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You should be an inspector. Your house probably has numerous anomalies in the roof and gutter systems, as most do, unless you tell me that you were up on the roof too.
I don't think you know how to use a house inspector. You understand, don't you, that the builder is happy with what he built. He is not going to tear off shingles or add vents or anything else unless someone says he has to.
And, I would bet any amount of money that your builder might have a framing or excavation crew or both but that the bulk of the trades are done by subs not in his employ and many will vary from house to house.
Your reliance on reputation research is misplaced.
I'd also bet that no one was on site to see the concrete basement floor thickness either. Once the city or county inspector approves the foundation and the footers, anything goes. Where you there for that? I've seen them an inch and a half thick instead of 4, 5 or 7.
You should be an inspector. Your house probably has numerous anomalies in the roof and gutter systems, as most do, unless you tell me that you were up on the roof too.
I don't think you know how to use a house inspector. You understand, don't you, that the builder is happy with what he built. He is not going to tear off shingles or add vents or anything else unless someone says he has to.
And, I would bet any amount of money that your builder might have a framing or excavation crew or both but that the bulk of the trades are done by subs not in his employ and many will vary from house to house.
Your reliance on reputation research is misplaced.
I'd also bet that no one was on site to see the concrete basement floor thickness either. Once the city or county inspector approves the foundation and the footers, anything goes. Where you there for that? I've seen them an inch and a half thick instead of 4, 5 or 7.
Amazing how much you think you know. ALL houses have anomalies. There's absolutely no such thing as a perfect house. I've owned several of various ages. They each had their own quirks. If you want perfect, you should build yourself a Lego house.
Yes, I do know how to use a home inspector. I also know they all don't offer the same services and things vary by state and locale. You seem not to care about that though.
I know the builder is happy with what was built. I know the work was done by subs. I was on site every single day for hours.
I spent 6 hours watching the concrete be poured for the foundation. They measured it several times through out the pour. The builder was on site near the end of the pour. The foundation was over 12 inches thick.....no idea where you are getting your numbers from.
Since Hurricane Irma, the builder has been rushing thro' homes to complete and there is concern about the quality being affected and hence, we want to hire a home inspector a week before closing.
If we need to close on 12/29, we need to hire inspector to perform inspection the week before(12/22) which means the home has to be ready few days before 12/22 say 12/20 and 12/20 is only 2 weeks out from today. Right now, I would say home is about 80% done and maybe with more bodies, you can get it done in 2 weeks.
Penalty is $500 per day and for 9-day delay we are looking at $4500 penalty. Again, if it's per business day, penalty will be lower. Contract simply says per day. Am assuming they can't close on holidays and weekends.
It will cost us 20K to change our travel plan as it's non-refundable. We booked this vacation in April so we got a good deal.
Paying 4500 is no-brainer considering we would be out 20K.
Do we have any leeway in negotiating a middle ground? We can fly back but will incur cost.
I don't know what incentives the builder has, to close on 12/29 - would it be more than 20K on a 500K home?
Did you miss the suggestions about signing closing paperwork before you leave and allow closing to occur on the schedule day without you being there in person. It's very common these days to sign paperwork ahead of time.
I don't know why you are so worried about a punch list/inspection before closing. It's not like the builder's going to wash their hands of legit items that need to be tweaked.
Amazing how much you think you know. ALL houses have anomalies. There's absolutely no such thing as a perfect house. I've owned several of various ages. They each had their own quirks. If you want perfect, you should build yourself a Lego house.
Yes, I do know how to use a home inspector. I also know they all don't offer the same services and things vary by state and locale. You seem not to care about that though.
I know the builder is happy with what was built. I know the work was done by subs. I was on site every single day for hours.
I spent 6 hours watching the concrete be poured for the foundation. They measured it several times through out the pour. The builder was on site near the end of the pour. The foundation was over 12 inches thick.....no idea where you are getting your numbers from.
Our home was finished and closed on December 29th 2016. We received our property tax assessment this year and the Homestead credit Reduces our taxable value by $50,000.
That's a big deal. You will already be paying the prorated taxes in your closing costs for taxes paid in 2016. Ours was pretty minimal since taxes on an unimproved lot is only in the hundreds.
If you don't close this year, you will not get the credit until the following year, after you apply next year. Remember, you do have to apply by a certain date but because/if you closed in 2017, you qualify.
Tax bills are done differently by each county. Just because it was done that way in your county doesn’t mean it will be done that way in the OP’s county (Hillsborough or wherever she is). In my county, the bills were paid by November and you had to be in the home by January 15 to get the exemption. So if she lived where I lived, she could close by January 15 and still get the exemption for the next year’s bills paid in November. If she closes after January 15, she would not get the exemption until the year AFTER next... that is how slow it is. I bought in April, so it took me almost two years to get the exemption. If she already has the home, she can transfer the exemption, but obviously then it would be for whatever full calendar year she was there.
A new buyer can never get a loan with an executory written contract out there. No title company will approve it. The builder has exactly ZERO power.
All new home contracts have outs for the builders, if they really want out, we have a clause about behavior. Now we would give the earnest money back, but I guarantee we could cancel contract if we wanted to. Just saying.
A bit off topic, but this is the way most slab on grade foundations are built. It’s not all as thick as the edges or places in the middle where load bearing walls go.
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