed said they where not entitled to a full refind or
compensation if the builder was financially able to rebuild within the next
3 years. My son works in the insurance industry and he said you could
probably buy a policy to cover you against this type of problem but it's not
something he has seen used to protect buyers.

In a hot market new home buyers are really behind the 8 ball. In a cold
market you can negotiate your own contract.

Zack

"Dan" wrote in message
...
Folks, a lot of new construction contracts are so hideously one-sided,
that she may not have as many options as we'd think.

She absolutely needs to talk to a real estate lawyer.

On Sat, 04 Oct 2003 02:00:18 GMT, someone wrote:


The builder poured the slab and started the block work and my kid
found out that her model X is on lot 3 and model Y is on lot 4. The
builder/realtor says, no problem, we will amend your contract and put
you into model X on lot 3 and switch the other owner.

I suggested to my daughter to do it but ask for a small extra perk

In what way is your "kid" harmed by the different lot?

If one lot was on a corner and the other lot was inside (or something
like that) this could be significant. Did she actually "select" that
particular lot, or did she merely take it because Model X was to be
built on it? Let us know, because from what you posted, it sounds
like she merely picked a Model X and was going to take it wherever it
was.

Also, who owns the lot now? Again, it looks like a different
situation if you already own a lot, hire somebody to build a house on
it, and they build the wrong house. But if she merely has a contract
to buy the house and lot once the house is completed, well, if they
don't put the right house on that lot, then she doesn't have to buy
it.

To what extent is she damaged by the builder's breach of contract? It
is VERY VERY hard to get "specific performance" rather than money
damages. Since tearing the house down afterwards and rebuilding it is
obviously very costly, how can she prove she was damaged to that
extent? Sounds like a case of, if you really push it, it is "I'm
sorry, here's your deposit back." Or you could spend thousands of
dollars suing, only to get $500 bucks for her now having to look for a
different development to buy in.

Sounds like YOU are pushing the "kid" (can't be that much of a kid
because "kid" is buying their own house so what's it to you) to try to
take advantage of someone else's mistake to come out ahead (and get
"something she can't afford"). You sound like someone who would like
to get in a car acident because oboy now you can get money for a stiff
neck.

If there is actually some significance to which lot she takes, let me
know so that I will not think this about you. Otherwise, the typical
low end development (or even mid range and sometimes upper also) is
pretty cookie cutter as to the lots.

-v.

On Sat, 04 Oct 2003 04:12:54 GMT, someone wrote:


If she's happy with the "wrong" slab position, then let them compensate her,
but she needs to get adequate compensation, like a signficant price
reduction. I wouldn't settle for less than 5%,

Yeah right. You wouldn't "settle" for less than 5%? Gee, easy for
you to say. If she is happy with the alternate position, why is she
owed any compensation at all?

Before anybody can be "compensated", they have to show DAMAGES!!!!!

Basically, for 1$ damages, you get $1 compensation, and if the
different spots make no difference in market value, then you would be
hard put to show damages. Folks, there are two phases to a contract
dispute. Just because you show breach, doesn't mean you also have
damages.

As I said to the OP, post some info showing what the actual
significance is of the change in lots. My Q is, if the original plan
showed Model X house on the spot where it is now being built, and
Model Y house on the other spot, would she still have gone for the
same lot with a different house on it, or would she have selected
Model X wherever it was being put.

So far nobody has posted ANY info justifying the amount of
"compensation" they are saying she should get. All I see so far is
people trying to PROFIT from someone else's mistake. And you claim
builders are 'greedy'???

-v.

Not necessary, things do sometimes go wrong. I have a relative that
subdivides land. In one instance he sold a lot and was driving through the
neighborhood when he saw a house almost finished on a lot he was sure was
not yet sold. It appeared that there was a screwup and the house went up on
a lot next to the lot he had sold for that house. Got by everyone. He did
a legal swap of lots and no harm done, but I can see how this might have
happened.


"Intrigued" wrote in message
...
No way should your daughter let the builder push her around.

My guess is that someone else wanted your daughter's part of the slab so
the
builder sold the part that your daughter bought to the other person in
other
to sell another home and then told your daughter that they made a mistake.

If she's happy with the "wrong" slab position, then let them compensate
her,
but she needs to get adequate compensation, like a signficant price
reduction. I wouldn't settle for less than 5%, even if the location of
the
other slab position is just as good as the one she contracted for. If the
"new" house location is inferior to the location that she contracted for,
she should demand much greater compensation. At some point, either the
builder will decide to just follow the contract, or your daughter will get
enough compensation to make it worth her while to accept the alternate
location.

This is the time for your daughter to put her foot down. Otherwise, the
builder will make lots of other "mistakes" and take advantage of her over
and over. If she sticks to her guns, the builder will be more careful in
the future and won't be as likely to play games with her.

Your daughter has the upper hand. There's no need for her to just "be
nice"
to accomodate the builder.

One other thing: If your daughter is not a strong negotiator, she
shouldn't hesitate to get an attorney involved. A letter from an attorney
to the builder will likely have huge impact.


"no-one" wrote in message
...
My daughter is buying a new town house in Florida. She has a contract
to build a model X home on say lot 4, built along with 5 other homes
all on a comon concrete slab.

The builder poured the slab and started the block work and my kid
found out that her model X is on lot 3 and model Y is on lot 4. The
builder/realtor says, no problem, we will amend your contract and put
you into model X on lot 3 and switch the other owner.

I suggested to my daughter to do it but ask for a small extra perk
like wood floors that she could not afford. This would compensate her
for not having the lot she wanted and purchased. Builder/realtor said
flat out no. My kid says, ok I'll make them tear it all down and build
it right.

Question is, how strong is a real estate contract and should she push
the issue. The builder/realtor is being very cold about this and
didn't make a big deal about their screw up. Any ideas as to what she
should do. This builder is one of the largest is Florida.

Lori

I'm curious to see where this goes. If the original poster has any new info
to post, that would be nice.

-Daniel
"v" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 04 Oct 2003 02:00:18 GMT, someone wrote:


The builder poured the slab and started the block work and my kid
found out that her model X is on lot 3 and model Y is on lot 4. The
builder/realtor says, no problem, we will amend your contract and put
you into model X on lot 3 and switch the other owner.

I suggested to my daughter to do it but ask for a small extra perk

In what way is your "kid" harmed by the different lot?

If one lot was on a corner and the other lot was inside (or something
like that) this could be significant. Did she actually "select" that
particular lot, or did she merely take it because Model X was to be
built on it? Let us know, because from what you posted, it sounds
like she merely picked a Model X and was going to take it wherever it
was.

Also, who owns the lot now? Again, it looks like a different
situation if you already own a lot, hire somebody to build a house on
it, and they build the wrong house. But if she merely has a contract
to buy the house and lot once the house is completed, well, if they
don't put the right house on that lot, then she doesn't have to buy
it.

To what extent is she damaged by the builder's breach of contract? It
is VERY VERY hard to get "specific performance" rather than money
damages. Since tearing the house down afterwards and rebuilding it is
obviously very costly, how can she prove she was damaged to that
extent? Sounds like a case of, if you really push it, it is "I'm
sorry, here's your deposit back." Or you could spend thousands of
dollars suing, only to get $500 bucks for her now having to look for a
different development to buy in.

Sounds like YOU are pushing the "kid" (can't be that much of a kid
because "kid" is buying their own house so what's it to you) to try to
take advantage of someone else's mistake to come out ahead (and get
"something she can't afford"). You sound like someone who would like
to get in a car acident because oboy now you can get money for a stiff
neck.

If there is actually some significance to which lot she takes, let me
know so that I will not think this about you. Otherwise, the typical
low end development (or even mid range and sometimes upper also) is
pretty cookie cutter as to the lots.

-v.