diff --git a/pkg/generate/app/cmd/newapp.go b/pkg/generate/app/cmd/newapp.go
index 28db6a25f9a1..8e25ae086f71 100644
--- a/pkg/generate/app/cmd/newapp.go
+++ b/pkg/generate/app/cmd/newapp.go
@@ -10,8 +10,10 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 	"time"
 
+	dockerfileparser "github.com/docker/docker/builder/dockerfile/parser"
 	"github.com/fsouza/go-dockerclient"
 	"github.com/golang/glog"
+
 	kerrors "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/errors"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/meta"
 	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
@@ -22,7 +24,6 @@ import (
 	kclientset "k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/client/clientset_generated/internalclientset"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/kubectl/resource"
 
-	dockerfileparser "github.com/docker/docker/builder/dockerfile/parser"
 	ometa "github.com/openshift/origin/pkg/api/meta"
 	authapi "github.com/openshift/origin/pkg/authorization/api"
 	buildapi "github.com/openshift/origin/pkg/build/api"
diff --git a/pkg/generate/app/sourcelookup.go b/pkg/generate/app/sourcelookup.go
index 3e2df9e3c127..9e5dd0fb49dc 100644
--- a/pkg/generate/app/sourcelookup.go
+++ b/pkg/generate/app/sourcelookup.go
@@ -79,7 +79,15 @@ func IsRemoteRepository(s string) (bool, error) {
 	}
 	url.Fragment = ""
 	gitRepo := git.NewRepository()
-	if _, _, err := gitRepo.ListRemote(url.String()); err != nil {
+
+	// try up to 3 times to reach the remote git repo
+	for i := 0; i < 3; i++ {
+		_, _, err = gitRepo.ListRemote(url.String())
+		if err == nil {
+			break
+		}
+	}
+	if err != nil {
 		glog.V(5).Infof("could not list git remotes for %s: %v", s, err)
 		return false, err
 	}