New Home Buying Tips
Before buying that brand new home you might want to consider a few things as part of the process. In the excitement of looking at a brite and shiny new home, sometimes one forgets to consider some of the following thoughts:
Check builders reputation - Ask your Realtor about the builders reputation, how long have they been building, and maybe some addresses on homes they recently built. Nothing wrong with making sure they have a good reputation and will stand behind their product. If you have any doubts, maybe call the local builders association and see what they say as well.
New Home Inspection - If you don’t know the reputation of the builder and especially if their only building a few homes in a community, look into getting an inspection. Even though the home will go through a full inspection from the permit process, and the builders themselves, Items can be missed. The builder I represent usually doesn’t mind having one, and looks at it as the final inspection to make sure he didn’t forget anything. It also saves him the hassle of having to fix something later. With that said, I usually only see about 1 inspection for every 4 brand new home I’ve sold in the past 15 years. It’s just something to think about and cheap insurance when your out spending $400,000 on a brand new home.
Builder Warranty - Most builders today will provide at least a one year warranty on the purchase of a new home. In the state of Washington it’s mandatory that all homes come with at least a one year warranty. Make sure you read the builders warranty and what it covers. Ask your Realtor lots of questions on this and how do you go about getting items done if problems do eventually arise.
Walk thru orientation - I’ve been working with a local builder for almost fourteen years and one added feature they provide is a 1-2 hour orientation with the new home buyers. The builder or one of his reps will go through the entire home and explain how the house works and answers a lot of questions at the time of the walk-thru. It’s a great way to create a nice bond between the builder of the home and the new home buyer.
They don’t call it a walk-thru inspection because that sounds so confrontational to begin with. Even though during the walk-thru orientation, there are occasional items that are addressed and then completed prior to closing of the home.
Change all the Utilities - within a few days of the closing date make sure you contact all the utility companies and make arrangements to have all the utilities changed into your name. Sometimes you can avoid costly deposits by doing this while the utilities are still in the builders name. The other reason you want to do this within a few day of closing, is to avoid having them turned off and then having to pay a fee to have a utility rep come out. The builder will usually be calling the utilities to take his name off that house on the expected closing date, so I would make these calls.
I’m fortunate to live in an area like Bellingham, WA where most of the builders in the Whatcom County area have pretty good reputations. It’s always good to make sure as a new home buyer to do your home work and due diligence before buying. When every thing falls in place though, there’s nothing like owning a brand new home.
Jerry Campbell - Muljat Group - Bellingham, WA 98225 - Bellingham Real Estate