Lennar or Taylor Morrison (New Home builders in Orlando)

[Minerva Mouse]

I'm curious if any of you have ever closed on a NEW home with Lennar or Taylor Morrison and what that experience was like. Are you happy with your new home? Would you buy from them again or recommend them to a friend? Did you finance with their lender or shop around? If you went with an outside lender were they less anxious to work with you? Was your estimate on target or were you hit with additional expenses at closing, etc.? Some of the online reviews are atrocious, but I know people are often quick to write a bad review, and don't always write a good one. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[DLgal]

Online reviews for homebuilders are ALWAYS atrocious. Ignore those. Go with the house that has the floorplan, features and price that you like, in the area that has what you desire.

We rent our homes, but the one we live in now was built in 2015 by a company that EVERYONE around here likes to rip to shreds. We are going on year 6 as the first tenants and the home has had NO build issues. It's one of the best quality houses we have ever lived in. But the way people talk, you would think we are living in a tin can. The only issues have been with a couple appliances, but that's not really the builder's fault. These weren't cheap appliances, either. They were the top of the line ones from the manufacturer (upgrades over the standard offered by the builder).

 

[VandVsmama]

I'm curious if any of you have ever closed on a NEW home with Lennar or Taylor Morrison and what that experience was like. Are you happy with your new home? Would you buy from them again or recommend them to a friend? Did you finance with their lender or shop around? If you went with an outside lender were they less anxious to work with you? Was your estimate on target or were you hit with additional expenses at closing, etc.? Some of the online reviews are atrocious, but I know people are often quick to write a bad review, and don't always write a good one. Thanks for the feedback.

Lennar and Taylor Morrison are all over Arizona, which is where I live. We've purchased a Lennar home before as a new build. We also did the same 2 years ago through Taylor Morrison.

Pros & Cons of both in my opinion based on our experience:

• Lennar had a better warranty than Taylor Morrison.
• The Taylor Morrison construction supervisor guy who we met with regularly through the construction process & did our final walk through with us tried to convince us NOT to get a house inspection. He was an idiot. Taylor Morrison's policy was that if you wanted a house inspection for closing, then the inspector couldn't go up in the attic, couldn't go on the roof, etc. That was ridiculous. So we took a chance and did the inspection afterwards. That was $250 well spent. Inspection found a problem with the microwave vent to the outside.
• We paid for our own inspection when we moved into the Lennar house and learned that the main electrical line going into the house had an issue. So that was $250 well spent.
• When we bought the Lennar house, it was a 'spec' house, meaning that it was previously built for somebody else and that deal fell through...so we didn't get to pick everything ourselves. With the TM house, we selected everything ourselves.
• Both builders have good options on different floor plans in my opinion.
• Quality of construction is probably a little better with Lennar than TM.
• Absolutely shop around with lending. Don't take the builder's lender's word on it that you only qualify for X interest rate and stuff like that. We did that with both homes. With the TM house, we went with our own lender because we got a better rate & terms than TM's lender. Plus, our lender was a lot easier to work with.
• The closing on our TM house was very frustrating. TM only did closings on Fridays in our development. And there was some stupid snafu at the last minute, which almost meant that we'd have to wait another week or 2 in order to close...which would have been really frustrating since we'd turned in our notice at our apartment and were moving out the very next day. In the end, it all worked out, but that Friday was really really stressful. With the Lennar closing, it was a lot simpler, no headaches.
• For our TM house, I, too, read the online reviews of their lender...there were some pretty big horror stories there. The people who were supposed to move in next to us went with TM's lender and those buyers backed out last minute because of some surprises from the lender. I'm really glad that we didn't go with the builder's lender that time!
• When we bought the Lennar house, we'd gotten pre-approved before we started house hunting. The Lennar lender gave so many $$ of incentives off the price of the house if we went with their lender, but their interest rate was higher. We showed them our pre-approval letter and said, "Fine, then we'll go with our lender." The Lennar sales agent & the Lennar lender backed down and we got the Lennar incentive-ized price at the interest rate we wanted.
• We lived in the Lennar house for 13 yr before selling it. It was built well, well insulated, everything held up well. My MIL's house is also a Lennar home, purchased new 13 yr ago. That house has held up well also. I'd absolutely buy a Lennar house again.

If I had the option of choosing between the 2, I'd go with Lennar over TM.

 

[Minerva Mouse]

Thank you @DLgal & @VandVsmama

 

[Feralpeg]

I've heard bad things about both. In 2004, after the three hurricanes, both had a lot of bad publicity due to water intrusion. We used Ashton Woods and have been very happy.

 

[kdonnel]

Lennar just built a neighborhood a couple miles from my home. Stopped by last weekend to look at the model homes. They had been selling for just 5 months and have sold all 114 lots. It will be another 12-18 months before they are all built though.

When I marveled at how quick the agent said that word got out that there was no limit on rentals in the neighborhood HOA. Investors came and bought 10 or more homes each.

Not sure if that is common with Lennar but something to ask about.