Why is it some hard to find prices on the net?

[Ray]

Any salesperson who does not qualify a customer is doing both seller and buyer a disservice. Qualifying a customer is not an evil thing, it is necessary and helpful to both parties. That being said, I believe that a base price sheet should be available to all customers to see the range of pricing available to help narrow their focus. In California, it is State law that every display model have the price of that particular model including listing of options, on prominent display in the kitchen. Building a home is a complicated system and option pricing is model specific and customer specific. Many customers stretch homes, relocate walls, add bathrooms etc. and that will affect the square footage, location and other variables that affect prices which is why customers can be shown the "standard" options pricing but be forewarned that until the factory prices the options in their particular model that these are just guidelines although many will be exactly what is listed. Selling and purchasing a manufactured home does not have to constitute an adversarial relationship. A good dealer is providing a necessary service at a competitive price that allows him/ her to make a profit. A large part of that service is to be an advocate for the buyer to the factory, to the government agencies granting permits, and to the lender. Part of being an advocate is to be realistic about the buyers budget and that is where qualifying comes in, particularly if it is private property development as opposed to leased land park sets. In California, the development costs are often much more than the cost of the home.

[jgn]

Gil, my appologies for the previous post and your response makes sense. Yes I qualify my customers as to their needs and budget and try to steer them to what best meets their needs, in the surgical equipment field so few homeless customers but some who want to overbuy.

[Jon C. Benson]

Gil,

I think that it is a terrible habit to pre-qualify customers. #1 it is very degrading. We always assume that the customer can afford what they are looking at. We are here to help them obtain thier dream. Not to stomp it out. Once they have their complete package price, we submit it financing. If the complete project is not approved for the requested amount of money, only then do we look at trimming the price down. Also, cash customer's will really be upset with a pre-qualification process.

Jon C. Benson
Exec. VP Sales & Marketing