A couple days ago we cancelled purchase contracts on two homes.

Update: The builder has now turned around and put these homes back on the market.  They have increased the price $11,000 to $235k and are offering a $22k incentive that may be used to cut the purchase price or may be split between closing costs and a price reduction. 

Interesting.  So they pumped up the price in order to show a better discount.  It’s the way the game is played.

So with the current terms and our same strategy, we’d be out of pocket $11,050 per home.  This assumes we put $8k of the incentive toward closing and all closing costs would be covered, and we put the net toward the purchase price.

Also interesting:  The first deal we signed up for was so-so, then we negotiated and they came up with a worse deal so we cancelled, now they put it on the market for a better deal than they were willing to negotiate with us.  Look:

  • Original deal out of pocket: $15,516 per house
  • Revised offer: $18,800 out of pocket
  • Repackaged and back on market for: $11,050 out of pocket

Apparently they never heard the old adage that it’s easier to keep a customer happy than it is to find a new one.  Wonder why they didn’t just offer to us what they had planned to offer to the public?  We could now repurchase at the better offer, plus this time they’re offering a 7% realtor commission.  We’d get paid roughly $5k to buy each house.

Interesting!