Warranties in new homes v/s old homes (Dallas, Frisco: appointed, apartment)

[jacob]

1. How beneficial are warranties in new homes ? Is it worth buying a new home simply for foundation/roofing warranties ?

2. Are there lot of cases where foundation problems happen ? Is it likely if the house is close to a lake ? eg. Northlake by Grand.

3. For a 5-7 year ownership, is it better to buy a new home ?
Or will buying a 5 year old home be more price efficient ?

4. What is the typical % price difference between old and new home ?

[socketz]

Also include that it is cheaper to insure a new home and that it is typically alot more energy efficient. For example, in Frisco all homes need to meet the current energy efficiency standards set forth by the city:

-Radian Barriers in the attic - standard in 07
-Seer 14 AC Units
-R38 Insulation, standard

They also have 'Green' standards that have to be met for drought tolerance...

Even the lowest cost home needs to be built with these features.

Because the Summers here are so brutal, you need to factor this in for sure.

I've seen a $400 difference (I talk to everyone about this) in energy bills between homes of comparable size. $400!

For example, as I sit in my apartment now, the bloody heat hasn't cut off for like 4 hours straight. That's because it is an apartment and I can feel cold air coming in from everywhere, so the heat just decides to stay on. I can't imagine what my bill will be this month.

[momof2dfw]

The new home warranties are pretty worthless in some cases. I've dealt personally w/ this issue. If the builder is hardpressed to fix problems that arise during construction they are not going to fix them after you have closed. Mistakes happen and we know it, it is how they are handled that makes the difference. What usually happens is this scenario:

1. You have been in your house 6 months and find a problem. Contact bulder to turn in for repair.

2. Builder sends people out to "fix" problem. Hopefully it is something that CAN be fixed and they send someone out that knows how and DOES IT. Now this could have happened a month AFTER you turned in the original report.

3. Fix is working well for awhile and about 6 months down the road it reappears. You have now been in your home a little over a year. You contact the builder.

4. If it falls into the 2 year warranty time frame you may be okay. If it was something that they only warranty for 1 year, tough luck unless they say they will fix it since it was just repaired less than a year ago.

5. A few weeks pass and the same "repair" person comes out and "fixes" said problem again.

6. You may get lucky and this time the repair holds for a year. BAM, your past the 2 year mark. Sorry. Now you could still get lucky and the builder will come out and "fix" the problem again but chances are they will not. The construction manager you had is no longer in your area so the new guy is a stickler for what he has been told and will not "fix" anything.

You noticed I put " " around the word "fix". If the problem that happend was something serious and would cost the builder some serious money to really "fix" the contractors know it and they will only patch the problem. Sometimes these patches may work and other times they were just a band aid for a broken bone. The builders will give you tons of paperwork to fill out and file in order to get some warranty work taken care of. This is for severeal reasons. One they can keep up themselves w/ some problems and the second is it takes TIME. It takes time for you to fill it out, send it in, they receive it, contact you and confirm, they call a repair person, repair person calls you to schedule time. All of this can take weeks. Every week used up and nothing done is good for the builder.

Yes, we have a state appointed board to oversee problems that arise w/ homebuilders. It is "APPOINTED". Guess who sits on this board? HOMEBUILDERS! I believe it was the Dallas Morning News that recently did a story on this (I was already aware of it) and told how many people that have serious problems that go before this board and they are ALL turned down. What, another homebuilder side against a fellow homebuilder. Never gonna happen. Yet you can buy a car and if it is a lemon you have rights and can return it. Buy a house and what is usually your most expensive investment/purchase made and you have no rights at all.

[lifertexan]

The solution to new home problems is to buy from a reputable builder that doesn't have a history of warranty problems,or conversely, has a history of satisfied homeowners.I am in the construction business and work in new home construction occasionally (mostly commercial),and the main reason for problems is shoddy work.There are occasionally problems with things like windows or condenser units that are manufacturer issues,but to have problems in the foundation,structure or other field built items is more indicative of a poor quality contractor hiring the cheapest subs he can find in each trade.In that case,the buyer gets what he pays for,and is these guys fair game,and in fact keeps these guys in business.

On a related issue,be sure and get labor warranties to cover the length of the manufacturer's warranty.For example,while most A/C units are warrantied for 5 years,many contractors only give a 1 year labor warranty,so you can end up after 3 years paying hundreds of dollars to have your "warrantied" unit fixed,since the manufacturer's warranty doesn't cover labor,just parts.

[GoPadge]

I would also recommend a "Home Warranty" from a third party. Be careful, because the industry had it's own issues, but a home warranty can be a good safety net. I always buy one when I purchase a home, and I recommend/offer one when I sell a home. (Yes even my 106 year old home was covered, and we had two calls for the AC, one of which included us getting a new compressor, and a plumbing leak.)

I've used and had good experience with First American Home Warrranty. Their website is http://homewarranty.firstam.com/ and a sample contract can be viewed at http://homewarranty.firstam.com/RWhatiscovered.aspx just enter you zip. Your realtor can offer you a list of other companies.

[John Baker]

Warranties for homes are tricky and sometimes they are worth it and sometimes not. I would mostly agree with Go, especially she is from the town Lance is from The is a great story about it at the link below.

http://jlacklen27.wordpress.com/