| What to Look For in the Model Home |
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The following excerpt from HomeBuilding Pitfalls appears courtesy of www.homebuildingpitfalls.com. You have heard it a thousand times: your home will probably be the single largest investment you ever make. It stands to reason that your new home purchase will involve one of the biggest sales pitches you ever get. Understanding the sales process before you step into the model home will put the ball in your court and help you keep control of the process. Good salespeople are savvy enough to judge your experience and knowledge related to buying a new home and look for weaknesses to exploit. Contrary to their pitch, they are not there to be your friend or advocate. It is never a good idea to completely trust what a salesperson is telling you or what you read in sales literature. You are better off to ignore most claims of product superiority, because many salespeople will be less than forthright. In one city, I talked to salespeople from two different home builders who claimed that J.D. Power and Associates rated their company number one in customer satisfaction. No, there wasn’t a tie. One of them wasn’t telling the truth. There are steps in the sales process that a good salesperson will follow. Larger builders put their salespeople through formal training courses designed by new home selling professionals. If these salespeople are experienced, they will try to take you on a path that starts when you enter the model home and ends when you close the deal. They want to be in control of the entire process by giving you the information that will lead you to purchasing a home from them. Understanding Sales Lingo Salespeople like to use terms that will help them sell their product to you. They try to use phrases that will increase your emotional involvement with their product, and there is not necessarily anything wrong with this. Salespeople everywhere use similar tactics. I raise this issue so that you are aware of it and can maintain an objective view as you evaluate what these people tell you. Here are some examples:
Before You Even Walk Through the Door: Pitfalls of the Emotional Hook. One of the main advantages that a production builder has over a smaller custom builder is their ability to market on a larger scale. The most tangible example of this is the model home. Without a model home, a customer is forced to imagine how a home will be laid out and how it will fit with their lifestyle. But when that customer can walk through a home similar to the one that could be built for them, the first hook is set in place — emotional involvement. I have been in dozens of model homes across the country and have found myself a bit excited almost every time I opened the door. The soaring entryways, beautiful color schemes, impeccable decorations are all designed to grab your attention early on in the sales process so that you ultimately say, “We’ll take it!”
There is nothing wrong with getting emotionally involved very early on in the sales process — that’s expected. You should feel like your new home will really fit you well. Just know that when it comes time to make the deal, you will be better off if you can separate yourself from the purchase. As you will see, the salesperson has control when they are selling on emotion. Industry Insight: Take a step back.
In my experience dealing with serious warranty issues and product defects for a large builder, I visited hundreds of recently built homes. I learned how people use their homes, how they decorated, but most interestingly, who could actually afford their homes. These were considered luxury homes and had luxury prices…and some people were in over their heads. Some would be living in their homes for over a year and still be without furniture for most of the rooms. If you can’t afford the furniture and you don’t even use the room, did you need the room? There was also another issue: when something went wrong, those who were financially in over their head were least equipped to deal with a crisis. Some homeowners were very honest with me. They would admit that “this stupid house” was causing more problems in their life than they could have anticipated. Besides the fact that their home had problems, they bought a house they couldn’t afford (or as some said, they were sold more house than they needed). They wanted to just sell it and move on, but they had to have their house fixed first. Unfortunately for one group of homeowners I was working with, their problem took over a year and a half to correct. Bottom line: Don’t talk yourself into more house than you need. It will only cause problems for you in the future. The hook!
Larger builders know how to set that hook using the model home as bait. Most model homes employ a steering technique that was perfected on farms to guide livestock into pens (that’s how it feels anyway). If you have been to a few model homes, you know what I mean. Most builders convert the garage of the model home into a sales center and make you walk through that sales center to gain access to the home instead of going through the front door. It is in that sales center where you will most likely be introduced to the salesperson for the community or one of their assistants. Model homes are decorated in a way that demonstrates the benefits of the floor plan but mask the home’s imperfections. The model home will generally display every option available in the home, but in so doing confuses the potential buyer as to the real cost of the home. To confuse things further, some builders use high-end “designer options” unique to the model home that are not even offered by the builder on a standard production home. In most cases, home buyers do not “deck out” their home to the extent that home builders do in their model home. The price of a “loaded” model home is not only too high for many customers, but impractical. As a rule, it is never a good idea to have the most expensive home in the neighborhood, as the models tend to be. If the builder displayed the home with the options that most people really purchase, the home would seem common or boring and would not be as enticing to the customer.
Turn the Tables: Take Control! If you have to walk through the sales trap to get to the model home, use it to your advantage. Ask the salesperson to supply you with the following:
Here is a list of other documents you will eventually need to get from the builder, so you may wish to ask for all of these upfront:
Try to collect as much information about the builder as you can at this point.
Use the included features sheet to ensure that items are included and to create a baseline when performing comparative analysis with similar homes (“comps”). For instance, one builder may include a concrete back patio and another might not even mention the patio because it is not included in the price. This way you can compare apples to apples when looking at price. Ask the salesperson to tell you the major differences between the model home and the standard plan. The salesperson who hesitates in answering this question is trying to hide the fact that the model has many upgrades. Find out before you step through the door if the model includes:
“Bump outs” are additions to a room that add square footage to the home. An additional bay window in the kitchen or additional floor space added to a living room that extends out behind the house are common options. Be aware that the cost per square foot of these “bump outs” will probably be higher than the rest of the house.
Most people know when they go through a model home that the furniture, the whole-house audio system, and even the fake fruit are not included in the price of the home. However, if you walk into the kitchen and see an eating area, you would expect that to be included in the price. But you may be wrong. Have that information before you walk into the model home, and don’t forget to consider the outside of the model home. If the builder offers optional elevations (exterior designs), they may be on display with the model home. The home might be upgraded with brick, stone, or stucco when the standard is only vinyl. Your assumption that even simple things (like gutters) are included may be wrong. Do the research and know what you are actually buying. The trap many people fall into is that they fall in love with the model that “starts in the low $200’s” but is shown with all the upgrades and goodies that would cost $300,000 to duplicate (even without the fake fruit). As the price begins to inch upwards, people get emotional and begin justifying or selling themselves on their ability to afford that home. This is a bad move. Flaws masked
A number of tricks used in decorating a model hide some problems with the design of the home or highlight some impractical option. The most common tricks happen in the bedrooms to make them seem larger or more functional. Decorators will:
Some builders remove the interior doors in the model to make the rooms flow together and give the illusion of larger space. This also masks design flaws, such as a situation in which one door has to be closed before another door can be opened.
Before you fall in love with the beauty of an option, take a step back and look at its practicality. For example, builders sometimes place a soaker or whirlpool tub against a bank of large, expensive windows. This looks very appealing in a model, and therefore may help to set the emotional hook, but it’s not always practical. Unless you don’t mind entertaining your neighbors, you wouldn’t be able to enjoy the windows because you would have to cover them if you ever planned on using the tub (especially in a first-floor master bedroom). Many people do not notice any imperfections in a model home because the fancy painting, wallpaper, and decorating captivate attention and mask flaws. The next time you are in a model home, take a closer look at the details. Look behind doors for imperfections in paint or for cracks in the drywall. Take a close look at the hardwood floors for poor cuts, cracks, or scratches. Take a look at the bath area for cracks in the tile grout or scratches in the bathtub. Builders generally spend extra time trying to correct these imperfections. If you look closely, you will find them. Some customers don’t look for these imperfections in the model, but are then outraged when they find them in their new home. Don’t be naïve. Models have cosmetic flaws, and your new home will, too. To get the best representation of a builder’s finished product tour a house that is nearly complete. You will be much better served to tour a market or “spec” home of the floor plan that has captured your interest. This will give you a better idea of the actual quality of the finished product. © Copyright, 2007, Todd, Michael & James, Inc. www.homebuildingpitfalls.com |
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