January 16, 2006

Centex Firesale Update: Save up to $100,000 on Centex homes this weekend - HOLY CRAP!

Again, can you imagine buying into a Centex neighborhood a couple of weeks ago, only to see your builder undercut your sale price by $100,000 a few days later (essentially taking your resale value down $100,000, or bankrupting you).

Wow.


Builders are going to screw everyone. Including themselves.

The big question is the accounting - does this drop median sales price by $100,000, or is this discount shown as "marketing expense" and the high price is recorded?

Here's the ad:

Turn off the tube. Drop the rake. Next Saturday is your chance to buy a Centex Homes in almost any Centex Northern California neighborhood and take $40,000 to $100,000 off the price on selected homesites.

New construction or one of our ready-to-move-in homes, it doesn't matter. Next Saturday's the day. 10a.m. till 10p.m. is the time. Every model will be open in each of our neighborhoods. So why not let the leaves blow into the neighbor's yard, you're gonna be moving away.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Still a rip off

Wes D said...

Those who save $100,000 will be pissed off when the following weekend they could have save $150,000. The builders are screwed and the wheels are falling off the housing market.

Anonymous said...

The details of this deal would be very telling. Is it

a) an honest $100K off the bottom line

b) the old "$100K in upgrades" scam

c) "$100K in upgrades" that is super-fancy upgrades that you'd never pay for anyway (gold-plated bathroom fixtures, $20K front door, etc.)

or

d) "$100K in upgrades" that are really the same old "$30K in upgrades", but being claimed to be worth $100K.

drwende said...

I went to the two Centex developments in Modesto. Here's what I was told.

(1) Chaparral, 2:45 p.m. "We only had one house with the $40,000 discount. We're sold out of everything but three of our biggest model." (Rep also seemed confused by the question.)

(2) Dakota, 3:15 p.m. Got price list showing $40,000 discounts on about 8 specific houses. These were listed as a straight discount from the asking price, not as "upgrades," but at least half the houses on the list were already completed, so who knows how it was really charged?

Chaparral was fairly busy; Dakota was busier than a normal Sunday but not swarming. The free snack buffet was decent.

Other developments we visited (other builders, same general neighborhood) were fairly dead.

Anonymous said...

centex in maryland area same deal. they tried to sell me a unit for $436 - marked down from $519. My friend later bought the same unit at a sale for $390. A few owners paid $500 for thier units.

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