California mortgage answers · Builder financing

Builder financing in California: the advertised rate, the credit and what the deal really costs

A builder's preferred lender can offer a strong deal. It only reads that way once everything is counted: the advertised rate against the APR, the points, the credit tied to using that lender, the taxes and any community facilities district special tax on a new subdivision, the HOA, the insurance, mortgage insurance where it applies and any solar payment attached to the house. Two offers can look alike on the flyer and land far apart over the years you own the home.

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What this topic is really about

The questions here are the ones new construction buyers ask in public: whether to use the builder's lender, what a promotional rate means for the payment later, whether the incentive is real, and how the community's special tax changes the payment. Each is answered against how the financing actually works, with the builder's own published offer attributed and dated where one is cited, and nothing here is a rate of ours.

The useful answer puts the builder's offer and a shopped alternative on one page, line for line. If the builder's financing wins, that is the answer you get.

On your file

What changes this answer on your file

The loan type behind the advertised rate, and whether it is fixed or adjustable.
Whether the builder credit is tied to using the builder's lender, and what it covers.
The community facilities district special tax on the specific lot.
How long you expect to hold the loan before refinancing or moving.
The solar agreement attached to the house, and whether it is a loan, a lease or owned.

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Who answers

Nick Nagy

23 years in California lending · NMLS 314880 · CA DRE 01444600 · Loan Factory, Inc.

Dual licensed, so the loan side and the real estate side of a move are looked at as one problem instead of two. Most of what goes wrong in a move is a timing problem wearing a financing costume, and it is cheaper to catch it before you write an offer than after.

Financing is placed through Loan Factory, Inc. Real estate work is under CA DRE 01444600. More about Nick.

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The desk behind the file

One file, 237 lenders competing for it, and a broker who has done this for 23 years.

Loan Factory, Inc. is the brokerage. These are its published figures.

20,907+Loan Factory Google reviews

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237Lenders available through Loan Factory

48States Loan Factory is licensed in

A retail bank has one guideline book. When your file does not fit it, the answer is no and the reason is rarely explained. A broker shops the same file across the shelf and finds the lender whose box it already fits.

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Straight answers

Questions people here actually ask

The three most asked, in one sentence each. The full answers are on their own pages above.

What questions should I ask when buying a new home in Murrieta, CA?

Ask three things: what the builder’s incentive is tied to, since it usually requires their own lender, so get an independent quote on the same terms. The full answer, with the local number and its source, is on its own page: https://go.homeaccesslist.com/answers/murrieta/new-construction-buyer-checklist

Lennar Menifee Build Quality

Build quality questions are usually really asking about the closeout process. The full answer, with the local number and its source, is on its own page: https://go.homeaccesslist.com/answers/menifee/lennar-kb-home-menifee-new-construction

typical for new construction homes, 1.04209% x purchase price plus 0.3% times land value plus $3988 will be your total yearly taxes.

A new-build purchase in Temecula, including Sommers Bend and the Shawood collection, adds HOA dues and a Mello-Roos special tax to the base mortgage payment. The full answer, with the local number and its source, is on its own page: https://go.homeaccesslist.com/answers/temecula/new-build-cost-check

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Tell me what's going on. I'll tell you what the numbers and the guidelines actually support, on your own file.

What happens after you send it

You tell us the situation. Which end of the market you are in and what you are trying to do. It takes about a minute, and there is no credit pull to start.
We shop the file. One file goes across 237 lenders at Loan Factory, against the programs that actually apply at your price point rather than the one book a single bank keeps.
You get a real number. Written down, with what it rests on, so you can check it yourself. You keep it either way, and when the honest answer is that waiting is the better move, that is the answer you get.