Sub divisions in Cary/Morrisville/Apex and nearby locations
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TOPIC: ***Beware of Pulte Homes***

***Beware of Pulte Homes*** 8 years 9 months ago #27030

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Guys, I know it has been all about houses, of late, and people are buying houses like crazy. Make sure you do your research before you pull the trigger. I made a mistake in haste, and there hasn't been a day I didn't regret my decision ever since I signed the contract. Now, I'm taking a moment to share my experiences here so that at least few don't make the mistake I made. Firstly, do pay attention to the history of the builder and how they dealt with their customers in past (by either going through the forums here or by talking to other buyers etc.). Price being a little cheaper/getting a bigger lot/better floorplan are important aspects. At the same time, customer service and track record of the builder are equally important. Now, my experience:
Pulte is apparently well-known for being a very greedy builder (I found this out a little late). We signed a contract with them almost 10 months back. As a first time buyer, we did not know much about the builders here. We trusted them *blindly*. First of all, they were nowhere near ready to construct the houses in this neighborhood. They did not have recorded plats, basic plumbing/drains, roads, nothing for this community. Just because they saw that other builders are getting ready to open up new communities, they started selling way sooner to capture the buyers and lock them into this community. They gave us a 5 month window of April-August for the delivery of the house, but verbally they claimed it will be ready in April. This is a blatant false expectation they set. They knew all along that they'll never be able to build a house in this community by April. We were naive and believed that (along with many others) and signed the contract. It didn't occur to me why they were giving a 5 month window on contract when they claimed April verbally. We could have easily chosen a house in another community at that time had we known that these guys will not get this house ready in April. It's end of June now, and they did not even start construction yet. They kept saying "it will start in a month" ever since we signed this contract. Now they put us in a spot where we can't back out of this contract because prices have appreciated so much everywhere else (and in this neighborhood too).
We believed in their false promises and made our lease arrangements accordingly, and we had to pay so much more in rent because of the short leases we signed. Now when I ask them how they can delay the house even more, they say that the contract says that they have up to 2 years after the promised date to build the house. And the contract does say that because it's a stupid contract written completely in favor of the builder to bail them out of situations like these. If the contract already says 2 years from the promised date, why should they even mention April-August in the contract? They could have just written April (verbally promised date) in the contract, right? This clearly proves that they always knew that it was going to be August.

So, dear compatriots, my sincere advice:
Think twice before you stand in lines for buying Pulte homes. They're just using us(desperate buyers) to promote their communities. Just imagine. We are customers who are shedding hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy the houses they build, and they make us stand in lines for hours (I heard they even made buyers stand one whole night in cold winter for some neighborhoods). Who would do that to their customers? These Pulte guys are brutal and shameless. Different builders are dealing with the demand differently (some do bidding, some lottery, some first come first serve on email). IMO, email response and lottery are decent approaches. Maybe bidding is also OK if the builder wants to cope with the demand and wants to make more money. But, making customers stand in line is just not acceptable. They're just using the "customers standing in line" as advertisers for their communities. Pulte will be opening few more neighborhoods (Mills Park and Davis Drive) in the coming months, and I bet they'll make the customers stand in line again (maybe even in scorching Sun when the temperature outside is 100 degrees) for these communities.
I'm just sharing my thoughts here. I'm not telling anyone not to buy or to buy homes from Pulte. I felt that if I read something like this somewhere before I signed the contract, I would have been more careful when I signed the contract. Hopefully, this will help at least some people. Good luck with your home search!

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***Beware of Pulte Homes*** 8 years 9 months ago #27035

Thanks for sharing your experience. I have couple of questions:
1. Which community you are talking about? It will help others.
2. Do you you have real estate agent? What are his/her thoughts?

Normally builder gives couple month time frame, just in case due to issues related to mother nature come up. I think, real estate agent must check the fine print of the contract. Tf they are not checking it and going with the flow then one should avoid such a real estate agent. If your Realtor is selling in this market for long time then he/she should know how much time a builder will normally take to develop the land and finish the construction. He/She should be able to advise you realistic timeframe. If I were at your place then I would ask realtor to check with Pulte corporate. It may or may not work but at the very least you tried.

In general, I would say, don't find realtor who gives out most rebate but instead find someone who has good experience in the local market and who can negotiate the best deal for you, will fight for you and not just show up to sign the contract and closing

(P.S.: no offense to realtors on the forum)

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***Beware of Pulte Homes*** 8 years 9 months ago #27036

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Village at the Park Townes is the neighborhood. I think it's pretty standard that the contracts written by builders are completely in favor of them, and that's understandable. Given how many things can go wrong in construction, if they don't have such favorable contracts, they'll be dealing with lawsuits every day instead of building/selling homes. However, most builders don't just exploit these unreasonable contract terms and do wrong things/set false expectations.
I wouldn't have really complained/bothered if the delay in construction was due to weather or some other reasons that are not under their control. Whatever they did here is straight-up cheating, and it seems like they always knew that they won't be able to close any house in this neighborhood by April. They set wrong expectations from day 1. Since last October, they kept telling me that they are submitting for permits/waiting for permits/and all sorts of non-sense. In February, they said weather was bad. I recently came to know that we can check the permits online, and Town of Cary records indicate that Pulte submitted the permits for the first building in this neighborhood in the last week of April :). That's when I realized that they've been lying blatantly ever since.
I do have a realtor who offers some rebate but I didn't go with him based on the rebate he gives. I chose to work with him based on some reviews provided by my friends. He says they didn't breach anything in the contract, so he can't help :).

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***Beware of Pulte Homes*** 8 years 9 months ago #27037

I concur completely and have echoed the same many times. Work with a full-service, experienced & local realtors esp if you're a first-time home-buyer!

I believe there were issues with other big-box-home-builder (Lennar - Fryar's Gate community) in the past which were discussed on this forum.

Rythem wrote: In general, I would say, don't find realtor who gives out most rebate but instead find someone who has good experience in the local market and who can negotiate the best deal for you, will fight for you and not just show up to sign the contract and closing

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***Beware of Pulte Homes*** 8 years 9 months ago #27038

It is a sellers market, that means do not expect VIP treatment from Builders.

Having the 50% commission back realtors make matters worse. These realtors are already checked out mentally as they need 2 times as many clients to make up for the difference for the 50% they give back.
They don't really care about what deal you get as long as you get under contract. Many times we blindly trust these realtors because they are from the home country. They are the ones who scare the buyers into bidding and waiting nights outside builder offices when lots open. They will play every trick on your mind to pay more and get the HOT deal before its gone. The more you bid the more commission for them.

These 50% realtors are every builders dream to work with. They bring already desperate and brain washed clients who will pay obscene sums of money so the last lot in the world does not slip by.

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***Beware of Pulte Homes*** 8 years 9 months ago #27041

I totally agree about selecting good realtors. But at the same time, most of the houses are brought with buyers investigation/research only. It is because we have our friends or some one who suggested because he or his friend or a friend of his friend brought in the same neighborhood.

In those scenarios, there is no much that a realtor can really help us in bargain or something else. As someone in the above posts said, it is a purely sellers market. Nobody can bargain and reduce even 5k in popular areas with good school districts areas.

There are few realtors who are just taking 1k as their fees if the buyer did all investigation but only needs a realtor for signing purpose for commission. For example if your house is 400k then normally most builders give 2.5% commission to realtor which is 10k. In this case the realtor is giving 9k$ either in closing cost or giving a signed contract to lender to adjust this 9k in the total price of the house. And taking only 1k as fees.

They are happy because all they r making is just a trip to the builders office for signing purpose. Many realtors in NC area are doing this. But unless you ask, no realtor tells this and simply give 1.5% to you from 2.5% they get as commission.

Do your own research how ever.. you might get realtors of NC from this below link
www.zillow.com/morrisville-nc/real-estate-agent-reviews/?regionID=6050&locationText=Morrisville%20NC

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***Beware of Pulte Homes*** 8 years 9 months ago #27043

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Topic has been hijacked from Pulte Homes to realtors. Though the topics are related, I started this thread just so anyone purchasing through Pulte homes is cautious and doesn't fall prey to their cheap tricks. If you do decide to purchase one of their homes, please make sure that everything they say verbally goes into the contract as-is. If you can't get them to change the contract (given the sellers' market), at least make sure you're prepared for the worst so that you won't be surprised towards the end.
I just got an update from them stating that our home won't be ready until November. So, they're even exceeding the time-frame from the written contract now. Jerks.

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***Beware of Pulte Homes*** 8 years 9 months ago #27044

Don't think the topic is getting digressed but strongly feel that "realtor" topics being discussed is equally relevant.


IMHO, Just by doing peripheral online research you don't become an expert realtor.

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***Beware of Pulte Homes*** 8 years 9 months ago #27046

I think, the topic is not diverted to discussion about realtors. It is relevant here because, if the realtor did his due diligence then he should be able to guide you in terms of construction time-line before signing the contract.

I agree that one should get the recommendation from friends and family. But need to do their own research when investing large sum of money. The realtor plays big role in it, if then know what they are doing.

Just as an example, I recently came across one person, who was moving from out of state via job transfer program from his work. He got full moving package from his company and realtor was part of it. He mentioned to me that the realtor told him, " Do not put an offer x% below asking price because it will reduce her commission". I found out that he paid about 7k-8k more by looking at comparable home sales in the area.

The rebate is pretty similar scenario. If the realtor can negotiate the price better instead of giving rebates then it will probably work out in your favor even without rebates. Because there is no incentive for realtor to look for their clients' best interest.

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***Beware of Pulte Homes*** 8 years 9 months ago #27047

Well I don't see anything wrong here. It's a sellers market, so obviously they will rule. This is not a good time to buy house. Rather it's a good time to sell one.

The history is repeating here. Back in 2004-06 it was similar situation in this area. People were buying like crazy at exaggerated prices. Then came 2008 and the prices went way down. That time you can buy a single family in the price of townhome(2004-06 price). Do a search and you will see lot of houses people

It's a made up market specially in west cary, morrisville. Everytime you will see "Last lot in west cary" and then after 6 months there will be another.

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***Beware of Pulte Homes*** 8 years 9 months ago #27052

OP: sorry to hear about your case.

its seller's market. there is no perfect world. Pulte is not making us stand in line, its us! i hear many americans decide to go little farther from cary, morrisville because of lot of desi population here, making competition worse and ready to stand in long lines or put lot of $$ in bidding for better school districts etc. that they are not willing to spend. obviously they would not like us invading the area. if i am a buyer, i wont like all these either.

if you have written proof of Pulte's mis-doing or can prove their mal-intentions, then there exists a legal channel to 1. come out of the deal or/and 2. get compensated for being a victim.

otherwise, there is nothing that one can do. real estate agents can give you only general idea, expecting more from them could be detrimental too.

i hear bad stories about most builders like Pulte, Lennar and Hovanian, standard pacific to name a few (and others). Toll brothers hold the name, but keep on raising prices limitlessly. It is inflated market due to lot of incoming desi population holding high paying tech jobs and lot of "good school" competition. You probably chose to go with Pulte for a reason, others did and that is how Pulte (and others) grew out of bounds and did all these comfortably!

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***Beware of Pulte Homes*** 8 years 8 months ago #27081

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Unfortunately, contract is written by them and it is in their favor (like I mentioned earlier). Builders have to write contracts in their favor because so many things can go wrong (weather etc.) that are out of their control. However, builders like Pulte exploit those contracts. Everything they lied (when they said they applied for permits in December etc.), they told me verbally. So, they've been pretty careful every time they lied.
This is not a typical case where builder is unable to meet the scheduled date due to unexpected reasons. They clearly deceived us twice:
1) These guys always knew they were not going to hit the targeted April timeline. Otherwise, they would not have given a 5 month window of April-August on paper, and they would not have lied to us since December that they are waiting for permits etc. They just wanted to lock in the buyers to them before other builders open their subdivisions and buyers go there.
2) They gave us a 2 week closing window in end of August sometime back, and now they are delaying the construction start of our building even more just because they are not able to sell one of the houses in our building. Instead of starting the construction of our building (building which has our town-home) as promised, they started construction of other buildings in which they sold all the houses. When I asked, they are giving stupid reasons that the town is creating problems, permit was not approved etc. (I can clearly see that the permits have been approved for all the houses in our building on the town of Cary website).
I am convinced that Pulte's areas of expertise include Blatant lies and Cheating. I would never buy a home from Pulte again.

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