El Paso TX Home Builder Spotlight | PALO VERDE | 2024

El Paso TX Home Builder Spotlight | PALO VERDE | 2024

Style and Craftsmanship

Welcome to Living in El Paso, Texas. My name is John Peña, and my name is Alejandro Sosa, and in this episode we're going to be talking about Palo Verde Homes. Palo Verde is one of the builders here in El Paso, and every once in a while it's nice to talk specifically about a particular builder, since Alejandro is our new construction specialist. So we're going to pepper him with questions.

Overall, what are some of the things you like about Palo Verde? Many things, but one of the main things is their style. They have a lot of different styles that appeal to the majority of people, very modern, but also the quality of their homes. You can tell, because we see a lot of new builders coming into El Paso, and you can tell once you walk in that some of them don't feel as nice. We've even had clients say some of these homes feel kind of cheap. They don't say that about Palo Verde, because you can tell in the craftsmanship, everything about it is really good. The customer service is great, every agent gets you information. So overall, everything about them, we just really like them.

A lot of builders in El Paso do modern, contemporary, very boxy, rectangle, flat roofs. That's kind of the norm, especially with a lot of the luxury builders, like Icon and Crown Heritage, who make a lot of really epic modern homes. Palo Verde does do some modern homes, but they also have more of that farmhouse style, more pitched roofs rather than flat roofs, different types of stone on the exterior, different floor plans and elevations. Palo Verde homes are unique. You can typically recognize them.

Customer Service

On customer service: we were just talking about a client we have with another builder whose home was supposed to be done in a week, and we can't even get an update from the builder on what's going on. There are a lot of times where builders maybe build an okay home, but their communication is terrible.

Palo Verde is pretty good. We have the chance to work with almost every builder, and there are some great builders and great reps out there, but honestly, we can't complain at all about Palo Verde. We've talked to many people there, and every time we interact with them, it's quick answers, precise, whatever we need. They're always there if somebody has to meet us at a house to show something. That is very important, because just like a regular resale transaction, if there's no good communication, everything can be pretty unpleasant. It's very hard, especially when we have a client who's ready to close and we're running down an update and calling 20 different people and still can't get one. It's pretty frustrating. So again, one of the things we really like about them is the customer service, from the top to bottom. They're amazing.

That customer service also comes in handy not just when you're trying to buy the home, but once you purchase it, if any warranty issues come up. Some builders, especially after COVID, had a lot of issues with that. They want you to get in the home and everything is great, but the moment you close on that home, they disappear, or at least it's pretty hard to get things done. If there are any issues with the home, any cosmetic things, any leaks, anything, that's one thing we can say about Palo Verde: even after you're done, they're still there. They're very good with any type of claim. If there's anything, they're always there to get it fixed, to do whatever needs to be done. That is very important, because a lot of builders are very pushy about just trying to get you to close on the home, and then after that there's not the great service. So yeah, that's very important.

Price Ranges and Floor Plans

They do have different elevations and different floor plans. As a ballpark, Palo Verde's price ranges start around $250,000 and go up to about $400,000, so the majority of them are in the low $300s. There are a lot of different floor plans. A lot of builders have floor plans that work for some people and not others, but it seems like Palo Verde's floor plans work for a lot of people: open concept, big rooms for the most part, nice bathrooms, nice kitchens. Those homes can run from about 1,500 square feet up to almost 3,000 square feet, so there's a bunch of different options. It's very popular because of that. Not only the customer service, but the style and the type of floor plans, is very appealing for what feels like the majority of people.

Where They Build

So, $250,000 to $400,000, more or less. What locations are they primarily building in right now? They're mainly on the east side and what we call the northeast. They used to build some on the west side too, but there's not a lot of places left to build there anymore, and they already have some beautiful homes built out there. Most of the new construction right now is in the northeast and the east side.

How Palo Verde Compares

We're showing a lot of footage here because you and Miguel have gone out and made videos of these homes. Whenever I go into new homes, I kind of feel like there are three levels. There are the low end, low price builders, I'm thinking Saratoga, Casas de Leon, Edwards, maybe Carefree. We need affordable housing in this country, no doubt about it, so kudos to them for building affordable housing. Then you step up the quality ladder and you get into builders like Palo Verde. We could probably include BIC, Cullers, Hakes Brothers, LEH in that tier too, these kind of higher quality builders. Then, once you start going $500,000, $600,000 and above, you're getting into Icon, Crown Heritage, builders like that. I think you're right that Palo Verde is that mid-level, great quality builder. They've got a lot going on.

The Bottom Line

Anything else you can think of about Palo Verde? Not really. We really like them, and if you have a chance, we can definitely show you some different homes so you can see the difference. Personally, since I got here looking at homes, I've always liked them, not only because of their style, but after working with them quite a bit, and with other builders, great builders too, for the most part Palo Verde is just overall great. Like you said, it's important to have different styles and different price ranges, and I think they do. We'll see you next time.