I am new to blogging and not sure where to start. I figure since I am very familiar with selling new construction homes I should (and would be better off) starting from there.
Most of what I am going to tell you is here say and opinions. It is easy to get facts because we now have the wonderful Internet, but sales consultants do not sell on facts....they sell on emotions. Your emotions. If I were to say I hadn't done that a time or two I would be lying. Why do you think we go to all those sales seminars? Now, on the other hand, there are a little more then a handful of sales consultants that are dying to give you more then just the emotional buying process but they aren't allowed to. They do that and they are out of a well paying job. It is an inner angel/devil struggle on a daily basis. I prefer to sell on honesty, or basically as honest as I can be without costing my employer to loose a sale. We all have done it before. We all have told somebody everything that we know will benefit them without mentioning the things that will be less then beneficial to them. Telling people what they want to hear and staying clear of what they don't want to hear makes a good sales person. But what if they need to hear it??
For instance, you go to one builder selling a new home you absolutely love. It is 1500 sq.ft. and it is priced at $150,000 with a$10,000 incentive. They tell you that they have rounded corners, high ceilings, 3 sides brick and better construction then their competitor, and they are the most remarkable builder in the South. You are sold...BUT, out of curiosity you take a drive down to their competitor. You walk into a similar floor plan and notice 1500 sq. ft. there is $128,000 without incentives. You also notice that there is steel tubs in the bathrooms, wood shelving in the closets, sheetrock on all walls in the garage interior and recessed lighting in the home. These are things you didn't see in the prior home. Then you meet their sales consultant and he says that they build their homes on site and they are not prefabricated which makes for less Sheetrock cracking and nail pops. Although he uses only 1 side brick standard, he builds everything to code just like his competitor (but you didn't know that anybody had a code to begin with), therefore they are constructed equally. Just about.
The eye candy in the first home is what you fell in love with. Unfortunately, the second builder doesn't offer that eye candy. What they do offer is a more detailed quality in construction. Items that will last longer. No fiberglass tubs, no wired shelving, no cheap lighting fixtures...etc.
You think just because something is more expensive then there is a reason for it (or at least that salesperson makes you think there is a reason for it). The reason is profit margins, unless you are going the custom home route. The less a builder sells the higher his profit margins have to be per home sale to stay in existence. The more a builder sells the more he can skim off the top.
My opinion is to find a builder that isn't overly expensive to begin with, who sells a lot of homes, doesn't play the ridiculous negotiating game (if it was worth the price they start out with then they wouldn't be giving crazy discounts), has a good reputation and builds a quality home to "code."
