[quote=ocrenter][quote=kcal09]We visited both “Andalusia” and “Monteluz” today and were surprised how many of the homes have been already sold since January. “Monteluz” current phase is completely sold out and the sales people didn’t even bother to say hello. Business must be going well! Most of the models had only one bathroom upstairs for 3 bedrooms to share. The standard materials look cheap and are below average quality. One definitely has to add a lot of upgrades to make the homes a little nicer. This will probably add another $100k to the purchase price.[/quote]

seems like that’s the strategy these days. try to go as bare bone as possible, and hit you with the upgrade cost. gone are the days when the builder threw in a lot of extras in their effort to get you to spend $200-$300k more than the house was worth.

remember, it is far cheaper to rip off the carpet and replace, take the vinyl option where you want future tile or stone as those can go right on top of the vinyl. ask good questions like what kind of insulation are you putting in. chances are they are also going cheap here. here’s where you have to spend the extra to have them put in the good stuff, can’t exactly go ripping into walls.[/quote]

You’re absolutely right, there’s more than what meets the eye. Most buyers focus on what’s visible and forget about other things such as the quality of the materials used. The builders know exactly how to catch potential buyers buy making the kitchen nice.