Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Still waiting ... Updates: Non-standard changes, NVR

Although not much happened (we have finalized our flooring and cable options and still waiting for our permit from the county), it's been a week since my last post so I thought of writing about some updates:

Non-standard changes
I don't know if this applies to our community only, but I just found out that there is a minimum $300 administrative fee for non-standard changes. We were surprised (shocked) and a bit upset about this, so our SR apologized that she did not know this (being fairly new with RH) and thus wasn't able to give us the benefit of that knowledge upfront. She said that she thought she had properly set the expectation that there would be some sort of charge for these requests. Yes, some sort of charge, but for actual costs (materials and labor), and not $300 for putting R-13 insulation (yes that's what they will use for soundproofing) in one wall between master and bonus rooms. So we ended up declining the soundproofing ($300) and the basement to attic conduit ($750). I hope we won't regret our decision.

Right after our non-standard request to move the basement exit to the right side of the house (pic below), I changed my mind and wanted the exit to be on the left side of the house behind the driveway.  So I emailed our SR and explained to her how it's more practical to have the basement exit behind the driveway, and that hopefully it's not too late to make the changes. The good thing is, moving the exit to the side has already been approved ($300). And we can specify the exact location where we want it. Yay! This is great because moving the exit to the side means that there would be an extra rear window (where the standard exit would be), so it becomes more acceptable to pay $300.


Original side exit request
New side exit request similar to this - behind the driveway but on the left side of the house (reversed)

NVR (lack of) Update
Since our loan application on January 26th, I have not spoken with my Loan Officer, even when I have emailed her more than 3 times already. I did have some questions that I emailed her but she hadn't replied to those questions yet (still waiting for her to email back). Loan Processor contacted me on Feb 14th to check whether we have any other accounts (retirement, savings, etc) that we would like to add in our loan application before it goes to underwriting. It would be nice to have a bigger downpayment, but unfortunately that's it lol :)

Any comments about NVR? I have been comparing the GFE from NVR with the settlement statement from our current home and I am seeing charges that seem redundant in the NVR closing costs estimate so I am not happy about that :(

8 comments:

  1. Yes there is a fee to make changes after a certain point. Cant remember what it was. Something like 15 days for structural changes and 30 days for the minor changes, then after that you get charged a changjng fee. So that is correct.

    As far as NVR, you just have to be persistant. All I can say is keep on them, hassle them, its the only way its gonna get done. As far as the GFE ours was pretty spot on the entire time. I shopped around for better rates but never found any. I cant say that for everyone else here on the blog, its really on an individual basis.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi DW, yes, that's what I am aware of, I thought the reason why we had to submit the non-standard requests by the 14th day mark is to avoid a change fee. We did submit our change orders (standard and non-standard) before that 14-day period. But SR soon finds out from the Production Manager that that there's a minimum $300 fee just by submitting a non-standard request even if it does not really cost (materials and labor) to change a thing because of additional management time to review the request and redraw plans. Huh?! We have not even started yet and nothing has been drawn yet because we were still in the 14-day period to finalize structural/non-structural options.

      About the NVR, yes I will email my LO again today. Good to hear that your experience with NVR was great and that your GFE was spot on. I will try to shop around for rates too when the time comes. I'm praying that rates don't go up anymore or better yet go down when we close in June.

      Delete
  2. Listen to DW! Persistence with NVR is key! If you look on my blog- we had a 3 week period of madness with them, which all turned out fine, but I had to turn on the persistence. Ever since then, I have some sort of contact with someone there at least once a week to avoid anything like that again. I too did some window shopping and NVR was compatible to everything I saw too. And if any issues with NVR- get your sales rep involved too- at least we did and it helped a lot.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! Glad your issues with NVR have all been straightened out. I just hate the lack of communication. I agree DW has provided me such great advices and have been very helpful!

      Delete
    2. AllStar I am always glad to help :) How has it been going? You keeping on top of NVR?

      Delete
    3. Hi DW and Chrissie! Yes I'm trying to bug them all the time and make sure they know about my frustrations with them. We have been approved but the issues seem never ending! My SR is also now involved in getting updates from NVR. Thanks for the advice!

      Delete
  3. I love your side-entry garage! The closing costs with NVR a little more expensive than we've seen, so we're still shopping.
    Sweet Home Carolinas Blog

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! The side-entry garage is a little expensive upgrade but we really like it so we sacrificed othe options. Yes, we too will be shopping for other lenders.

      Delete