Dave, what a bummer, but at least they were able to find new buyers quickly! Better to have a delayed closing than not having one at all and having to re-list your home!

I know what you mean by builders and their upgrades. The prices are so inflated and you pay for every little nut and bolt it seems.

Dave,

Sorry to hear about the set-back. It's always something, isn't it. I am fairly new to this forum, but "lived" in the kitchen forum for a long time during our remodel. Now that I have the kitchen of my dreams, but not planned for resale of course, we are moving to NC. Wondered if you would mind telling me where you are moving to and what builder you are using. We are headed to the Triad area.

Thanks, Donna

Sorry to hear about the setback, but glad to hear it's moving ahead without too long a delay. We moved from NJ to the Triangle about a year ago and we love it here. I hope you and your family are very happy. What town are you building in?

We're just getting our current house ready to list. Our new home is due to be completed in early April so I'm hoping of course for a quick sale but if it doesn't we'll manage. My in-laws are also going to be listing theirs about the same time.
After building a home I can empathize with you about the nickle and dime aspect that goes on with the GC's. We've had many a "Wow, so sorry...this is goin' cost you $$$$$$ big time!" and very little "Hey! you're saving $"
LOL

Good luck on both your sale and your new home!

Yup, it's better to close later than not at all.

Donna and Jill, we are going with KB Homes (Ravenstone) in Durham. They have the model that both my wife and I like the best.

Would it be worth your while to buy the base model and contract for the upgrades from a contractor other than the builder? Friends did that for easily replaced stuff like countertops, fixtures and appliances.

chisue,
We thought about that, and have even talked about taking out the solid surface countertop and sink, plus some other items. That will help in getting closer to the price we have set. But the bottom line is, we want to have the house "done" before we even move in. We just spent 9 years fixing up the old place, and we really don't want to do it again.

Dave -

Hope you enjoy your move to Durham. I moved ot Raleigh 2 years ago and love the Raleigh / Durham area. In case you didn't know, there is a great online forum where locals and future transplants share info on real estate and all otehr things realted to living in the triangle area. Here is the link in case you are interested:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/raleigh-metro-area/

Good Luck!

thanks ncguy32. I'll check it out.

Dave, not to be a wet blanket but you should do some research on KB Homes if you still have contingencies which give you an option to back out. They don't have a stellar reputation. If you have to go ahead with them, I recommend hiring both a structural engineer and an inspector with construction experience to check out the house several times along the way (e.g. at foundation prep, slab pour, framing, house wrap, window installation, insulation, etc).

Regarding upgrading, you should definitely upgrade structural stuff through the builder like electrical, windows, insulation, structured wiring, plumbing, etc. Non structural stuff - flooring, tilework in baths, etc, can all be upgraded by you after closing usually for significantly less than what the builder charges.

We did some research, but a little more can't hurt. We were told we could visit the house anytime we wanted while it's under construction, and we will visit often.

I know it'll be a cheaper to have some stuff installed after the house is built, and it's something we are talking about. But we really don't want to have to do any big jobs after we move in. We just got done working on our house, and we've had enough of that. We want it to be finished when we move in.

Dave,

There is a poll on builders on city data you might want to look at. While you probably can't change at this point, it will give you some insight into what to be on the watch for. My son is in Raleigh and loves it.

Donna

Dave, I think chiefneil has a valid point. Here is our local info on KB homes.

Here is a link that might be useful: KB homes complaints

Oops didn't post the link I meant to

Here is a link that might be useful: KB homes complaints

I'd be worried to buy a house from them with that many complaints. We have a builder in NJ like that

tuscanlover, can you give me a link to the poll? I can't seem to find it.

lyfia, thanks for the link. We do have an out if we don't like what we see.

Rate your builder

NC City data poll

City Data main page all states

Hmm, K. Hovnanian's on there too...

so far I have checked out all the links posted, but I have not found one that deals with KB in Raleigh/Durham. That doesn't mean there aren't any, but I can't find them. There seems to be a lot of problems in Fla. and Texas. I'm wondering if they use different builders in thoses areas.

Dave, I thought KB Homes is the builder. In Texas there are lots of building going on and it is a huge state with several large Metro areas. Could be Florida has that too and thus the percentage is higher.

If you do go through with your purchase do as chiefneil suggested hire yourself a structural engineer and independent inspector to check everything in the building process. This way things will be caught early before the home is fully built and you have to try to invoke the warranty. Easier to fix when building too and then you also know what the quality is and can pull out if something isn't fixed right before you are too far along.

I'm thinking KB just subcontracts the work out depending on the area, but I could be wrong.

I've already talked to my wife to let her know we will be hiring an inspector, and we will also be making daily trips to the site.

Here's an email I sent my DH about 10 days ago regarding KB Homes. They are having a tough time with cancellations...48%!

"I was just on Schwab checking our portfolio & read through the "Today's Comments" section. KB Homes posted earnings...here's the excerpt (Schwab's site won't let me copy directly):
"KB Home reported a net loss of $49.6M, or $0.64 per share, which included a previously announced $343.3M pre-tax non-cash loss related to abandonment of land option contracts and inventory impairment. Backlogs fell 34%, net orders decreased 38%, and its cancellation rate came in at 48% amid "an oversupply of unsold new and resale homes." The company added that continued caution from potential homebuyers has heightened competition between homebuilders and existing home sellerss, prompting intense price concessions and sales incentives. Looking ahead, KB Home anticipates deliveries, the gross margin, and EPS in 2007 will be below 2006 levels due to continued uncertainty. Nonetheless, share have turned higher following a sluggish start."

Might want to consider the overall health of the company before moving forward? I'm feeling sorta bad posting this but I know I'd want to know if it was me looking for a new home. This is public info so you should be able to locate their earnings press release from their webpage under "Investor" information.

Tricia

Congratulations on the house and best of luck, Dave.

Dave, if it were me, I would do more googling using complaints as a key word. The 1st page of hits I found, seemed to be from KB's site.

What I also would do is join the city data forum and make a post, maybe you can get a conversation going with other NC buyers.

I saved the site since we're kicking around the idea of building. I know who I won't be using lol

"What I also would do is join the city data forum and make a post, maybe you can get a conversation going with other NC buyers"

I've done that, and I even posted a thread about the quality of KB homes. So far it has 85 views, and only one response.

I'm off to do more googling.

Good luck Dave. Let us know how you make out. It will help the next person that needs to google since this site comes up a lot in google searches.