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Okay, first of all did you use a real estate agent? I will admit that I quit reading after a bit.

When you are buying a track home from a track builder making changes like electrical panels is unreasonable. They offer the floorplans they offer. When you start making massive changes you are moving the builder and their workers out of their patterned zones. One crew does this, another crew comes in and does that.

Those are the building techniques that keep your costs down. Custom finishes are just that, finishes. Of course taking up or fitting in a different flooring can result in $100 a square foot charge. You demand master carpentry skill but don't expect to pay for them?

Because the builder will have to bring in a flooring expert above their normal worker to fit, change, pattern flooring to fit properly. When you adhere to their plan the regular tile, carpet, wood workers know where to start and where to end, how much product, where to cut, etc. It is puzzle they have put together dozen of times. Looking at other homes in your neighborhood to compare how they have something you don't again ignores the track home theme.

Track home builders buy in bulk to keep cost down. Looking at an already finished house for finishes in a yet to be completed home is like comparing apples and oranges. What is available today, will not be tomorrow and might not have been used yesterday. I have read hundreds of new home contracts from track builders, rarely have I seen them take 100% responsibility for sod.

It is usually one of the last things put in and up to the buyer to maintain. You are correct that customer service and quality are important. Certainly purchasing a new home is a large expense. But, a sales agent is not YOUR real estate agent.

An employee at the finish center is not YOUR real estate agent. A foreman is not YOUR real estate agent. And, the builder is not YOUR mortgage agent. If you chose to rely on these people, YOU have made a choice.

I would also like to point out that some of your comments make it seem as if you visited the site quite frequently. Building sites are construction site, with insurance issues and the like. Visiting and changing and picking all stop work and force people who are not there to interact with buyers to be put in situations that are not in their job description. Surely you expect a level of fairness to yourself when you are at work.

A good realtor would have cautioned you about the best builder fit for you in your budget. Guided you to a builder with a larger range of choices or a subdivision with finishes and looks that are typically offered that would appeal to you without stepping out of the builders box. A good realtor would have insured you were buying the lot you had chosen, and, would have cautioned you that building would be ongoing until the subdivision was completed. Helping you find a quite lot what would be out of the building zone when your home was completed.

A realtor could have walked you thru the home building experience and acted as a go between for you and the builder, minimizing bad or frustrating relations. At the very least, a good realtor would have made you aware of the down falls of some of your choices. A good mortgage agent could have prepared you for the buying experience. Would have walked you thru dealing with major purchases while maintaining a financial level required for the mortgage.

I am truly sorry you have had this experience. But, a home is a major purchase. You can not rely on the track builder to customize the experience for YOU and YOU alone. There is no last best deal.

You must SHOP, SHOP, SHOP. You make money when you buy a home, not when you sell it. Making the right choice, in the right neighborhood at the right time, is key. If someone out there feels they must rely solely on the builder.

The builders sales agent, the builders finance company, etc. You must approach the situation as if you are buying clothing off a rack. If you walk in and the floorplan and finishes don't "fit" you move on. Try to buy from existing inventory.

A home in place on a lot, completed or almost completed. It is much easier to evaluate the conditions you will be living in/with/under. It is also easier to make a better deal. Warning signs like needing flood insurance should give you pause.

The grading on a home lot is a tricky business, establishing sod is not always easy. Use an independent home inspector not just a final walk thru. Pay careful attention to yet to be accessed taxes and HOA fees and contracts. Always have a copy of your contract with you when dealing with the builder and their employees.

If you make a change, be sure the change order is initialed and signed off on and place into contract. Also make sure the pages of the contract that address the first plan for the change are "X"ed out, initialed and signed. Everything in a home purchase is up for negotiation. Regardless of what the builder says.

They may not agree with something you want, but luckily you don't have to agree to purchase from them. Stipulate closing dates, use fees or fines or the return of earnest money, for failure to meet these dates. Be prepared to hear NO. Actually, use the no to help you move on to another home.

The builder either wants your business or doesn't. You are shopping for YOUR home. If they promise you the world make them do it in writing. My last bit of advice is, never build a home from the ground up if it is not going to be your forever home.

If it is your forever home, plan it, save for it and select a custom builder to execute it. And, if you ever have to sell it, know that buyer's will think you did it all wrong. I hope this all works out.

Maybe if the situation with this home, contractor and subdivision is just at a breaking point, you could ask the builder to apply you earnest money to another of their homes in a different subdivision. Perhaps one that is completed, in a manner and with finishes that you can approve.

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Wow. That's a really really long reply just to tell someone caveat emptor dude!

My thoughts, for what they are worth are twofold, first, I run a business, and my number one priority is to make customers happy and coming back. If I cannot make a profit ethically and make people happy, I am in the wrong business.

Secondly, I have not had a realtor be of any value to me finding or buying a house in over 20 years. I have rented and bought property, commercial land etc by finding it myself. If you can't do the building I want, and instead of telling me that you can't do it, you do a substandard job or do not finish because you are incapable, shame on you, not me.

I asked, I paid you didn't do it. Take your contracts to a lawyer to read.

A realtor is out to do one thing, make their percentage and they don't care if you use them again. Your attitude and putting this off on a customer with your long winded supercilious response disgusts me.

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