ngo1
Posts:11
 | | 08/08/2007 9:01 AM |
 Alert | | I'm in the market for a new home and it seems Tortosa has the best deals, can anyone tell me the pros and cons of each builder? And which ones are offering the best deals? Thank you in advance! | | | |
|
|
love@hm
Posts:523
| | 08/08/2007 9:49 AM |
Alert | I have a homelife home. For us they have been pretty good, but I DON'T like the landscaping company they use - not just for the looks, but because of their attitude!
So far the house is nice enough, the flooring is cheap, but we chose not to upgrade. . . The fronts of the houses aren't as nice as some, but we decided that didn't matter so much. I also have noticed in many of them the living space is tiny - but we got around that with a floorplan that offered better living space.
The incentives change, so I don't know what they are offering now. We had a pretty decent package - but I know they have dropped their prices <img src='http://www.85239.com/desktopmodules/ntforums/images/emoticons/sad.gif' height='20' width='20' border='0' title='Sad' align='absmiddle'> good for you, but not for me!
We haven't really had to have people come fix much, but they were good with the 2 month inspection and getting stuff done. . .
We are in a 2600+ sqft home and our highest electric bill is just over $200; WAAAAAAAY better than it was in Chandler. . . don't care for the dishwasher and will get a new one sooner than if I DID like it ;0
| | | |
|
|
|
hendersona
Posts:401
| | 08/08/2007 11:39 AM |
Alert | | We are in Barcelona in Elite love the house and the bills don't seem high at all. With the five star engery rateing our bill are cheaper then they were in our apartment this is a much biger space (1900sq ft) and we don't have anyone living over us. no problem getting them to fix anything. In fact my husband is in the trade industry and know homes we didn't find anything but a couple of paint touch-ups on our prewalk | | | |
|
|
|
sweitzer
Posts:28
| | 08/08/2007 5:54 PM |
Alert | | I looked at all 3 builders before deciding on buying a Shea home. I personally did not like Homelife at all. I also liked Elite but we found a Shea spec home that was by far the best deal. They also just dropped the prices at Villago down to the 120's and I think the larger 2350 sq ft home is starting in the $180's now. We have been in our Shea home for a month now and have no complaints about any aspect of our purchase. | | | |
|
|
|
karen
Posts:0
| | 08/09/2007 10:54 AM |
Alert | I also have a homelife home and yeah the lanscaping is blah, but that's easily fixed  Our electric bills are constantly $100 less than they were in Tempe - for twice the house size, definately no complaining here! I also chose not to upgrade the flooring since I have 3 young children. I figured i'd let them destroy the cheap flooring for a few years and then replace with nice stuff.
| | | |
|
|
|
charann
Posts:225
| | 08/09/2007 12:07 PM |
Alert | Give another vote for Elite at Barcelona. I admit, reading about various people's electric bills being so high was a bit of a concern, but our bills are about the same as they were in our Scottsdale apartment, but our house is about 500 sq feet bigger. We pay $100 or less per month. Our gas bill is never more than $25 a month. I love our Elite home, we went with it, because we were able to make the 4 bedroom into a 3 bedroom, making the 2nd bedroom about 5 feet bigger, also loved that Elite was still considered Energy Star Certified.
We looked at several builders over a 3 day weekend and whenever we talked about where we wanted to live, we always came back to Elite, just this floor plan for us, works. We have 1674 sq ft, which is so much room for us, it's just the 2 of us, no kids, maybe a small dog down the road.
we didn't look at the shea homes, because at the time, they were a bit high and the incentives weren't as good as Elite's at the time. We did look at Homelife and we didn't care for them. But it is all up to you and what you want. Personally, if we ever buy another house in a few years, we probably will stick with Elite. | | | |
|
|
 |
mw
Posts:128
| | 08/09/2007 11:04 PM |
Alert | | we live in a shea home at villago, and i LOVE shea homes! they have bent over backwards to make sure we are happy. if i ever build a house anywhere else, i will go with shea. we bought a spec home (one that shea actually designs, not a customer.) my electric bill is so much lower than our smaller house in chandler (and now we have a two story!)shea has fixed things that other builders wouldn't be bothered with and they really do have the nicest people working for them! | |
we finally voted in a smart president! | |
|
|
|
ngo1
Posts:11
| | 08/10/2007 6:52 AM |
Alert | Keep the responses coming, thanks everyone. I did go and look at all three builders and it's def between Shea/Elite. Homelife's construction and overall product didn't really impress me. Elite/Shea seem more energy efficent(sp?), Shea has awesome deals right now! But I'm still very cautious as to how much more prices will drop, anyone have any more experience with Shea specifically? How were the build times? Quality? Customer Service? Design Center?
Thanks in advance. | | | |
|
|
|
kaekae84
Posts:19
| | 09/06/2007 3:14 PM |
Alert | | We are in the process of building a Shea Home. We signed our first papers about 3 weeks ago. They said the build time is 5-8 months. My sister in law and her husband have a homelife house across the way. We looked into Homelife but they were too much. They had a spec; 1200 sq ft for $141,000. Elite homes were ok. We decided on Shea due to they had more standard features than the other builders; Fan pre-wires, double sinks in the master, covered patio. So far we have been really happy with the progress and customer service. | | | |
|
|
|
hendersona
Posts:401
| | 09/06/2007 4:32 PM |
Alert | | Elite, Has fan prewires and double sinks in the master as standard options | | | |
|
|
|
hendersona
Posts:401
| | 09/06/2007 4:32 PM |
Alert | | Elite, Has fan prewires and double sinks in the master as standard features | | | |
|
|
|
skygazer
Posts:29
| | 09/06/2007 9:56 PM |
Alert | | I live in homelife and we have the model Sheffield it is the best floor plan and tons of living space you should check out the models.. the sheff isnt model'd but there are a few on the block that the office can show you i think you will be impressed! if your looking for a one story the there are a few models as well. homelife is the way to go.!!!! | | | |
|
|
|
mw
Posts:128
| | 09/06/2007 10:56 PM |
Alert | | i still say the customer service at shea outweighs anything i've ever seen with the other builders. | |
we finally voted in a smart president! | |
|
|
|
darin45
Posts:146
| | 09/08/2007 8:26 AM |
Alert | Linda and I live in an elite home in Barcelona. we love our home and the price couldnt be beat (even before all the falling home prices!) We have the 1447 model and its perfect for the 2 of us and our 2 dogs!
There are so many energystar features that come standard and the lot sizes are great plus we chose a oversized lot and got half off the premium.
...but our 2nd choice would most def be the Shea homes located by the elite properties. We LOVE the model with the upstairs loft with the full wet bar! Sure glad we saw THAT home AFTER we bought ours of we might be in the a Shea home now! ~ | |
"...you knew that before you came here"- The 85239.com's stupid answer to every comment" | |
|
|
|
njparks
Posts:201
| | 09/09/2007 9:13 AM |
Alert | | I'm happy in Barcelona with Elite. Haven't had any probs so far and I'm almost at a year. | |
Nancy | |
|
|
|