Has anyone here had a new home built?

[Kelemvor]

The main thing I can tell you is that a higher percentages of problems are reported with companies that build dozens or more houses every year. The more houses a company builds, the more work they have to oursource to sub-contractors. And sub-contractors are never as easily controller or inspected as when one company does it all. I'd definitely get referrals from people in yoru area since builders are normally localized.

Then find one that only builds 10 or so houses every year since you will get much more personalized attention and most likely a much higher quality house. As for time, you could get a house in 3-6 months but the more they rush, the more corners get skipped and quality suffers. I'd say 6-9 months would be the minimum to expect.

Good luck.

 

[dirtboy]

Originally posted by: Fritzo

Originally posted by: dirtboy

Originally posted by: Fritzo
You're correct if you buy the land first.

Most people don't go that route. They hire a builder who builds on the land that has already been purchased by the builder and all you need is a downpayment and a meaningless prequal letter. If you go that route, you don't own the land. You don't own or have any rights to anything until the house closes escrow. Under those terms you cannot visit the property, because it is trespassing, unless you are with your agent who has received permission from the builder to visit on a specific date and time.

I've never heard of this style of building. Bank rules must be different where you're at then.

It's called tract house buying. You go to a builder, select a plan, they build, then you buy. It doesn't have anything to do with the bank, but the builder. They buy the land, get the workers, etc.

Yeah, that's not very common around here. The most common way here is you buy a plot, get a new home construction loan from the bank, and the contractor draws money from the loan as supplies are needed. This way you have a steadily rising house payment until completion, the house is insurable for it's appraised ammt (if it burns down, you get reimbursed for what the bank thinks it's worth, not for what you paid for it.) It seems like it would be very risky to do "tract housing" as you called it.
[/quote]

It's not risky at all; in fact it is less "risky" than what you have. I give builder a deposit, commonly around $5,000. I get pre-approved for a loan and then I wait. I make no payments and have no legal ties to the property. If it burns down, has things stolen, etc, not my problem. Once the house is complete and I have signed off on the final inspection, then and only then does my loan fund and the builder gets paid. Up until then, the builder has to finance the entire deal.

And if I change my mind... I lose the down payment, while you're stuck with a loan you're making payments on.

 

[ShowdOWN]

Originally posted by: dirtboy

Originally posted by: daveman
This sounds alot like a presale to me. As far as that goes you may be right about the legal aspects of it. But I think most builders dont care if you check it out daily. I wouldnt want to work with someone who did. The first house we bought was a presale and our builders didnt mind.

Actually they do care. I've had builders threaten to arrest me because they knew I was going to look at the property.

Here workers don't want to talk to the buyer because the buyer always wants to change things. The workers are supposed to do only the work that the contractor tells them to do. It has gotten so bad that when people show up to look, the workers go home for the day.

Do read your contracts, they are very specific about what you can and can't do. The builder does care and if you want to see your future residence, you have to get approval with them and go with your agent or a representative from their company. Granted people look at their future homes all the time, but legally, you're not supposed to set foot on the land.

wow thats crazy. i never had my builder threaten me with anything for going to check up on the progress of my house. in fact that urge me to do so just in case that i wasnt satisfied with something. i knew not to touch anything and get out of the way of things that werent sturdy yet.

 

[daveman]

Originally posted by: dirtboy

Originally posted by: daveman
This sounds alot like a presale to me. As far as that goes you may be right about the legal aspects of it. But I think most builders dont care if you check it out daily. I wouldnt want to work with someone who did. The first house we bought was a presale and our builders didnt mind.

Actually they do care. I've had builders threaten to arrest me because they knew I was going to look at the property.

Here workers don't want to talk to the buyer because the buyer always wants to change things. The workers are supposed to do only the work that the contractor tells them to do. It has gotten so bad that when people show up to look, the workers go home for the day.

Do read your contracts, they are very specific about what you can and can't do. The builder does care and if you want to see your future residence, you have to get approval with them and go with your agent or a representative from their company. Granted people look at their future homes all the time, but legally, you're not supposed to set foot on the land.

Sounds like some anal builders.

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: dirtboy

Originally posted by: Fritzo

Originally posted by: dirtboy

Originally posted by: Fritzo
You're correct if you buy the land first.

Most people don't go that route. They hire a builder who builds on the land that has already been purchased by the builder and all you need is a downpayment and a meaningless prequal letter. If you go that route, you don't own the land. You don't own or have any rights to anything until the house closes escrow. Under those terms you cannot visit the property, because it is trespassing, unless you are with your agent who has received permission from the builder to visit on a specific date and time.

I've never heard of this style of building. Bank rules must be different where you're at then.

It's called tract house buying. You go to a builder, select a plan, they build, then you buy. It doesn't have anything to do with the bank, but the builder. They buy the land, get the workers, etc.

Yeah, that's not very common around here. The most common way here is you buy a plot, get a new home construction loan from the bank, and the contractor draws money from the loan as supplies are needed. This way you have a steadily rising house payment until completion, the house is insurable for it's appraised ammt (if it burns down, you get reimbursed for what the bank thinks it's worth, not for what you paid for it.) It seems like it would be very risky to do "tract housing" as you called it.

It's not risky at all; in fact it is less "risky" than what you have. I give builder a deposit, commonly around $5,000. I get pre-approved for a loan and then I wait. I make no payments and have no legal ties to the property. If it burns down, has things stolen, etc, not my problem. Once the house is complete and I have signed off on the final inspection, then and only then does my loan fund and the builder gets paid. Up until then, the builder has to finance the entire deal.

And if I change my mind... I lose the down payment, while you're stuck with a loan you're making payments on.[/quote]

If mine burns down, weather damage, etc, I get more than what I paid for it from the insurance company You're not able to check on progress, verify construction materials, check to make sure your orders are correct, make adjustments. Don't think I would like that. Like I said, your style isn't very common around here.

 

[dirtboy]

Originally posted by: ShowdOWN
wow thats crazy. i never had my builder threaten me with anything for going to check up on the progress of my house. in fact that urge me to do so just in case that i wasnt satisfied with something. i knew not to touch anything and get out of the way of things that werent sturdy yet.

It used to be more like that until builders started saying that they wouldn't make any changes to the plan, period. Not even for a fee.

People then go out and harass the workers. The workers don't speak English, so they just leave when bothered. The builder then has to try to get the workers back, which isn't always easy.

Not to mention that theft of equipment and materials is at an all time high. If you're out there and things go missing, which they do frequently here, you will quickly become a suspect.

Now they tell people to stay away and in the development near mine, they have 24 hours live security. You can't visit your future home even if you wanted to, because you will get arrested for trespassing.

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: ShowdOWN

Originally posted by: dirtboy

Originally posted by: daveman
This sounds alot like a presale to me. As far as that goes you may be right about the legal aspects of it. But I think most builders dont care if you check it out daily. I wouldnt want to work with someone who did. The first house we bought was a presale and our builders didnt mind.

Actually they do care. I've had builders threaten to arrest me because they knew I was going to look at the property.

Here workers don't want to talk to the buyer because the buyer always wants to change things. The workers are supposed to do only the work that the contractor tells them to do. It has gotten so bad that when people show up to look, the workers go home for the day.

Do read your contracts, they are very specific about what you can and can't do. The builder does care and if you want to see your future residence, you have to get approval with them and go with your agent or a representative from their company. Granted people look at their future homes all the time, but legally, you're not supposed to set foot on the land.

wow thats crazy. i never had my builder threaten me with anything for going to check up on the progress of my house. in fact that urge me to do so just in case that i wasnt satisfied with something. i knew not to touch anything and get out of the way of things that werent sturdy yet.

Same here. In fact, I pointed out a duct that was going through the middle of the house and they had to make a 2x2' wall around it. I suggested if they put an elbow on the vent at the basement level, it would eliminate the need for the wall. They agreed and fixed it, and will now do that in the future houses. Sounds like your builders are overworked jerks.