If not Ryan Homes then who? (Bath, Mars: for sale, apartment, foreclosure)

[HOF79]

My wife and I love the idea of building a new home and we looked at the Ryan Home Community in Moon called Cimarron.
Its a new community so there are a lot of lots available.
We decided that the 'Dunkirk' would be the model for us but the options we want would cost over $37,000 including $19,900 for the Morning Room
Morning Room
17'4" x 9'8"

This is obviously a lot of money for us and we made that very clear. Right away the Sales Rep said that he could give us 15% off all options which is not a lot.
I said that this is not enough and he tried to explain to me that Ryan Homes just dropped their prices $15,000 which we don't see since we were not looking when supposedly the home prices were higher.

Trying to find someone who knows how to deal with Ryan Homes is very difficult. I hoping to get in front of someone that can offer some insight into the correct way to deal with the Sales Rep when talking to Ryan Homes.

We have looked at Maranda Homes. They are OK and people told us you get a lot of house for your money but we don't see that at the community we looked at.

We just looked at Heartland Homes as a community near us has 5 homes up for sale. Very nice instead but small and a boat load of money.

What are some other builders out there besides the obvious 3 (Maronda-Ryan-Heartland) that we should consider?

[Copanut]

Any reason why you don't want to buy an existing home that isn't built by those 3 hack companies?

[TryingToEscapeTheMadness]

Originally Posted by copanut

any reason why you don't want to buy an existing home that isn't built by those 3 hack companies?

agreed!

[HOF79]

Originally Posted by COPANUT

Any reason why you don't want to buy an existing home that isn't built by those 3 hack companies?

We have looked and are looking at pre-owned homes. Some of those homes need work like updated Kitchen and Bath Rooms. Its nice to find people that offer help....

[Copanut]

My point being that right now there is an inventory of homes on the market. Some can be had at a good price. There are OTHER builders out there beside the Big 3. As I've said in the past, go look at a 10 year old Ryan, Maronda, or Hartland homes and see what they look like.

Get a good agent and tell him/her you only want to look at vacant houses and then lowball the heck out of them.

I've just never been impressed with the new construction crap that those companies put out.

[Tallysmom]

Originally Posted by HOF79

My wife and I love the idea of building a new home and we looked at the Ryan Home Community in Moon called Cimarron.
Its a new community so there are a lot of lots available.
We decided that the 'Dunkirk' would be the model for us but the options we want would cost over $37,000 including $19,900 for the Morning Room
Morning Room
17'4" x 9'8"

This is obviously a lot of money for us and we made that very clear. Right away the Sales Rep said that he could give us 15% off all options which is not a lot.
I said that this is not enough and he tried to explain to me that Ryan Homes just dropped their prices $15,000 which we don't see since we were not looking when supposedly the home prices were higher.

Trying to find someone who knows how to deal with Ryan Homes is very difficult. I hoping to get in front of someone that can offer some insight into the correct way to deal with the Sales Rep when talking to Ryan Homes.

We have looked at Maranda Homes. They are OK and people told us you get a lot of house for your money but we don't see that at the community we looked at.

We just looked at Heartland Homes as a community near us has 5 homes up for sale. Very nice instead but small and a boat load of money.

What are some other builders out there besides the obvious 3 (Maronda-Ryan-Heartland) that we should consider?

Sometimes the internet is a great tool, sometimes it's not. Time to go old school!

I'm not from PA anymore, but I worked in a bank out here that did a lot of construction lending.

Get out your local Yellow Pages -- yes -- the REAL BOOK.

Look up general contractors. Call a few. You can get a sense of what the person can or can't do easily. Ask your friends and neighbors if they've done a large remodel, and ask who they've used. Sometimes the best contractors don't have to pay Yellow Pages to advertise.

And -- since you're more than likely not going to pay cash to build a house -- you'll need a construction loan. You'll need to go to a local bank -- not a regional or large bank. I'm originally from Cranberry, so instead of going to Citizens or Citibank, I'd go to Mars National.

They might have a list of reputable builders they've worked with they would be willing to share with you.

Now a construction loan is different than a mortgage -- basically, at the end of construction, you will need to get a regular mortgage to replace the construction loan. But a construction loan is geared towards doling out the money as needed to complete work, on condition that other work is done and inspected.

I've known people that have built houses -- it's arduous. You and your spouse will need some real heavy duty down time from construction at points, and you will both need to remember that it's awful but it will end when you start fighting. It will take longer than they say, it will cost more than they say and by the time they are done, you very well may think this was not worth it.

But that will pass.

But even good builders need to be watched, and owners need to be watched, too.... I once went into a "very nice" high end house that was custom built and I swear every one was drunk when they did the kitchen. The walls were white, the counter top was white Corian, the floor was white tile, and the cupboards were white and the backsplash was white, and the quarter round that trimmed out the floor board white molding was white....

Not one shade of white matched -- some cool, some warm -- it was AWFUL!

Anyhow -- if contractors are licensed by the state, you should be able to check out their licenses, somehow, too....

[shie0023]

Originally Posted by HOF79

My wife and I love the idea of building a new home and we looked at the Ryan Home Community in Moon called Cimarron.
Its a new community so there are a lot of lots available.
We decided that the 'Dunkirk' would be the model for us but the options we want would cost over $37,000 including $19,900 for the Morning Room
Morning Room
17'4" x 9'8"

This is obviously a lot of money for us and we made that very clear. Right away the Sales Rep said that he could give us 15% off all options which is not a lot.
I said that this is not enough and he tried to explain to me that Ryan Homes just dropped their prices $15,000 which we don't see since we were not looking when supposedly the home prices were higher.

Trying to find someone who knows how to deal with Ryan Homes is very difficult. I hoping to get in front of someone that can offer some insight into the correct way to deal with the Sales Rep when talking to Ryan Homes.

We have looked at Maranda Homes. They are OK and people told us you get a lot of house for your money but we don't see that at the community we looked at.

We just looked at Heartland Homes as a community near us has 5 homes up for sale. Very nice instead but small and a boat load of money.

What are some other builders out there besides the obvious 3 (Maronda-Ryan-Heartland) that we should consider?

HOF:

Keep in mind, when you ask for opinions from an internet forum, you'll receive various experiences and feedbacks. I personally am having a great experience with Ryan Homes. Like yourself, I am attracted to the idea of building a new home from scratch and Ryan Homes offered and has what I want.

Yes, I could have bought someone else's foreclosure or older homes, but why? Why buy an used reliable car when you can buy a new car?!

Several things you have to keep in mind, just like everything else in life, not all receives the same service, quality, and experiences. You will find people on here with bad experiences with Ryan, but you'll also find people like me that is having a great experience with Ryan and my mortgage process!

What I would suggest for you is to visit some of the "already" built neighbor homes in Cimarron plan and visit/ask them questions about their experiences with building with Ryan Homes. Ask questions about the project manager, their mortgage process (NVR or not go through NVR), the quality of their home, actually see a finished Dunkirk with the options that you wanted, their experiences with the sales rep, etc.

That's exactly what I did and I received a lot of insight about the process. Good luck and it was a truly fun experience to build a new home!

[Truman325]

With Ryan struggling so much locally you should be able to get one heck of a deal out there... if that's what you want. I ended up not purchasing with Ryan because they were giving away so much that it scared me (over $40,000 off their pricing from a little over a year ago). I didn't want to invest all that money in a new home only to have Ryan offer the next person an even lower price and take away my home's value and equity.

I do totally understand your desire to build a new home though. I've always lived in new construction - my apartment was new, my first house was new, and now my current house is also new. It's so great to see it be built and be involved in it... People always ask me why I don't want to buy an older home where "you already know all the issues involved." Yeah. Right. Like I haven't heard horror storries of people having to dump a ton of money into an existing home just to bring it up to the 1970's. Sure paint is cheap, but how do you add 9 foot ceilings to an existing home? No thanks!!

Just my opinion though!

[TechieTransplant]

Could we please start another thread on Ryan Homes? Lets see how many we can open!

[Hopes]

I don't know why so few people don't consider being thier own general contractor. Two of my BILs (different sides of the family) did this and they saved a fortune. Only one of them had building experience. The other one can't even use a hammer. They hired every subcontractor individually. They selected and purchased the materials themselves. They oversaw the construction through every phase. Their homes are superior. The workmanship is top quality. The details are amazing. Since they spent less money than people do when they hire these building companies, they could afford the best quality products.