Anyone care to share his/her experience dealing with
builders in general, particularly those in the Bay Area,
California. Builder in particular is Toll Brothers.

What I want to know a
1. Any rebate program (keep hearing realtor that they can
give us back 1-2% out of the 3% rebate builder would give
them).
2. If house price or any options is negotiable
3. How to check builder's reputation
4. Common problems/rip-off people run into
5. Is it a good idea to get financing from them
6. Is it a good idea to get upgrade from them?

Thanks,
Raymond

Do a Google search on Toll Brothers.

wrote:
Anyone care to share his/her experience dealing with
builders in general, particularly those in the Bay Area,
California. Builder in particular is Toll Brothers.

What I want to know a
1. Any rebate program (keep hearing realtor that they can
give us back 1-2% out of the 3% rebate builder would give
them).
2. If house price or any options is negotiable
3. How to check builder's reputation
4. Common problems/rip-off people run into
5. Is it a good idea to get financing from them
6. Is it a good idea to get upgrade from them?

Thanks,
Raymond

gary wrote:
Do a Google search on Toll Brothers.

wrote:
Anyone care to share his/her experience dealing with
builders in general, particularly those in the Bay Area,
California. Builder in particular is Toll Brothers.

What I want to know a
1. Any rebate program (keep hearing realtor that they can
give us back 1-2% out of the 3% rebate builder would give
them).
2. If house price or any options is negotiable
3. How to check builder's reputation
4. Common problems/rip-off people run into
5. Is it a good idea to get financing from them
6. Is it a good idea to get upgrade from them?

Thanks,
Raymond


Toll Brothers is considered one of the "luxury" builders. Although
Hovnanian and others are catching up on quality and price. When we
bought from Toll, we took the purchase agreement to our lawyer. He told
us that he has worked with Toll agreement before and they will not
change anything essentially. i.e. they are in demand, they know it and
you will have to agree to most of it.
That said, they are reasonable to a certain extent; a lot depends on
how you approach the sales people at the site; ours were friendly and
accomodating (wanted to change colors, fixtures after due date and they
did it, etc).
1. Why didn't you buy directly from Toll at the building site?
2. Home prices/options are not negotiable; but you could ask for
something to be thrown in.
3. Google to find this out
4. You'll probably do better at financing elsewhere
5. Depends. If you want to upgrade carpet, you will be overpaying; but
then some people don't want to get the default carpet, then rip it out
a few years later and replace it.
Same with tile, kitchen cabinets, windows, etc.
Like all builders, they don't give you any "credit" for the default
item. For e.g. if you want bigger windows instead of the small ones
they give you, the upgrade price will "include" the credit for the
window you are replacing.
All in all they are better than many of them.
-Mark Sabatini

In article .com,
wrote:

Anyone care to share his/her experience dealing with
builders in general, particularly those in the Bay Area,
California. Builder in particular is Toll Brothers.

What I want to know a
1. Any rebate program (keep hearing realtor that they can
give us back 1-2% out of the 3% rebate builder would give
them).

Rebates are a false economy. Builders have to make their
money, too, and they will find a way to get that money back
out of you. For example, if you want a change made later on,
the builder might not charge a change fee, but if you are on
a rebate, they will hit you full bore.

2. If house price or any options is negotiable

Everything is negotiable. Keep in mind that if there are
a lot of buyers, someone else might take your deal if you
putz around and someone else is willing to pay full price.

3. How to check builder's reputation

Find other houses that they have built, and ask the owners.
As your friends and neighbors. As a realtor.

4. Common problems/rip-off people run into

People close the deal before the defect/punch list is fininshed,
and then the builder will never come back. Make sure you put
any punch list items or unfinished items into escrow at closing,
and don't release the money until things are finished.

5. Is it a good idea to get financing from them

As long as you get the rate and terms you like, it doesn't
matter where you go.

6. Is it a good idea to get upgrade from them?

Yes, in some cases. A big part of the building process
is getting a permit, moving in tools and materials, and
cleanup of the jobsite. This is all part of the job if
you have the builder do updates. If you do it later, you
have to redo this process, and it really ads to the
cost and disruption of your home life.

Second, a builders main goal is to build a home and close
the deal. They will do whatever they need to within reason
to get you to buy. Once they are done building, they have
no interest in coming back and doing additions or changes.
As a result, changes and additions after closing normally
cost twice as much.

There are some things, however, that the builder just
passes the cost onto you with a mark up. Garage door
openers and water softeners are an example. If you have
the builder do them, they will cost more than if you hire
it out yourself.

-john-

--
================================================== ====================
John A. Weeks III 952-432-2708
Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com
================================================== ====================

"Mark" wrote in message
...
On 27 Jan 2005 12:22:16 -0800, wrote:


gary wrote:
Do a Google search on Toll Brothers.

wrote:
Anyone care to share his/her experience dealing with
builders in general, particularly those in the Bay Area,
California. Builder in particular is Toll Brothers.

What I want to know a
1. Any rebate program (keep hearing realtor that they can
give us back 1-2% out of the 3% rebate builder would give
them).
2. If house price or any options is negotiable
3. How to check builder's reputation
4. Common problems/rip-off people run into
5. Is it a good idea to get financing from them
6. Is it a good idea to get upgrade from them?

Thanks,
Raymond


Toll Brothers is considered one of the "luxury" builders.

I'm glad you put that word in quotes. They are trying to promote that
appearance, but they certainly do not promote it with regards to building
quality and materials.

This was 4-5 years ago when I was looking in my area. Because of this, I
ended up building privately and GC's the job on my own (which I don't
recommend to anyone and will probably never do again myself!)

I would hope things have changed with TB, but I don't know.

Toll Brothers being a "luxury builder" means that they sell high priced
homes, not that they build quality homes. All things being equal TB builds
better houses than Hovnanian does.

1. We're now buying direct from builder. However, we also work with
some realtors on older houses.
They told us about the rebate thing. So we're trying to find out
how this work, and whether we
are in a better negotiation position if we didn't use a realtor to
buy the new house.

2. What's the motivation for the builder to throw in something?
What're the things people commonly
ask for?

Raymond