Considering New Construction? Talk to Matthew before a model home visit 561 504-4798
Considering New Construction? Talk to Matthew before a model home visit 561 504-4798
Builder fits the buyer maximizing the closing credit on a short hold. Your own lender fits the buyer maximizing the rate over a long hold. Which one wins isn't an opinion. It's a break-even calculation, and here's how to run it before you sign the lender addendum. I represent buyers, not lenders.
Often several thousand in credits, but tied to using the builder's lender. This favors the short-hold buyer who is maximizing the credit up front.
The builder's rate can run higher to fund that incentive. An outside lender's rate is set by open competition. This favors the long-hold buyer who will pay that rate for years.
The builder's lender is strongly motivated to hit the builder's closing date. An outside lender's speed varies. This favors the buyer on a tight build or rate-lock deadline.
The builder's lender wins only if the credit beats the rate gap over the years you actually own the loan. The outside lender wins on a long enough hold. The hold period decides it, not the brand.
Incentive divided by the monthly payment difference tells you how many months it takes for the incentive to pay for the higher rate. Compare that to how long you plan to own. Hold longer than the break-even, and the higher rate quietly eats the incentive.
The incentive is real money and the higher rate is a real cost. Which one is bigger depends entirely on your hold period. That is a calculation you can run, not a sales pitch you have to trust.
The Loan Estimate is the only fair comparison. It is federally standardized, so the builder's lender and any outside lender must present rate, costs, and APR the same way. Get one from each and compare page 1 (rate), page 2 (costs), and page 3 (APR).
Get the incentive amount from the purchase agreement, not the whiteboard in the sales office. A verbal number is not a number. If it isn't in the contract, it isn't real yet.
I keep a two-column Loan Estimate comparison worksheet. Send me both estimates and I'll map the exact month your break-even lands for your hold period, so you see the point where the incentive stops being worth it. It's the calculation the sales office would rather you didn't run.
An advisor who only ever says shop around isn't advising. If you're holding the home a short time, or you're up against a rate-lock or closing deadline where a missed date costs more than the rate gap, the builder's lender can genuinely be the better choice. The worksheet will show it if it's true.
Send me both Loan Estimates and I'll map your break-even before you sign. No cost, no obligation, no mortgage pitch. Pricing and rates change constantly and aren't published here; any number would be wrong within weeks. This page is a framework for finding the real number, sourced when we talk.
Matthew Sodel, Real Estate Advisor & Certified New Home Specialist, Highlight Realty, FL SL3216518, 561-504-4798, matthew@newhomesjax.com, jax-property.com
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