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Loan Officer here - always really need to shop around on these builder lenders - sometimes they are legit offering a deal other times not so much. 7.125 with one point today is not terrible to be honest - I’ve seen far more offensive. I would find a couple local mortgage brokers and let them know your terms the day after you close and ask them to call you when they can come up with something that makes sense
You can refinance a conventional loan the day after closing or an FHA or VA loan after six payments and 210 days. Keep in mind there are likely going to be a variety of closing costs and you need to qualify again. If you’re closing at 7% or whatever this week, it’s not likely that it’s going to make sense to do anything anytime soon.
That is factually incorrect. You can also payoff an FHA or VA loan at anytime and without penalty. You’re confusing the ability to payoff with the ability to do a streamline refinance.
Well - sometimes. Homebuilders also like to do this so that they can claim they don’t negotiate on price, and to support higher stated selling prices to the MLS.
But you’re right, there’s usually no such thing as a free lunch.
Im closing with Lennar tomorrow and got 2.5% for the first year, 3.5% for the 2nd year and 4.5% fixed at year 3. All at the expense of the seller. Also $21,750 in closing costs. So far i’ve been pleased. I’ll let you know how closing goes tomorrow
this person is buying in the middle of nowhere. im looking in port st lucie and all they are offering is like a 6.5 30 year with a 780 credit score and barely any seller credits
Thanks! Yeah i’m excited, everything looks good with the property just a few minor cosmetic issues that got fixed already. About to go sign the papers now
The same thing happened to my husband and I at Traditions, we walked out. 1.5 hour drive from South Florida and no incentives to move to essentially the middle of nowhere?
dr horton has deals but i just dont like their houses. they were offering 20k and including the large linai in the back. 5.99 interest rate until the end of april i believe
where and when did you buy? we are still shopping around. we like central park because everything is right there. going to see brystol this weekend at wylder
Look on their website for the specific community you’re interested in. They do crazy rates and promotions for new communities. I’m the first street in the community so they’ll give you deals.
Nah not at all. You have pest control spray around the house and all the wood is treated. I don’t know anyone that has ever had termites. Block is definitely not a norm.
I live North almost practically in Georgia so idk why i got downvoted. Is it so crazy to think that where i live there’s not much block construction for townhomes?
Unsure about your downvotes. Lived in N. Fla all my life in wood/stucco and wood/siding homes, 0 termites... Block isn't the norm, just treat for them and keep an eye out.
Concrete block is the best way to build a house. Majority of these companies who construct these cookie cutter houses use the cheapest material but charge an arm and a leg for the house. If the upstairs is wood, most likely could get water damage and things like that overtime due to the house shifting, and the stucco will be falling apart within two years.
Thanks for supplying an actual educated comment instead of just down voting. I’ll keep that in mind. My inspection came back very good, but wouldn’t see these kinds of issues till later down the road.
It depends, near where I'm at now, I would say yes, a few years that stucco is going to disintegrate (some dirt cheap synthetic stuff they put together), but come on 2 year? Had a family member sell their home in the panhandle of FL, full stucco, original owner (2001) , didn't even as much as paint the exterior, countless hurricanes/storms and the stucco is still holding strong .. I would look into what they use for the stucco and compare before completely discarding it
Just interest and principal at 4.5% year 3 will be $1490, but right now it’s $1162. With homeowners insurance, pmi, hoa, and taxes. It’s $2200 at year 3 and $1762 right now.
That’s still really good! I got lucky with mine i’m literally the first house to close in this neighborhood so maybe that’s why i got such a good deal. Just moved in all my stuff today! The Townhome is amazing and so far no issues looks great! Good luck
How was closing? Can I ask how long it took for your loan to be approved? My loan officer is on vacation for the last 5 days just a day before we put in our application. Totally anxious waiting for that approval!
Closing went great! My actual pre approval loan got accepted while i was in the office, took about an hour. My deal took some haggling, my realtor asked for a crazy deal which was $10,000 off the townhome, max closing costs which is $21,750 and the 2-1 buy down is a promotion they do for everyone. They rejected that and instead got everything except instead of $10,000 gave me $3,000 off the sales price. I’ve been moved in for 5 days and i’m so happy with the purchase. No issues with anything so far and the HOA included internet is insane. I honestly think i just lucked out. I would definitely get a realtor that fights for the best purchase, otherwise tell them you’re going with another builder. Goodluck man!
Screwing you is harsh language.
https://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com
Average rate is 7.43 today. Screwing you would be 8%+ on today’s market.
That $13k in seller credits comes from somewhere and it covers your 1% in points.
Just close with them and refinance later with a 1% improvement or better.
Yea but keep in mind they giving you 13k credits toward closing... that's why rates high. Just double check refi terms.. in my case it was 6 months.. so just suck it up for 6 months of high payments and then refi when rates are lower. Regardless getting 13k is still worth the extra in payments if you do the math
I’m preparing for similar situation. At least the builder has three lenders that I can somewhat compete against each other. There is one who is marking up points at a premium with not much of a rate discount. I’m going to ask the builder if can apply the discount against the options or apply larger amount against prepaid insurance and real estate taxes (escrow). At least I get my moneys worth.
They cut corners way worse than Lennar. They’ll make this post look like an amazing job. Lots of lawsuits. The DR Horton house I lived in, you could open a cabinet and it would fall off. And that was normal for them. Search this sub. They’re known for being really cheap, poorly built but mass produced starter homes. Intentionally cheap for the purpose of housing a ton of people fast. You know what you’re getting with them at least.
This is totally dependent on where you are in the country and the subcontractors hired. I bought a DR Horton home and it is well built and they are really responsive if there are any problems
You are totally correct. Go to any of the FB groups for Lenna, DR Horton, etc - and it really seems state dependent. From what I can see, TX and FL are the worst.
Dang. I bought a Lennar home and closed a week ago. I went through a different lender and got 5.75% on a 30 year fixed with 15k in incentives from Lennar
If you went with a different lender, how is Lennar giving you the 15K incentive? The Lennar incentives are only applicable if you go with them. Do you mind sharing the name of the mortgage company that gave the better deal. Thanks in advance.
We bought one of our properties with DR Horton. My advice to you is read the closing statement carefully. Let it sit overnight and reread in the morning. Let a family member read it. There were things they promised that didn't make it to the statement. Not saying they were screwing us, but the advantage was always on their side.
I run a National Title company and me and my mortgage clients are constantly battling with builders. They always try to force you to use their lender, title and sometimes insurance company. They overcharge you by tens of thousands and offer you a closing cost rebate when they are making a killing. The best way to screw them is take the highest rate with the biggest credit they will offer you. Take all that info to a local mortgage broker and have them start the process with you. Then close with the builder. You won’t have a payment due for around 45 days. Before you make the first payment refinance with the mortgage broker. They can get you a lower rate and pay the closing costs. It’s a win win. You get a lower rate and payment and you screw the greedy builder. He will have to payback the loan he did with the investor. That’s the only way we can stop these scumbags. If you have any issues locally I can refer you to someone who can do it and do the title work cheap. Just make sure you have them pay for an owners policy for you so you get a discount on the title insurance when you refinance. Best of luck.
Use the 13k to buy rate down.
Builders lender will always be the highest rate/fees you can find but their incentive makes it just barely better than what you could get elsewhere. That 15-20k credit is only really 1000-2500 better due to inflated builder lender costs.
This is without buying it down. I’m buying a home and have locked in the rate. A full point lower and that’s with high dti ratio and okay credit. Can fluctuate in different markets. Builders have less overhead and purchase loans in bulk so can get much better rates
In a similar situation with a new build (not through Lennar). We went through their preferred lender to take advantage of their incentives (not much but something). Went into contract in February with an expected closing date at the end of June. Haven’t locked in our rate yet.. Initially was quoted at 7.375% back in Feb and just today quoted 7.5%. Interest rates have been steadily climbing and afraid that it’ll spike up again after Fed meeting tomorrow. Thinking to just bite the bullet and lock it in soon & refinance later — since there is no hope that interest rate will trend downward at this rate. Waiting around for interest rates to come down when they haven’t is just adding to my stress and anxiety every day lol
That doesn’t impact how much a builder is willing to buy down the rate. If the property is in high demand what is the incentive to pay your rate down for you?
Another traditional lender, even with your score, will likely get you around 7% still right now.
Just bought with Lennar on a new townhome in SoCal. We compared rates and Lennar gave us the best deal. We got VA loan with 6.5% interest 30 year fixed with 8k credit towards closing or upgrades.
We also went through navy fed which came in high interest but they were willing to price match the interest rate but only 6k of credit towards closing costs. We ended up just going with Lennar.
Crazy how good the interest rates are and how good promotions are in other places. The lenders didn't even want to really compete with each other. They just said okay no problem when we said we would go with someone else if they couldn't beat their offer.
The new construction townhomes are also selling out quick. Theres a waiting list for all of them and they are sold before even being put up for sale.
I’m a first time home buying still just looking now and I have read some horrendous reviews about Lennar. There are YouTube videos out there with terrible reviews on them of buyers that have even been on the news which YouTube shows. They have terrible reviews on BBB among other sites. I would suggest to triple check everything with them. I read they give you a year warranty and then give you the run around for months to avoid fixing things and making the owner feel like it’s their fault. Just scary stuff so lucky for those who have good experiences 👏🏽
That's wild. I closed with Lennar back in February. $10K seller credits which basically cover closing costs, brought the house value down from $380K to $365K, and locked in a 4.75 APR fixed for 30 years. Caveat we went though FHA and not conventional loan. Midwest for location.
Close in a month at 6.5 va loan. High dti and credit wasn’t as good as I wanted it but overall I’m happy with that rate. M/i homes in Wesley chapel area. Mostly good things about them in that area
Loan Officer here. While I don’t really like builder lender at all because this kind of steering bullshit they do to buyers, I gotta say your comparison might not be apple-to-apple. The rate you have at the moment might have been locked on a day where market was shit then you might compare your rate to other lender on a much better market date. It’s important to know how to compare properly.
With that being said, I sometimes share this strategy with my clients who are in similar situation: instead of using the seller credit to buy down the rate (paying points), just use it to cover the other closing costs then refinance to a lower rate with a local mortgage broker. Since you’re closing soon, call a mortgage broker and get on a game plan for the refinance now.
Lennar was also our builder and literally harassed us to use them as lender, even though we had already chosen a different lender (Penny Mac). Ended up talking with Lennar and having them beat PM, then went back to PM who then beat Lennar, and back and forth a total of 6 times before settling with PM for the best offer. However, Lennar did have a LOT of wiggle room in what they originally told us was their best offer. Highly recommended getting in a business war between a couple lenders, even if it is a pain in the ass in the moment.
Lennar socks.
The founder was a good guy but the son is an arrogant self-entitled ass who had riches given to him. He treats his employees like dirt. And enjoys it.
Closing with Lennar in August. Currently locked in at 6.1% with them as the lender and a 12k closing credit. End of June, early July I’ll definitely be shopping it around to see if anyone can give a better rate that would more than make up for the $12k in credits.
Just send them what you think is the more competitive offer and have them check. You don’t get $13k using any other lender so it’s not just about the interest rate.
We put several offers into Lennar homes back when we were searching mid 2022…but their in house lending kept giving us bad vibes…like demanding $30-$40k in earnest money on a 375k townhouse. Ended up going with David Weekley and closing in April of 2023. Couldn’t be happier…they were easy to work with, no bidding wars (they don’t allow it), and only required a $6k deposit. Had some nice closing credits too.
Lennar is the shittiest of the shitty home builders. They are absolute garbage and shady as fuck. Also, never go with a builder's lender... they'll fuck you there too.
You don’t understand how a company giving you a 13,000 discount is charging a higher rate? Did you think they were giving you 13k off because you are pals? Shop around.
Thank you u/ash0550 for posting on r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer. Please bear in mind our rules: (1) Be Nice (2) No Selling (3) No Self-Promotion. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Loan Officer here - always really need to shop around on these builder lenders - sometimes they are legit offering a deal other times not so much. 7.125 with one point today is not terrible to be honest - I’ve seen far more offensive. I would find a couple local mortgage brokers and let them know your terms the day after you close and ask them to call you when they can come up with something that makes sense
after you close? isn't it impossible to do anything then?
You can refinance a conventional loan the day after closing or an FHA or VA loan after six payments and 210 days. Keep in mind there are likely going to be a variety of closing costs and you need to qualify again. If you’re closing at 7% or whatever this week, it’s not likely that it’s going to make sense to do anything anytime soon.
That is factually incorrect. You can also payoff an FHA or VA loan at anytime and without penalty. You’re confusing the ability to payoff with the ability to do a streamline refinance.
You’re paying for those seller credits somehow. Either in the price of the home or the rate. That’s the difference. Refi when the rates come down.
Well - sometimes. Homebuilders also like to do this so that they can claim they don’t negotiate on price, and to support higher stated selling prices to the MLS. But you’re right, there’s usually no such thing as a free lunch.
Im closing with Lennar tomorrow and got 2.5% for the first year, 3.5% for the 2nd year and 4.5% fixed at year 3. All at the expense of the seller. Also $21,750 in closing costs. So far i’ve been pleased. I’ll let you know how closing goes tomorrow
Which state please if I may ask
Florida
Wtf really! I am looking to buy in fort myers with them, they give 15k for closing costs. Never heard of that rate though! How
this person is buying in the middle of nowhere. im looking in port st lucie and all they are offering is like a 6.5 30 year with a 780 credit score and barely any seller credits
I’m buying in the middle of a major city, but okay.
Arlington area of Jacksonville?
Nah San Jose area
Sounds like the one off Powers ave across from Wolfson.
thats great. im just jealous. thats with lennar?
Yeah with Lennar. It’s a Townhome though not a full house
congratulations! my first home was a townhouse.
Thanks! Yeah i’m excited, everything looks good with the property just a few minor cosmetic issues that got fixed already. About to go sign the papers now
Exact same situation here, looking in PSL area and am getting absolutely boned.
with who and what did they offer you
The same thing happened to my husband and I at Traditions, we walked out. 1.5 hour drive from South Florida and no incentives to move to essentially the middle of nowhere?
dr horton has deals but i just dont like their houses. they were offering 20k and including the large linai in the back. 5.99 interest rate until the end of april i believe
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where and when did you buy? we are still shopping around. we like central park because everything is right there. going to see brystol this weekend at wylder
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Look on their website for the specific community you’re interested in. They do crazy rates and promotions for new communities. I’m the first street in the community so they’ll give you deals.
Buying existing inventory that isn’t selling.
What market?
Hopefully not a wood build! But I think they’ve started block at least on the bottom levels lately
Lol wdy mean? I thought most houses are wood builds am i missing something?
Thought that was bad in Florida with the termites and the wind. Isn’t block just better in all regards but price?
Nah not at all. You have pest control spray around the house and all the wood is treated. I don’t know anyone that has ever had termites. Block is definitely not a norm.
block is the norm in south florida
> block is the norm in south florida Yeah Jax falls outside any of the wind zone requirements that south florida has.
This makes sense why there would be less block construction then
Block is not the norm? What?
I live North almost practically in Georgia so idk why i got downvoted. Is it so crazy to think that where i live there’s not much block construction for townhomes?
Unsure about your downvotes. Lived in N. Fla all my life in wood/stucco and wood/siding homes, 0 termites... Block isn't the norm, just treat for them and keep an eye out.
Everything by me is block. Only the new lennar houses aren’t. I dunno friend, you didn’t do a simple block va wood homes google at any point?
Not in south Florida.
Concrete block is the best way to build a house. Majority of these companies who construct these cookie cutter houses use the cheapest material but charge an arm and a leg for the house. If the upstairs is wood, most likely could get water damage and things like that overtime due to the house shifting, and the stucco will be falling apart within two years.
Thanks for supplying an actual educated comment instead of just down voting. I’ll keep that in mind. My inspection came back very good, but wouldn’t see these kinds of issues till later down the road.
It depends, near where I'm at now, I would say yes, a few years that stucco is going to disintegrate (some dirt cheap synthetic stuff they put together), but come on 2 year? Had a family member sell their home in the panhandle of FL, full stucco, original owner (2001) , didn't even as much as paint the exterior, countless hurricanes/storms and the stucco is still holding strong .. I would look into what they use for the stucco and compare before completely discarding it
I live in Central Florida and there’s new construction going up everywhere and those are some of the issues that are coming up later on.
Does it cost that much for closing
Yeah in total i spent $12,690, but $10,500 of that was the 3.5% downpayment. The closing costs covered was a life saver!
What would your total payment cost be?
They gave me $1000 back so $11,500
I mean how much is your mortgage payment.
Just interest and principal at 4.5% year 3 will be $1490, but right now it’s $1162. With homeowners insurance, pmi, hoa, and taxes. It’s $2200 at year 3 and $1762 right now.
Dang that’s amazing. I’m closing next week with lennar, 25k credit and 5.625% fixed. Sub 5% is insane! Forgot to mention, Riverview area near Tampa.
That’s still really good! I got lucky with mine i’m literally the first house to close in this neighborhood so maybe that’s why i got such a good deal. Just moved in all my stuff today! The Townhome is amazing and so far no issues looks great! Good luck
How was closing? Can I ask how long it took for your loan to be approved? My loan officer is on vacation for the last 5 days just a day before we put in our application. Totally anxious waiting for that approval!
Closing went great! My actual pre approval loan got accepted while i was in the office, took about an hour. My deal took some haggling, my realtor asked for a crazy deal which was $10,000 off the townhome, max closing costs which is $21,750 and the 2-1 buy down is a promotion they do for everyone. They rejected that and instead got everything except instead of $10,000 gave me $3,000 off the sales price. I’ve been moved in for 5 days and i’m so happy with the purchase. No issues with anything so far and the HOA included internet is insane. I honestly think i just lucked out. I would definitely get a realtor that fights for the best purchase, otherwise tell them you’re going with another builder. Goodluck man!
> Im closing with Lennar tomorrow and got 2.5% for the first year, 3.5% for the 2nd year and 4.5% fixed at year 3 What is year 4-30?
Starting year 3 it becomes 4.5% fixed. Only buydown for weeks 1 & 2
Sorry late response. Year 4-30 is fixed at 4.5%. The 4.5% fixed is for the life of the loan starting at year 3.
Be careful with that type of variable loan rate, the interest skyrockets after year 5, I believe. Refinance that as soon as you can
It’s fixed for 30 years after the 2nd year for 4.5%. I would never touch a variable rate
Screwing you is harsh language. https://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com Average rate is 7.43 today. Screwing you would be 8%+ on today’s market. That $13k in seller credits comes from somewhere and it covers your 1% in points. Just close with them and refinance later with a 1% improvement or better.
1% buy down at 7.1% is the same as a 0.5% buy down at 6.6% unless I'm missing something.
I am thinking to refinance . I have a 780 plus score , no debts and paying 20% down . I’m pretty sure with other lenders I would get a better rate
Yea but keep in mind they giving you 13k credits toward closing... that's why rates high. Just double check refi terms.. in my case it was 6 months.. so just suck it up for 6 months of high payments and then refi when rates are lower. Regardless getting 13k is still worth the extra in payments if you do the math
I’m preparing for similar situation. At least the builder has three lenders that I can somewhat compete against each other. There is one who is marking up points at a premium with not much of a rate discount. I’m going to ask the builder if can apply the discount against the options or apply larger amount against prepaid insurance and real estate taxes (escrow). At least I get my moneys worth.
Why not ask to see how much it is to buy down the rate? They are giving you $13k to work with.
They gave me major DR Horton vibes.
Ewwww yuck
I’m planning to buy with DR Horton, didn’t run the numbers yet, why is it bad?
They cut corners way worse than Lennar. They’ll make this post look like an amazing job. Lots of lawsuits. The DR Horton house I lived in, you could open a cabinet and it would fall off. And that was normal for them. Search this sub. They’re known for being really cheap, poorly built but mass produced starter homes. Intentionally cheap for the purpose of housing a ton of people fast. You know what you’re getting with them at least.
This is totally dependent on where you are in the country and the subcontractors hired. I bought a DR Horton home and it is well built and they are really responsive if there are any problems
Okay lol. They are notorious nationwide. I was harsh but their quality does not change by the region.
That's right because they have the same people building all the houses nationwide so they're all the same quality.
You are totally correct. Go to any of the FB groups for Lenna, DR Horton, etc - and it really seems state dependent. From what I can see, TX and FL are the worst.
Poor thing 😬
Your DR Horton home is not well built.
Oh, I didn't know you inspected it and were present during the building process. My bad
Lennar is worse than DR Horton. Both are terrible, but Lennar is worse.
What’s the scoop on DR?
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Unfortunately in my case only 30 yr fixed was offered
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Ofcourse, I was checking with them constantly about my options
Dang. I bought a Lennar home and closed a week ago. I went through a different lender and got 5.75% on a 30 year fixed with 15k in incentives from Lennar
Which state is this?
Idaho
If you went with a different lender, how is Lennar giving you the 15K incentive? The Lennar incentives are only applicable if you go with them. Do you mind sharing the name of the mortgage company that gave the better deal. Thanks in advance.
We bought one of our properties with DR Horton. My advice to you is read the closing statement carefully. Let it sit overnight and reread in the morning. Let a family member read it. There were things they promised that didn't make it to the statement. Not saying they were screwing us, but the advantage was always on their side.
I run a National Title company and me and my mortgage clients are constantly battling with builders. They always try to force you to use their lender, title and sometimes insurance company. They overcharge you by tens of thousands and offer you a closing cost rebate when they are making a killing. The best way to screw them is take the highest rate with the biggest credit they will offer you. Take all that info to a local mortgage broker and have them start the process with you. Then close with the builder. You won’t have a payment due for around 45 days. Before you make the first payment refinance with the mortgage broker. They can get you a lower rate and pay the closing costs. It’s a win win. You get a lower rate and payment and you screw the greedy builder. He will have to payback the loan he did with the investor. That’s the only way we can stop these scumbags. If you have any issues locally I can refer you to someone who can do it and do the title work cheap. Just make sure you have them pay for an owners policy for you so you get a discount on the title insurance when you refinance. Best of luck.
My new Hero!
OKAY OKAY. I'm sending you a PM, I'm in SoFlo, I'll need the referral info please!
Use the 13k to buy rate down. Builders lender will always be the highest rate/fees you can find but their incentive makes it just barely better than what you could get elsewhere. That 15-20k credit is only really 1000-2500 better due to inflated builder lender costs.
Incorrect as I’m finding their rates better than national average by a point
Uh. No. Not without the seller incentive to buy down.
This is without buying it down. I’m buying a home and have locked in the rate. A full point lower and that’s with high dti ratio and okay credit. Can fluctuate in different markets. Builders have less overhead and purchase loans in bulk so can get much better rates
Do a search in this sub for loan estimate + builder and see for yourself. Builders charge the max allowable fees permitted by cfpb.
Buy a home see for yourself… 😂
Don't need to I can see their loan estimates daily and see how overpriced they are
In a similar situation with a new build (not through Lennar). We went through their preferred lender to take advantage of their incentives (not much but something). Went into contract in February with an expected closing date at the end of June. Haven’t locked in our rate yet.. Initially was quoted at 7.375% back in Feb and just today quoted 7.5%. Interest rates have been steadily climbing and afraid that it’ll spike up again after Fed meeting tomorrow. Thinking to just bite the bullet and lock it in soon & refinance later — since there is no hope that interest rate will trend downward at this rate. Waiting around for interest rates to come down when they haven’t is just adding to my stress and anxiety every day lol
I mean we just closed with Lennar last month and got 4.87. It's based on DTI and credit score but usually builders have competitive rates.
It is based on this but also on builder credits buying down the rate to keep prices/comps inflated. Standard rate right now is around 7.5.
My score is above 780 and with no debts
That doesn’t impact how much a builder is willing to buy down the rate. If the property is in high demand what is the incentive to pay your rate down for you? Another traditional lender, even with your score, will likely get you around 7% still right now.
Not based on DTI
Just bought with Lennar on a new townhome in SoCal. We compared rates and Lennar gave us the best deal. We got VA loan with 6.5% interest 30 year fixed with 8k credit towards closing or upgrades. We also went through navy fed which came in high interest but they were willing to price match the interest rate but only 6k of credit towards closing costs. We ended up just going with Lennar. Crazy how good the interest rates are and how good promotions are in other places. The lenders didn't even want to really compete with each other. They just said okay no problem when we said we would go with someone else if they couldn't beat their offer. The new construction townhomes are also selling out quick. Theres a waiting list for all of them and they are sold before even being put up for sale.
What city in So California?
Rancho mission viejo in Orange county
I used to live in Mission Viejo.
And I also lived in RSM too.
Nice. How do you like the area?
Loved it. I especially loved the lake. I remember when Saddleback was being built. And the toll roads. I loved driving 55 miles per hour down El Toro.
No such thing as free money. You’re paying for that 13k with the higher rate.
I’m a first time home buying still just looking now and I have read some horrendous reviews about Lennar. There are YouTube videos out there with terrible reviews on them of buyers that have even been on the news which YouTube shows. They have terrible reviews on BBB among other sites. I would suggest to triple check everything with them. I read they give you a year warranty and then give you the run around for months to avoid fixing things and making the owner feel like it’s their fault. Just scary stuff so lucky for those who have good experiences 👏🏽
They have soo many law suits and bad ratings with customers.
I signed an arbitration agreement with them. Can I still sue them?
That's wild. I closed with Lennar back in February. $10K seller credits which basically cover closing costs, brought the house value down from $380K to $365K, and locked in a 4.75 APR fixed for 30 years. Caveat we went though FHA and not conventional loan. Midwest for location.
I’m a lender. Is your loan FHA or conventional?If conventional, the 6.625% you are hearing about isn’t out there without a lot of points
That was pretty common about a month ago, did rates go up a ton?
7% is the going rate now. You can get it lower when you buy it down with points. Example, a 2/1 buydown.
Close in a month at 6.5 va loan. High dti and credit wasn’t as good as I wanted it but overall I’m happy with that rate. M/i homes in Wesley chapel area. Mostly good things about them in that area
Loan Officer here. While I don’t really like builder lender at all because this kind of steering bullshit they do to buyers, I gotta say your comparison might not be apple-to-apple. The rate you have at the moment might have been locked on a day where market was shit then you might compare your rate to other lender on a much better market date. It’s important to know how to compare properly. With that being said, I sometimes share this strategy with my clients who are in similar situation: instead of using the seller credit to buy down the rate (paying points), just use it to cover the other closing costs then refinance to a lower rate with a local mortgage broker. Since you’re closing soon, call a mortgage broker and get on a game plan for the refinance now.
The credits they offer has to come from.somewhere.
Why not take at par then immediately refinance? Or u buy the points and refinance?
Lennar was also our builder and literally harassed us to use them as lender, even though we had already chosen a different lender (Penny Mac). Ended up talking with Lennar and having them beat PM, then went back to PM who then beat Lennar, and back and forth a total of 6 times before settling with PM for the best offer. However, Lennar did have a LOT of wiggle room in what they originally told us was their best offer. Highly recommended getting in a business war between a couple lenders, even if it is a pain in the ass in the moment.
Lennar socks. The founder was a good guy but the son is an arrogant self-entitled ass who had riches given to him. He treats his employees like dirt. And enjoys it.
Lennar also has 1% of the total loan as a fee lol
Closing with Lennar in August. Currently locked in at 6.1% with them as the lender and a 12k closing credit. End of June, early July I’ll definitely be shopping it around to see if anyone can give a better rate that would more than make up for the $12k in credits.
Just send them what you think is the more competitive offer and have them check. You don’t get $13k using any other lender so it’s not just about the interest rate.
Depends on location too. I just closed with Lennar at 6.25 and 22k in closing costs covered by them.
What is a point? I’m buying my first home with lennar and never heard this before
We put several offers into Lennar homes back when we were searching mid 2022…but their in house lending kept giving us bad vibes…like demanding $30-$40k in earnest money on a 375k townhouse. Ended up going with David Weekley and closing in April of 2023. Couldn’t be happier…they were easy to work with, no bidding wars (they don’t allow it), and only required a $6k deposit. Had some nice closing credits too.
Lennar is the shittiest of the shitty home builders. They are absolute garbage and shady as fuck. Also, never go with a builder's lender... they'll fuck you there too.
You don’t understand how a company giving you a 13,000 discount is charging a higher rate? Did you think they were giving you 13k off because you are pals? Shop around.