Builing a Darling Home

My husband and I don't have any experience with Darling, but we did have a house built by another company 2 years ago. We were fine with the price, but the builder messed up the fence (didn't put a gate in so we could move the lawn mower between the front and back yards, and the garage was in the front of the house, too. Guess they thought we'd just move the lawn mower through the HOUSE when we needed to use it!), and then the gate was too narrow when they did put it in.

Our biggest problem was with our finance company (Southwest Funding) because every time we talked with them, their "worst case" scenario became a "best case" scenario by the next conversation, sometimes just 10 minutes later! Every time we talked with them, they claimed that we needed to come up with more $$$ for some bogus thing or another, and I finally told them "ENOUGH! We're DONE with you". We walked away from the house one week before our closing, and have not regretted it.
Hope your financing is already "in place" so you won't have to go thru what we did, cuz now we're in a tiny apt (that was supposed to save us $$; it's not) but still hoping to get into a house within a year.

My other suggestion is that when you have the house built, MAKE SURE you have EVERYTHING in your contract that you want in the house: electric plugs (incl. the #) and locations, alarm systems and the rooms the keypad is supposed to be in (I suggest the Master BR, as well as the front and back doors and any additional entry doors), ceiling fan wiring (even if you're not planning on ceiling fans now; you will very possibly end up changing your mind), carpet pad thickness (we opted for 3/4" thick pads; makes a HUGE difference over 1/2"!), specific type of carpet/tile/flooring, etc. If you are able, when they do start building the house, try to go by *every day* if you can to check on the progress. We did, and found out that the builders had put up one of the walls so that a window was in my master closet, but not in my son's bedroom! (If we'd waited to talk to the builder, or assumed he would catch it, we would've ended up with the window in the closet..uuggghhhh) Also, it's a good idea to take photograhs or video tape to document everything. Our builder told us that our photographs would be the ONLY blueprint we would ahve, because they "copyright" their floorplans! Make sure you can get a blueprint, in case of future problems or you want to do some remodeling.

I'm so sorry this turned out so long. I just wanted to let you know what we learned in our building process. Best of Luck to you in building your new home!

We bought a completed Darling spec home this past Summer in Star Creek (Allen). We got $50K off the list price (which was advertised), but not a penny more. We did ask for and receive about $10K more in options/changes, though, but that was because they really needed to move the completed home.

Good luck to you!

I might suggest to use a realtor. The builder covers the cost in their marketing umbrella. Their are quit a few out there who maybe have worker with builders before so they know how much to ask off. My friends seem to buy houses that are almost done. I have heard number like..." My list price wa $380 and we paid $305"; "My list prist was $250, and I paid $180". But these houses where closed to being finished and the builder just wanted them gone.
Good Luck! L.

MC,

We did not have time to build a house due to a relocation. We had a great realtor Dale Wilcox, Ebby Realtors(we purchased Dec.28)that helped us get a super deal with Ryland Homes. We purchased for 60,000 under asking price! Plus we received 30,000 worth of free upgrades! Again we didn't build, but we bought a home that someone backed out of at the last minute! We do have a housing situation just like the one we landed into. Check out Creekside Estates in Wylie. We have amazing schools and our neighborhood is terrific!!!!

I am not familiar with Darling Homes, but my husband and I are having a Horizon Home built. We are getting $13,000 towards closing / off the price of the home, PLUS over $14,000 in upgrades for free. It WAS just going to be $8,000 to go towards closing costs until the "agent" found out we may decide against building right now.
I know our deal is far better than what people had just a few years ago. They had absolutley NO free upgrades, and no help with closing expenses. One person I talked to who bought a few years ago was shocked and amazed at the deal we are getting.
He also said that he wished he would have known to negotiate the price when he bought. So, it is done - at least is was a few years back. Now, with all of these incentives around, I don't know how willing they will be to cut the price. Your chances are probably pretty good though seeing how this is a buyers market. They get pretty much whatever they want!
Good Luck!
E.

Hey, We just bought a home from Darling Homes. We did have a realtor, but we negotiated everything ourself and did get them to come down quite a bit.
They came down around 30t from their first offer then we negotiated with them more and came down again around 15T plus gave extra perks like extra appliances and cash back on almost everything that came to my mind at that time - around $8000 more. Be sure to have them put everything in writing, otherwise you'll get nothing. Good Luck :)