Suppose to pass papers on my new house tomorrow in Florida

[Curt Leatherbee]

Well the day has finally come. I drove to Florida and am suppose to pass papers on my new house tomorrow. Today is the Orientation at 10am, I'm up early as I cant sleep as I've been thinking about things. I contracted for the builder to build this house last Feb. Since that time things here have dropped even lower, the bank did a appraisal for my loan and it came in around 20 grand lower than what I'm suppose to be paying for the house tomorrow, so they are giving me a lower loan. The builder is now selling the houses around 20 grand less for the yet to be built houses meaning I could back out of this house order a new one, wait 5 months and save 20 grand, tempting because I really dont need the house until December anyhow and would also save about $7500.00 expenses until that time. So I'm thinking today I'm gonna stick to my guns and insist they at least drop the price 20 grand or I will walk away from this deal and contract on a new deal later. I know what they are going to throw in my face though, I had them build special features into this house for the wheelchair, wheel under counters, no door thresholds, etc. The total options including tile throughout instead of carpet amounted to around $9,500.00. Price on the new ones is now only $187,900.00. So that makes around $196,400.00. Price they want tomorrow is $216,500.00. They are going to use the excuse since I ordered the special wheelchair mods this was a custom build, they have not said this yet, I just have the feeling they are going to pull this. I know for a fact I have the right to walk away from this deal though being the appraisal is $20k lower and like I said I could order a new one for 20k lower if they would let me. Decisions, decisions, lol. Think I might just walk. This is a 10 percent difference they are trying to rip me off. Things have dropped further here in Florida since last feb, thats why the difference.

[Timaru]

Do you mean a property developer custom built you a house without taking an initial deposit and graduated payments as each stage was completed?

I would walk away, if his building skills are on a par with his business acumen the place is likely to collapse within a year!

Seriously, if the house is finished to a high standard and to your spec. negotiate hard and try to settle, it'll be a lot less hassle in the end.

[Curt Leatherbee]

No, I have 20k down, it is not a good situation at all. This housing crunch is a real compounding situation I've really learned and because of situations like this where someone like me wants to legitimately buy a house and cant it is proof to me of how bad things really are.

[fuentejps]

u would be nutz to pay 20k over fmv in the area curt, absolutely nutz,. u would be startingt out upside down. get on the phone call them, dont wait till u r ready to sign. the papers will need to be redrawn

[brucec]

Well the day has finally come. I drove to Florida and am suppose to pass papers on my new house tomorrow. Today is the Orientation at 10am, I'm up early as I cant sleep as I've been thinking about things. I contracted for the builder to build this house last Feb. Since that time things here have dropped even lower, the bank did a appraisal for my loan and it came in around 20 grand lower than what I'm suppose to be paying for the house tomorrow, so they are giving me a lower loan. The builder is now selling the houses around 20 grand less for the yet to be built houses meaning I could back out of this house order a new one, wait 5 months and save 20 grand, tempting because I really dont need the house until December anyhow and would also save about $7500.00 expenses until that time. So I'm thinking today I'm gonna stick to my guns and insist they at least drop the price 20 grand or I will walk away from this deal and contract on a new deal later. I know what they are going to throw in my face though, I had them build special features into this house for the wheelchair, wheel under counters, no door thresholds, etc. The total options including tile throughout instead of carpet amounted to around $9,500.00. Price on the new ones is now only $187,900.00. So that makes around $196,400.00. Price they want tomorrow is $216,500.00. They are going to use the excuse since I ordered the special wheelchair mods this was a custom build, they have not said this yet, I just have the feeling they are going to pull this. I know for a fact I have the right to walk away from this deal though being the appraisal is $20k lower and like I said I could order a new one for 20k lower if they would let me. Decisions, decisions, lol. Think I might just walk. This is a 10 percent difference they are trying to rip me off. Things have dropped further here in Florida since last feb, thats why the difference.

but then again, if you back out and the price goes up 30 grand?????
if it's a custom and you like it, go for it

[Timaru]

No, I have 20k down, it is not a good situation at all. This housing crunch is a real compounding situation I've really learned and because of situations like this where someone like me wants to legitimately buy a house and cant it is proof to me of how bad things really are.

If you pull out what happens to your 20k deposit Curt?

In the UK there's an old saying - "remember your house is not an investment it's your home".

[metronycguy]

dont even go down, you can bargain better from up here

[fuentejps]

if you pull out what happens to your 20k deposit curt?

In the uk there's an old saying - "remember your house is not an investment it's your home".

its a down payment not earnest monies. 20k goes when he signs........

[dan_nc]

Curt, did your contract have an appraisal contingency, and if so, what did it say about your deposit in the event that the home did not appraise at or above the proposed purchase price? Seems that especially in a declining market, it would seem unreasonable to get a loan commitment so far out from the closing date.

[Curt Leatherbee]

Believe it or not I had a loan committment for that far in advance, I payed the mortgage company 1300 bucks to lock in on a rate of 5.125 from last Feb. They had no intentions of doing the mortgage no matter what so that turned out to be a scam anyhow, thats one reason I was left high and dry with not being able to close on the property as even with me making up the cash difference they still would not do the mortgage and stole my 350 dollar application fee and the 1300 dollar lock, I will probabley sue them to get at least that much back.

[Curt Leatherbee]

Looks like I got it all worked out today, talked to the head of sales at Pulte and he agreed to give me a discount so I'm not upside down in buying the house and also agreed to give me an extra couple weeks to come up with the cash, so hopefully I can get a line of credit within a couple weeks and I'll be all set to close on my new house. One thing I learned is Florida property is real tough to get a mortgage for at this point in time. Lesson of this story, any mortgage company tells you they can do a one year rate lock on a mortgage is lying through their teeth, I still cant believe I payed $1300.00 for that and fell for it. I was very nervous about rates skyrocking last Feb right after Obama got in and did it then. The Scam Mortgage company I was using nearly cost me this house deal and it would have been a shame because I really like the house and Pulte did do a great job in constructing it and with the HP mods.

[Curt Leatherbee]

Heres some pics

[Patrick Madsen]

Way to go Curt. tht s really a beautiful house. congrats. How are the roads for riding? Looks like you can ride from your house. Makes we want to move from rainy Northwest to sun again.

[dan_nc]

I especially love the view from the lanai. Beautiful house, Curt.

[wheeliecoach]

Real nice house Curt! Hopefully everything works out with your line of credit situation and then you will be all set to move!

[fuentejps]

little advice to all buying a house, pre approvals arent worth the paper they are written on. only way to be sure u r getting a loan on new home is const to perm loan, the bank is commited then but there is no commitment on end loans. think about it, noone can predict the market in 6-8 mths,.

[LooseCannon]

Awesome view! Congrats.

[Curt Leatherbee]

Way to go Curt. tht s really a beautiful house. congrats. How are the roads for riding? Looks like you can ride from your house. Makes we want to move from rainy Northwest to sun again.

For a local handcycle ride it is do-able, but not that many roads, maybe a mile and half before I have to circle around and had back the same route, so it would probabley get boring pretty quick. But the good news is there are plenty of long bike paths within a 20 minute drive in the truck.

The walkways throughout the house area would probabley not be a good idea either as there are lots of folks walking on them.

[Curt Leatherbee]

Thanks all for the congrats, looks like this deal is gonna happen now. It was so frusterating while I was just in Florida as I really liked the house but the mortgage company just would not work with me. I guess a lot of people are having the very same problem in florida with all the declining values they just dont want to do mortgages making the problem even worse.

I just got back home to R.I last night. I drove 2800 miles in 6 days, lol. Was planning on leaving the car in Florida originally at my new house and had booked a flight back home, but with the house deal falling through had to drive all the way back and cancel out my flight, I didnt feel comfortable leaving my vehicle in self storage in florida not knowing where the deal was going.

[CowboyCrip]

little advice to all buying a house, pre approvals arent worth the paper they are written on. only way to be sure u r getting a loan on new home is const to perm loan, the bank is commited then but there is no commitment on end loans. think about it, noone can predict the market in 6-8 mths,.

Also, at least in Canada, no legit. mortgage broker requires you to pay a dime - ever. They are paid a commision by the bank the mortgage is placed with.

Nice house though Curt. Glad it's working out for you.

[cheesecake]

Curt: Nice place. Are these photos of the "model home"? I noticed the shower so it had me wondering because it has a good size lip.

[Curt Leatherbee]

Curt: Nice place. Are these photos of the "model home"? I noticed the shower so it had me wondering because it has a good size lip.

Good observation cheesecake, it is the model home. I cant figure out a way to move some good photos I have of my actual house to post here, the appraisal is pdf. They layout on my unit is the same and the view comparable, the model is next door to mine. My house is totally flat, no little step at the door or garage and no lip in the shower, plus grab bars in the shower. There was a small toilet closet in the master bath I could not fit into with the chair, so that was enlarged quite a bit making the closet next door a little smaller. They also put roll under sinks in my unit in the master bath and the kitchen. I like the interior color in my unit better too, its light gray instead of the yellow and the exterior on mine is the pastel yellow and the inside of the pourch is also yellow. Next time I'm there I'll get some actual pictures of my unit unless I can figure out how to move the pdf pictures from the appraisal int "my Pictures".

[lynnifer]

That's quite the beautiful place there Curt! I especially love the colour of the driveway on the model home - will yours be the same? The view is spectacular as well!

Now be careful and don't meet a gold digger to take it from you - seriously!!!!

[Curt Leatherbee]

That's quite the beautiful place there Curt! I especially love the colour of the driveway on the model home - will yours be the same? The view is spectacular as well!

Now be careful and don't meet a gold digger to take it from you - seriously!!!!

Yes, they are the same driveways. pavers, I really like the tile roofs too. On my house I had them run a paver driveway around the side of the house too to get to the lanai from the outside. Another nice feature is double paine glass, so the houses are very energy efficient.

Nope no more gold diggers for me.

[Curt Leatherbee]

Well my loan got approved today and should be all set with buying the house now. Next time I'm in Florida at the house (not for a while) I'll take some good pictures of all the handicap mods I had done on the house and post them probabley not gonna be there until november though at this point, for now some not so good pictures in the next two posts. Also Divosta/Pulte (the builder) still has my plans on file so if anybody else wanted them to build them the same house it would be easy and save a lot of ground work. These houses (including all the hp mods) are now selling for around low 200's. The house is located in Venice which is right next to Sarasota, real nice area and near the beaches.

[Curt Leatherbee]

Heres some actual pictures of my house. Bad quality pics as I took a picture of a picture.

[Curt Leatherbee]

More pictures, note the shower setup and roll under sinks. Just gonna put a padded shower bench in the shower and a shower curtain with rod, simple as that.

[dash]

A suggestion; have them lower the bar seperating the kitchen from the great room. It is so annoying having it higher then the counter height.

[Curt Leatherbee]

A suggestion; have them lower the bar seperating the kitchen from the great room. It is so annoying having it higher then the counter height.

Wow, thanks, good point, I didnt even think of this but it would be so much better as a eat in kitchen to have that lowered and maybe the top material extended outward so I could wheel right under it, looks like it would not be very hard to do either.

[sreneet]

You have a beautiful home, the view looks very peaceful.

[Lorrie]

Dash, that is a great suggestion. I have the same type bar that is useless to me. I wish Id thought to lower it while building

Congrats on new home, Curt. Be sure to inquire about possible FL advalorem tax exemptions.

[Coleen]

That's one cool house! Congrats!!!!

[Curt Leatherbee]

You have a beautiful home, the view looks very peaceful.

Thanks so much, it is very peaceful, when I was there for the orientation I did not want to leave, lol. There were ducks paddling up and down the canal, sometimes I guess you see aligators which are cool to watch. They pull them out when they get over 4 feet, still though I would not want to leave a little doggie leashed out in the back alone.

[Curt Leatherbee]

Dash, that is a great suggestion. I have the same type bar that is useless to me. I wish Id thought to lower it while building

Congrats on new home, Curt. Be sure to inquire about possible FL advalorem tax exemptions.

Thanks Lorrie, passed papers yesterday, so finally the house is mine. What a nightmare though with the whole mortgage debacle, I really thought at one point I might loose the house, but the home equity deal worked out great.

I dont know if I'm eligable for the advalorem tax exemptions as I'm not a Florida Resident, still a R.I resident. I'm really thinking about becoming a Fl resident though in the future, I've heard there are a lot of tax benefits to be a Fl resident over a lot of other places.

Lorrie, the other thought I'm having rather than touching the high bar top is to put a fold out counter below the high top. That way if I had company they could sit on the bar stools at the high top and when nobody was there I could just fold out a roll under counter under the high top. I'd use hinges that would lock in place. Maybe you ought to think about something like that, I'd think it would be fairly simple to do and not very expensive and real useful.

[Curt Leatherbee]

That's one cool house! Congrats!!!!

Thanks Rev. I'm real excited about now owning the house and thinking about what a great winter I'm gonna have there.

[Coleen]

The fold out bar addition sounds very doable! Great idea.