A 'free' deal is always good.
I used-to see in the gated neighborhoods, where the minimum lot size was a 'builder's acre' that after closing on a new home, it wasn't uncommon to-see brand-new cabinets, stripped-out of the kitchens, and put onto the curbing, for disposal, because The Wife wanted "her kitchen," and not the kitchen in the brand-new home they just paid over seven figures-for.
One of these developments was by GL Homes, which is a big developer in south Florida, they may-be elsewhere, too. Anyway, my wife and I saw an ad in the Sunday paper for their new development, where they were advertising "new homes from the $600,000's.". We considered selling a home, and having one of these built for us. This is on a 'builder's acre' lot, a gated community, and upscale finishes, though you could have whatever your budget would allow.
We parked and walked-into the sales office, they had two homes built for sales, one was a one-story serving as the construction HQ and sales space, one next-door was a two-story, and it was solely a walk-through model for sales, about 6,000 sq. ft. though they had a model with a larger footprint for those needing 7,000 sq. ft. They had two, 200-amp panels, a double-car garage, and a single-car garage, attached, five or-more bedrooms, a den/study, backyard lanais with complete summer kitchens, pools, spas, etc. Write the check!
You had to register to speak with a sales person, the form asked you "what are you expecting to spend?" and there were check-off boxes starting at $600,000 and increasing by $100,000 increments to $1,200,000.
My wife and I looked-at each other, and decided to check the $700,000 box. That's not necessarily what we were going to-spend, but it was above the listed starting prices in their newspaper advertisement. We handed in our registration paper, and we waited for our turn with a sales person.
A pleasant young woman (younger than us, we were in our 50's) called-us to sit with her, to discuss the development. There was a model about ten feel long of the site plan, with the lots shown, including sq. ft. and boundary dimensions. Probably 40% of the lots were on a water feature, which was probably dredged to use as fill for the parcels. Probably 80+% of the lots were marked, 'sold' on the model.
The sales woman looked over our application, and then told us, "I'm afraid we don't have anything in your price-range!"
My wife and I looked-at each-other, surprised by this, as the ads said, "from the $600,000's" and we had chosen a number on the sales inquiry form higher than that. The remaining available lots were not the largest lots, and there were only a couple actually-on the water feature.
I asked the sales woman, "why don't-you show us the prices for the homes in the different packages, starting with the smallest single-story, and going to the two-story homes, so we have a better-idea of what the pricing is?" I mentioned the ad copy and the pricing mentioned there.
She began with their smallest single-story, which was just-under 4,000 sq. ft. and she said that in a 'basic level of finishes,' it was $800,000.
Wanting to see where the two-story models would take us, I asked about them, and she told us "the lowest-priced model was $1,100,000." She paused and then said, "of-course, those prices don't include the lot!"
My next questions was, "show-us the least-expensive lot left, and its location on the model!"
She indicated a pie-shaped lot which was smaller than a builder's acre size, but still over 30,000 sq.ft. A 'builder's acre' is ~35,000 sq.ft. "What is the price of that?" I inquired, with my wife doing the calculations (math and engineering major) in her head, as I waited.
"One-hundred seventy-thousand dollars," the sales woman replied.
Eight-hundred thousand dollars for the house, one-hundred seventy thousand dollars for the lot, a total of nine-hundred seventy thousand dollars. Quite a ways from their "from the $600,000's!" pricing in their ads.
My wife and I looked at each-other and asked to be shown the two story model next-door, which thankfully, was a self-guided trip, with the sales woman cheerfully informing us, "I'll be right-here if you have any questions after seeing the model!"
This was just-before the Recession of 2007. We toured the two-story sales model, and didn't-bother returning to the sales woman, we left the development.
