Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The family and I are taking the plunge back into home ownership this fall. We have chosen to do new construction based on size of the home, amenities, & location. Does anyone have any advice, pitfalls to avoid, upgrades they wish they had done, or general comments on buying new? We have done a ton of research, including on this forum, as far as area & buying goes.
We have chosen to go with the SECU for a mortgage instead of the builder's lender (which threw him into a little temper tantrum I think)...anyone have a good experience with them or any advice?
This is our second time buying a home & we are well educated on the process but wish we had an agent to do a lot of the back & forth & answer questions we're not sure of during the buying process, because it's hard to know who to trust..the onsite agent? bank? Anyone else feel like this when they were buying new?
Thanks for anything & everything you can give me..good or bad I want it all!
My best advice is to buy in neighborhoods that are almost built out. When you buy into a new neighborhood that is developer controlled and still has 200, 400, 600... more houses to build, you may not be able to know in advance exactly what you're buying into. That can cause frustration.
We bought into a smaller development (about 150 homes) by M/I homes...really like their work and have been through 4 different floorplans & varieties of upgrades.
I think it will be fun & frustrating to have construction going on around us...they are about halfway done I think.
Make darn sure your contract allows for a Hold Back that is large enough to motivate the builder to finish the punch list. I've seen several times a custom-built house get 98% done, and then the builder walked as the weeks of tweaking just cost him more than the grand or two that was held back.
Make darn sure your contract allows for a Hold Back that is large enough to motivate the builder to finish the punch list. I've seen several times a custom-built house get 98% done, and then the builder walked as the weeks of tweaking just cost him more than the grand or two that was held back.
Excellent advice. Also, don't sign off on the form until everything is really done. I make that mistake in my first house. "Don't worry, this is just so we can get the paperwork filed" I was told. After I signed it, they never came back. Luckily, I have the skills to do all that work, but that is really what they wanted anyway.
Be on site almost daily during construction to make sure things are done right.
Look at doing structured wiring. It is much easier to run cables during construction than later.
Upgrades to consider:
-If tiling the bathrooms have them install heating strips underneath.
Ex. heating element: Suntouch Floor Warming | Electric Radiant Floor Heating Mats
-If you work a lot outdoors have a sink installed in the garage.
-If carpeting any area upgrade the carpet from builders grade to as much as you are comfortable with $$.
-Look at your window options. Investigate the 'better than' if it exists.
-Add extra hose bibs outside.
-Run natural gas to a stub under your deck or near where you'll be grilling.
-I assume that your siding, if not stone, is hardi plank? If not.consider that. Also consider PVC trim outside.
-Look at your roofing shingle type. It seems that all builders are now using 30 year shingles. If not...look into better shingles.
Some other things:
- any options that you change or add watch like a hawk during the construction. Work changes are easy to overlook.
-take a lot of pictures or vids during the framing stage. Should you decide to do something afterwards you'll have a record of wiring/plumbing/hvac runs.
Videotape the entire construction process. I did this and it has been very valuable to go back and be able to see where wires, pipes, etc. are running through the house.
The only big piece of advice: Buy a home that most of the homes and amenities are already built. A lot of new subdivisions are promising amenities that will never be built due to economic reasons and some that only have a couple of homes built so the developer has no choice but to bring in a very low cost builder...then you end up with a more expensive home in a neighborhood with low cost homes that bring your property value down....plus, you paid that price too for the amenities you thought your neighborhood would get, but never did!
We saw tons of new neighborhoods like this a couple of years ago when looking for a house. For example South Lakes in Fuquay Varina and Powell Place in Pittsboro. South Lakes was to be like Scotts Mill in Apex. A couple of streets had very nice beautiful homes and the amenties they promised seemed great. The economy hit, they still built the pool....but it is tiny for a neighborhood to be projected to be so big. They also had a lot of new construction go bankrupt and forclosures were everywhere (new construction). They brought in a builder that is building homes way below the cost of those two roads of very nice homes and now those nice homes look out of place and the values of those homes have gone way down. Just be careful. Powell Place in Pittsboro were promising things 10 years ago that are still not built!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
