Palm Harbor Overpriced

[nathan]

Over the last few weeks I have posted questions about Solitaire vs Palm Harbor. I have found the home I want which is a Solitaire however I got a call from the salesman at PH wanting me to drop by so he could show me another home and save me money. When I went to PH I got a price on a 76H2 model with vinly siding, tape+texture, 2*6 walls, title, 32*80 wide. Of course it came with all the other stuff such as appliances, ect. They wanted $87,000.00 for the home. The second time I went in I told them that I had money down at Solitaire but had not started any other paperwork. They quickly adjusted their price down to match the Solitaire that was still 200 sq ft bigger than the 32*80 PH. The new price is now $73,000.00 with all the upgrades in their materpeice home 76H2. I don't know if I will change my mind and go with the PH. I like the PH because PH offers the home more custom built. Solitaire does not change hardly anything but thats how they keep cost down. I am dissapointed in PH because thats were I started first looking and wanted at first. But knowing that they can drop the price by almost $14,000 in the matter of an hour makes one wonder how much the price of their homes are truly inflated. If you looking at buying a PH keep in mind that your not dealing with people selling homes your dealing with more of a car salesman. And yes this is a PH factory dealer!

[JohnnyJ]

Go to this site: http://www.palmharbor.com/sales_locatio ... p?scid=628

You will find a sale going on with the list price of the 76H2 being $86K, and the
sale price being $75.9K.

PH typically gets a 30% to 40% markup on their homes at the factory owned
stores. You might find a better price at an independent dealer if there is one
in your state.

I have learned by reading Randall's book, and on this board, that you have to
really shop around wisely to find what you want. At most any dealer, $73K
will buy you a very nice home. Say the dealer is only marking up 15 to 20%
at that price instead of 30%. You are probably getting more home for your
money.

good luck

[rmurray]

I do not know...but from the research I have done in the last few days...The Solitaire is by far one of the VERY best built in the industry..They have things PH never heard of...

Make a visit to both plants...This is always a very helpful in deciding..

My guess is that with Solitaire you would be dealing with an independent dealer...They will have much more competitive finace sources and will allow you to shop insurance..

A PH store will do everything they can to make you finance with their own company..at a higher rate or with higher closing costs..They will also try to get you to finace 5 years worth of overpriced insurance..

The price of the home...is only 1 aspect of the purchase...Finance, finish items, closing costs and insurance can vary by tens of thousands from dealer to dealer...Shop the overall deal..

Why would you even consider dealing with a dealer who would have "screwed" a unsuspecting buyer out of 14K...Might they know that you know little about these other potential dealer profit areas....where they think they can make it up from you...

[Billy]

Am I missing something, I have down on contract a new 76H2 "Fullest House" for a base price of 67.5.....we are having a tough time finding a lender as the total package under appraised, our land with improvements came in at 24K(2.5 acres), BUT, the home with improvements appraised at 86K. We are going to shop around for contractors as PH "guesstimated" the improvements at 22,200 (well,septic,brick underpin,heatpump,etc..) we think the estiment is high, as does the seller of the land....

I started wondering about the price on this home....called a few other PH dealers, the lowest we could find is 72K....so, we believe that the dealer undersold his home.
But, when I told him we were going to try to shave 2K off the land improvements, and come up with 3K more down (6,500 total down), he said if we could do that, then the lender would not have a problem with the loan.

So....me thinks we're getting a 74K(appraisal value 86K) home for 67.5.
All we have to do now is shave about 5-6K off the price with a combo of less expensive land improvements, and a larger down.

[Bob]

On this thread of Palm Harbor VS Solitaire, my input is such...
I currently own a Solitaire, 16X67 built in 89. It is an EXCELLENT home and I have had no major problems save a water leak just recently that I had to repair in the tunnel so to speak. It has been very efficient. We have just simply outgrown this home and went looking for a replacement. Of course the local Solitaire dealer was the obvious choice, and while impressed with the construction, we were less than impressed with the lack of ANY kind of changes, subtle or not. In addition, my wife and I are sick and tired of floor registers! Solitaire keeps them on the floor while PH will upgrade them to the ceiling. In addition, PH has moved walls, relocated doors, substituted doors for windows, replaced carpet with tile and the list goes on and on. Right now our price for the home will be around 86,000 with land improvements included. Now, for a 24000sft home, I feel this is reasonable. At this price, the only site built home that came even close was a Jim Walters and it only had 1900sft. IF Solitaire were to make some changes, or even just offer vents in the ceiling, we would more than likely have remained with them!
In addition, despite all that I have read here, and I havent been surfing that long, a published report in the local paper listed PH as #3 in lowest customer complaints and Solitaire #1 lowest in customer complaints.
Now, while I feel somewhat at ease with the Home itself, I have less that a comfortable feeling with the sales experience thus far. Seemed that they were all gung-ho and ready to sell until I insisted that I get cash for my trade, not just money off of the loan. Then we turned into a "problem" sale and they essentially put us on the back burner. Granted, they did place an add for my current home and it did sell within 2 weeks of the add, but getting the staff to keep us informed on the status of our purchase is like pulling teeth! At times, we go weeks without hearing ANYTHING from them. Maybe Im being to critical and if so, feel free to let me know. That in itself would be some comfort. I always thought this was supposed to be a happy time!