closing and final walk through (sales, buying a home, buying)

[deepika1977]

Hi,

we found a spec home that we really liked and did an inspection and a initial walkthrough. The house though brand new, had some scratch marks on the stove and the interior of one of the cabinets has a big hole.

The house is also missing small items like additional Cat5 lines from their standard list. It should have been there according to our agent but the builder tells us, we can chose to drop those at our will. We did find this error after the initial walkthrough when we were measuring blinds. The stove is still not fixed or replaced and the walls still have some imperfections that the builder refuses to fix.

My question is, are we allowed to point out new errors during the final walkthrough and hope they fix them? The feeling I got from the builder was, we will be only dealing with "some" items from the first walkthrough and remainder is our headache. Do the new items we find on the final walkthrough expect to be fixed or can we terminate the contract without losing our earnest money? we will lose our inspection money though.

Any tips for the final walkthrough? What do we look at? How long should this take?

Thanks!

[jcl_cls02]

Talk to the sales person to have their builder comply. If the punch list is not completed prior to closing, do not sign anything until you are satisfied. Once you sign, you pretty much own the rest of the list unless there's a mutual agreement you guys have.

[Squirl]

Before the final walk thru it should already be understood what repairs the seller has agreed to fix. If you did not get a promise these things would be taken care of, don't expect to find them fixed or that the seller will do anything to make you happy about these times.

But certainly, if there is new damage do point that out and get the builder to agree to the repairs.

[mikestrong]

I sell new homes. I would still do a 3rd party inspection if their are issues you are worried about. That way you give the builder the list and tell him to take care of it. We wont close a home unless the buyer signs off on all issues are taken care of. A new home should be free of any major defects. Even cosmetic things are taken care of where I work.

[FalconheadWest]

It sounds like you're buying a home from a small custom builder because the big dogs would not be treating you this way. They would get in there and fix everything until you sign off on their list and close on the house. You need to get your sales person involved if it's a regular builder. They'll make things happen.

[dlleon]

one thing to consider: what will it cost to repair these items yourself? Sometimes, with a written estimate, you can have a deduction from the final price (called an allowance) and you can address these problems yourself, with your own (hopefully trustworthy) contractors. This way, if the builder is too busy to mess with it, you can do it yourself, without it coming out of your pocket. It's sometimes easier to just put a $ figure on it, get the allowance, do it yourself, versus waiting on a busy builder's schedule.

[KathrynAragon]

Originally Posted by dlleon

one thing to consider: what will it cost to repair these items yourself? Sometimes, with a written estimate, you can have a deduction from the final price (called an allowance) and you can address these problems yourself, with your own (hopefully trustworthy) contractors. This way, if the builder is too busy to mess with it, you can do it yourself, without it coming out of your pocket. It's sometimes easier to just put a $ figure on it, get the allowance, do it yourself, versus waiting on a busy builder's schedule.

Right, just be sure you get your OWN quote and don't count on the builder to give you an "estimate" of what he claims it will cost to fix it.

[nsumner]

I hope that the OP has closed on their home by now. May be they can post back with an update on how it went.

Naima