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!