A Few Tips for Buying a New Construction Home

What happens during the new construction process? Today, we have a few tips and tricks to help you buy a new home.

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Buying a new construction home is a little different than buying a resale home. You need to think it through before you get started. Today, I have a few tips and tricks to help you through this process.

First of all, you need a real estate agent that is going to represent you. When you visit a new construction site, the folks that are there are very helpful and informative. However, they represent the builder’s best interests, not yours. We want to look out for your best interests. You need an agent working specifically for you.

When you do buy a new construction home, the builder probably won’t give you much of a concession on the price. You will probably have to pay full price. However, there are other opportunities for concessions. The builder may pay some closing costs or include some appliances and upgrades.

It is important to keep home values the same in those neighborhoods, which is why you won’t get much wiggle room on the price of the home. However, your real estate agent can help you find other opportunities for concessions.

You will probably need to use a builder sales contract form. Don’t be thrown by that. Unfortunately, those are written for the builder’s advantage. Builders do not use the standard form that we agents use.

You should make sure that you ask about the builder's warranty. How long does it last? What does it cover? Make sure you get that information in writing.

Make sure that you keep track of any changes in writing.

If you are visiting a model home, keep in mind that what’s in the model home may not be in your own. Find out which items are different from the model home and get that information in writing as well.

You should also keep a written list of all of the changes and change orders along the way. You will be asked to pay for those, so you’ll want to know exactly what the cost was and when the work got done. Keep those change orders together.

Finally, make sure that you get your own independent home inspection on the property. Since it's new, you may think that you don’t need an inspection. However, people aren’t perfect, and sometimes things don’t get completed correctly. It’s always good to have a fresh set of eyes and get your own home inspection.

We have even more tips to help you buy a new construction home. If you would like the full list, just give us a call or send us an email. We can definitely send that to you. Be sure to reach out with any questions you might have, as well. We would be happy to help.