New Construction.....Low Appraisal.......Advice Please

14 years ago

We are building a second home in the Phoenix area. It is a Pulte Home. We originally were going to finance with Pulte Mortagage, but decided to go with our local Credit Union instead. With upgrades and lot premium, the purchase price is $220,000. The appraisal value came in at $203,000. Pulte wanted the appraiser to reevaluate, but he is sticking with his original appraisal. The bank will finance 80% of $203,000. What is the best way to deal with this situation? We do not want to pay more for the house than the appraisal. We are willing to let it go if necessary.

Has anyone else been in a similar situation and what was your outcome? Have you had experience negotiating with Pulte?

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (13)

cordovamom
14 years ago
Do a google search on Pulte complaints. I think you'll find that you may want out of the deal anyway. I personally would not pay more for the home then it appraises for.
Billl
14 years ago
"With upgrades and lot premium" - there you go. The bells and whistles don't pay for themselves. If you build a new home and customize, it typically is going to cost more than it is worth. You are paying extra to have everything exactly the way you want it.

Of course, in the Phoenix market, you've seen values drop dramatically. The house might well have been worth $220k a year ago but only $203k right now.
Related Discussions
I sound like a broken record.....more cold coming!
Q
Comments (31)
Jay, We hit 28 degrees this morning so it was colder here than it was there. How strange is that? Love County's Mesonet station had the lowest low for this morning when I looked at the map, but I didn't look later in the day to see if any corrected data had popped up. Sulphur and Tahlequah bottomed out at 29. We also had the highest high--73 at the mesonet station but it hit 75 at our house. From 28 this a.m. to 73/75 this afternoon was a pretty big change. I wish the weather would settle down so we could get on with planting the warm-season crops. I do have tomato plants in the ground and corn, but have been waiting to see what next week's forecast does before I plant anything more. My pepper plants either need to go into the ground or I need to pot them up to bigger pots if I am going to hold them for a while longer. Our soil temps are decent and our high temps are nice, but once or twice a week we hit the lower 30s or upper 20s. I hope you don't see the 100s in May...but it isn't like any of us have any say in the matter. We usually don't warm up as early as you do so I don't expect 100s until June. Even some potatoes that were covered with a row cover that should have given them 4 degrees of freeze protection had fairly significant freeze damage this morning when I uncovered them, so I believe the temperature was lower at the ground level than the 28 degrees recorded at 5' above ground. I'm trying to remember the last year we had a halfway normal weather/gardening year at our house. Maybe 2010. It seems like it was 100 years ago. Dawn
...See More
Young south texas couple needs advice!
Q
Comments (5)
Your dealer is the most important....that is VERY TRUE...but your manufacturer is important as well...I would suggest ya'll to take a look at Deer Valley...we did our homework before we bought ours and I'm sure glad we did.Go to the Deer Valley homebuilders website and click on the "Why Deer Valley" section and compare their construction components to others and you'll find their hard to beat. We live in North Central Arkansas and have been in our home for about a month now and we haven't had a single issue.WE LOVE OUR HOME!...You will spend a little more for the quality you will receive but it will pay off in the long run.Energy efficiency was paramount to us and is really the main factor in our decision. Don't base your decision on what you can see...what you can't see is what's most important... We wish ya'll luck and hope ya'll have a very pleasant home buying experience... take your time and if there's anything we can help with let us know.I will check back here for updates...good luck!
...See More
Ideas for this old house?
Q
Comments (20)
Colbey, I realize there is economic benefit "down the road" when you wish to sell, if the house is larger than 2/1. But a house like that does not benefit from a split personality look. What I would do is to build that big back porch you want. But do it all the way across the back, and if you can do so, put in the second bath in that space so you could create a master suite from one of the bedrooms. You would possibly put the bath in the original part of the house, and the master bedroom at one end of the porch space. LOTS of French style windows and maybe repeat the arched windows of the house front. The front porch has such a sheltered look. And, I also think it would be another good spot to consider as a study with access from the living room through a window turned into an open doorway. Lexan panels which are fixed do allow heat gain. But if you have the porch windows already fixed, and they do not open, the Lexan panels permanently mounted outside them will not make it hotter than it normally is. Please, also tell me the direction of the front of your house. Does it face N/S/E/W or some other orientation? You will better judge the nature of the light in your house. One thing I did as I became familiar with my old MoccasinLanding cottage, was to take seasonal photos outside which showed the shadows cast by the sun around the house. And, I took pictures from inside the house looking out every window. Make sure you get the details of what you see in the image, don't let it "white" out with over exposure. That way, I would see in the photo what my eyes were ignoring. And I could then begin to control what the view would become. If you saw a neighbor's old junky cars, then plant something to obstruct the view. Or if you could not do that, then put something on your property that would stop the longer view of the neighbor, and make the eye focus on YOUR interest point. Like offering a crying baby a rattle to take its focus away from what displeased it. I have a little cottage now which began as a 2/1 built in 1950. We are adding a really small bath, and converting the original bath into a master suite with a new walkin closet. It will then be a 2 bedroom 2 bath, with one being a full true master suite. We also have added a small deck, and enclosed the side porch to make a Lexan-covered sun porch; and are now including the back porch into a kitchen redo. I see that you have a really lovely older home too, with lots of potential. There are a/c units which are not window units, but which have only the exhaust vented through the window. Or even through a hole the size of a kitchen range hood vent. We have one in our Massachusetts home, where it is only used a few weeks during the summer. Our daughter has one in her media room, built over her garage, so she did not have to expand the home heating system. Frigidaire has a small window a/c with 8000 BTU capacity runs on 110 power, and that is what we installed on our sun porch in a specially built frame as a permanent part of the Lexan walls. The window unit you have in your dining room is fairly old, and it will draw much more electricity than a newer model. I'd recommend a unit which is on wheels and can be slid out of the way and only have a tube venting through the window. BUT, if there is already full house ducting, is there some way to add a heat pump a/c to your house? A few calls to local heat/ac guys would answer that, and then you figure out the payback. Like Cearbhaill says, this can be a very exciting redo, and worth documenting. You've already shown your willingness to take beginning photos, so we hope this continues as your work progresses. Good beginnings!
...See More
Low-e vs solar gain vs window treatments
Q
Comments (22)
Hi ZIns, Oberon offered professional technical details so I will chime in with homeowner experience. Yes, even with Low-E, there will be fading. Depending on the amount and intensity of exposure and the finish, it is a matter of how much and how soon. In a situation where the sun is very mild and light, by the time fading is noticeable, it may also be time to refinish the floor. My guess is the floor is not receiving year-round exposure, true? The sun is stronger and deeper during some time of the year and weaker and less intense at other times, is that so? We have seasonal sun intensity problem too and solve it with a combination of solution. We use rugs to protect several sections of our floor during mid-Spring through late Summer. The rugs are removed to prevent tripping when we have visitors. The rugs are also removed around Autumn when the sun is low and the exposure is much less intense and shortening each day. We have old furniture in one area by our French doors and my wife made knitted coverings to cover the furniture. As necessary, we remove the covering when appropriate. Outside the French doors, we installed retractable awning so that during extremely hot summer days, the awning extends to provide cover without blocking natural light. Our goal is to not use any window treatment because we enjoy natural light and the views. Hope this helps a bit.
...See More
sylviatexas1
14 years ago
see why builders like for buyers to use the builder's choice of lender, appraiser, etc?
sylviatexas1
14 years ago
sorry, I forgot to address your actual question.

There's really no negotiating with builders;
like car dealers, they set the price & determine the "concessions" they'll make & build those into the price.

& upgrades are a huge profit-maker;
the builders have a great deal of latitude on those items, which is why they can run specials where they throw in $20,000 to $40,000 "worth" of upgrades.

I think I'd tell them that I'm sorry it didn't work out & I'll pick up my earnest money day after tomorrow.
ncrealestateguy
14 years ago
You CAN negotiate with builders in this climate. You should tell them that you will pay the appraised price, which means you are paying full price, or you want your EMD back that day. You have a financing clause in your contract, now is the time to leverage it.
FatHen
14 years ago
I agree w/the others who cautioned to research complaints on builders and also cautioned about using the builder's lender. Pressuring appraisers to meet the number is how builders and others who had a vested interest in it, kept prices inflating during the bubble. These houses were never worth what they were selling for during the bubble, it was an illusion that burned many people along w/the foolish lenders. Last but not least, do not make the mistake of dismissing internet complaints you will find as baloney. MOST complaints about builders and their warranties are now hidden in private records due to mandatory arbitration clauses in builder contracts and warranty policies; arbitration prevents suing which is a public record, so no public record exists on numerous complaints. The internet can be the only way to find out about some, when people who are fed up with their lack of recourse post complaints to warn others. Check out google.com's search engine (I know that's obvious to most people but I try not to assume), also hadd.com and hobb.org I can't imagine anyone would go thru w/this sale after thoroughly checking this out. Don't fall for this attempt to sell you a house that's not worth what you will owe on it.
logic
14 years ago
Pulte's reputation for a quality build is generally poor.

IMO, you are fortunate that the appraisal issue came up, as that is your out...for which you will be thankful for once you do the research.
FatHen
14 years ago
I'm curious why the word "selling" in my post shows as a link--I didn't put a link in my post and don't even know how to.
clg7067
14 years ago
fathen, I don't see the link, so it must be something that GW puts in automatically.
graywings123
14 years ago
I'm curious why the word "selling" in my post shows as a link--I didn't put a link in my post and don't even know how to.

It is an advertising gimmick, explained at the top of the page where the list of threads appear:

What's New on GardenWeb:

* For spectacular salads, gardening tips and much more, join Jennie Garth and Hidden Valley's Garden Party as they celebrate this month's veggie -- Lettuce!
* Thursday, 7am ET: We are aware that older, archived posts appear to be missing. Our tech team is investigating and we hope to have this resolved soon.
* Please read this important announcement about new advertising.

They claim you can opt out, but the opt out isn't working for me.
chispa
14 years ago
About 10 years ago my parents were living in NJ and there was a Pulte subdivision being built behind their house. My Dad and I would go take a walk through some of the houses as they were being built. I'm no building expert, but had done lots of research at that time because we had considered building. Both my Dad and I were amazed with the shoddy workmanship. Buyers would have no clue what was behind the finished product. They do have different project managers and crews, so you might be lucky to get someone who knows something and actually cares about their job ... buyer beware.
qdwag
14 years ago
Not meant to defend shoddy workmanship,but unless you are custom building,with KNOWN quality workman,you are likley getting only decnet to mediocre quality with ALL homes...It is NOT just major builders who do such
akrogirl
14 years ago
We used to own a Pulte home (our realtor still does), and it was actually one of the better built homes I have come across in the Phoenix area.

DH and I also checked out every builder around when we were looking for a new home. We looked at everything from regular tract homes to million dollar plus custom homes. Sad to say, just as qdwag wrote, there was no difference in build quality for the most part since the builders are all using the same, for the most part unqualified, crews. Sure, the expensive homes had fancier finishes, but the underlying framing was every bit as shoddily done.

New Construction.....Low Appraisal.......Advice Please

Comments (13)

cordovamom

Billl

Related Discussions

sylviatexas1

sylviatexas1

ncrealestateguy

FatHen

logic

FatHen

clg7067

graywings123

chispa

qdwag

akrogirl

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US