Hi everyone.
This is your Tampa Bay Realtor Lance Mohr and in this video I'm going to give you an
honest review of GL Homes in Tampa then I'm going to give you five shocking things you
probably don't know about GL homes but should and at the end I'm going to give you two critical
tips that most people don't know when they're buying a new home.
Before I get into the GL home review in Tampa I want to just give you a little bit of information
and how I come to these different reviews stars whether it's a 2 star or star 5-star
review.
The first thing I do is I go over my own experience with the Builder I don't do reviews unless
I've actually sold homes from the Builder and then I look at my clients experience not
just during the process but if they've had any issues or what's going on after the process.
Then I look at the exterior of the home in other words, how the attention to detail on
the home exterior is wise as far as elevation and just how does it look.
I go inside the home.
I look at the attention to detail inside the home.
I look at the usability of the square footage is it good?
Is it bad?
What about the floor plans or the floor plans good?
Are they bad?
You know I look at all that then I look at the quality of construction.
How's the quality of construction?
How's the energy efficiency and then I have other variables.
Then other things I also take into play before given the review.
So that's basically an overall assessment on what I look at and what goes into my reviews.
If you want to see other builder reviews I'll put a link up here and you can check those
out.
Now let's talk about the five things about GL homes you probably don't know and I'll
start off with the first and that's is they do metal framing.
Now when I say metal framing a lot of people when they're looking at homes they automatically
think wood because that's pretty much what every other builder uses out there but GL
uses metal framing.
So there are pros, there are cons.
The good thing is it keeps the walls straight.
That's nice.
Now if you're thinking well I don't know about metal framing because I have an 80 or 100
pound TV don't worry about that because they got you covered there.
You could get a package.
It's very reasonable to hang your TV if you need to do that.
The second thing is what I call model row.
Whatever GL builds they basically take a cul-de-sac.
They close it off.
They stick about six or seven homes in there and they're all model homes now I think from
a sales aspect this is really good to have this because they take these homes the model
homes and they deck amount to the nines.
I mean they look gorgeous.
People look at all the model homes they walk through.
They get all emotional when they come in and they almost want to buy a home and it's great
but I'm not really into that too much but I will say this you need to look for one of
their homes because they always have one home that only has about 20% upgrades in it because
they want to give you an idea of what you're getting in the home what's coming in home
in other words sort of basic.
So make sure when you could look at GL homes you always find out which home has the standard
stuff in it and take a look at that.
The third has to do with home inspections.
Now GL’s like every other builder I've worked with they'll let you get a home inspection
no problem but GL has a couple twists to their home inspections.
Number one is they don't want inspectors to go in the Attic.
The second is they don't let the inspector go on the roof.
Now I do understand that because GL does tile roofs and there's a lot of people that don't
know how to properly walk on tile and if they walk on them wrong they're going to crack
the tile and GL doesn't want to get into that.
So I do understand that.
So just understand that those are the two things that you know you're not going to have
an inspector do when you do get a home inspection.
All right number four is the design center.
GL Homes has their design center in the subdivision.
So you're not driving a half an hour or 40 minutes away to go to some design center.
GL homes like a lot of Builders out there.
I think they do nickel-and-dime you on a lot of the stuff that you're going to get.
Whether it's in the kitchen, the bathroom etc. but the nice thing is it's in the subdivision
so you could go in there before you purchase and before you even have your consultation
with the designer and take a look at it.
Now, this is going to be very valuable for people who are on tight timeframes.
So maybe you're coming in from out of town.
You're relocating and it's very convenient you'll go look at the different cabinets,
the tile, the countertop, and the fixtures.
It's really nice so I do like that fact I have a video I'll put it above on how to save
money in the Design Center.
I would highly recommend you watch that video as well.
The last thing.
Number five is the registration.
With most builders when you go out and you look at their model homes they might have
one or two or three.
You could just walk in say hey I'm just looking and thinking of buying or I'm looking for
decorating ideas or I live around the corner I'm just curious and I want to check out your
model homes.
Not a big deal.
You walk in you look at them you walk out not with GL homes they have basically a guard
at the gate.
So when you walk in their going to want you to register.
Now the problem is sometimes if you're using a real estate agent and you don't have your
real estate agent with you they may not let you.
Have a real estate agent represent you.
So whenever you're looking at GL homes always make sure you have your real estate agent
there or tell them up front and put your real estate agent on the registration cards.
Now I have talked to the management about this and they do have some flexibility with
this.
What they're really worried about what they don't want to happen as someone saying oh
yeah my cousin or my aunt’s a real estate agent or they have what is called.
It's a little weird but they call real estate poachers in our industry or they just stand
outside realtor stand outside the model home trying to get people to work with them.
It's a little disgusting.
It happens.
I mean they care more about it seems like their own checkbook than they do about the
customer which is weird but it happens.
So that's what they're afraid of they're so just those are some five things to know and
understand how GL works.
Now let's get into the review.
I would give GL homes a four-star review.
I think overall they're a good builder.
They do a good job and let me give you a breakdown and why I say this.
First is, I always look at my experience with GL.
I look at my customer's experience with GL it's been good.
Now anybody could have bad experiences but at the end of the day it's how builders work
on things and how they fix things but GL is good.
I go outside the home and look at the outside their attention to detail is really nice exterior
wise especially with the tile roofs that always looks really good.
When I go inside the home their attention to detail inside the home is good.
There are four plans overall are nice.
They do have a lot of floor plans.
They'll have 2022 for plans in a lot of cases and you're always going to have some duds
that are just going to happen with every builder but overall they're good there space management
square footage and how they use the square footage is good.
When you get into the quality and the moreover the energy efficiency, I think it can probably
be a little bit better I would say it's sort of average but I'll tell you what really excels
GL homes what's really nice there are two things that I really like number one is they're
not just the Builder in their subdivisions so it doesn't make any difference if you're
in Vista del Sol or if you're in the ridge up in Wesley Chapel.
They did that one for not just the Builder but the developer so they have a lot of flexibility
in what they want to do.
You look at their subdivision.
They don't just have these cookie cutters north-south-east-west streets.
They have rolling streets.
They have a lot of really nice lives backing up two ponds to conservation times and conservation.
So they really can control what the development looks like because they developed it.
The second thing is there are amenities.
There many of these are off the hook and this is what people love about GL homes keep in
mind they're their bread and is basically the 55 and older community.
So again no matter where you live it whether it's a 55 an older community or not a 55 in
an older community.
There are many these are really really good.
So that's why I give GL homes a four-star review.
Now let me go into two critical things I think most people don't even think about when they're
buying a GL home or any new home for that matter.
One is giving an inspection.
You're buying a new home, not a perfect home.
Get an inspection now remember what I said before GL doesn't allow the inspectors to
go on the roof or in the Attic.
So I had a conversation with management about this because I was pretty concerned and the
management told me they said look if the buyer wants to hire or get their inspector back
out after they close in the home to go in the attic door go up on the roof if they find
anything wrong we will take care of them.
We want to make sure the home is good.
So just keep that in mind when stuff I would do is after you closed on your GL home.
I would get your inspector back out there to take a look at it and W or a roofer to
take a look at the roof and the Attic because you don't want any problems you know down
the line and I'm talking down the line you could have a roof issue that could happen
ten years down the line that could have been corrected up front.
So do that.
The second thing is to hire a real estate agent why do people think like buying a brand-new
home I don't need a real estate agent well you couldn't be more wrong because at the
end of the day real estate agents aren't going to cost you any money.
You're not going to have to pay them and they're getting paid by the Builder out of the builder's
marketing budget that was put together the year before.
So whether you use a realtor or whether you don't use a realtor there is not going to
be any difference but there's a lot of advantages Realtors could provide now let's say you have
an issue and there's something that goes wrong with the home you have to keep in mind the
sales rep is going to be nice but they work for the Builder they represent the Builder.
The real estate agents going to work for you and represent you to try to get things done.
Now what that's I would definitely not use just any realtor use a realtor that knows
new construction that understands new construction.
That sells a lot of new homes because they're going to know the ins and outs on how to get
around different things.
So if you have any questions if you're in the Tampa Bay area and you're looking for
a realtor to represent you on GL homes or any home new or pre-owned.
Give me a call I'd love to help you.
If you're out of the area and you don't know a real estate agent and you need my help I'd
be more than happy to help you find a good aggressive realtor that knows and understands
new construction.
If you like this video give me a thumbs up.
If you can let me know what tip, let me know what I said about GL homes that you found
the most enlightening in this video.
I wish you the best of luck and I hope you have a wonderful day.