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Four Guidelines for Buying a Home from a New Home Developer at the End of the Year
Every new home builder is motivated by complex forces ranging from the state of the real estate market to economic forces to pressure from investors. Most home builders will have set goals or made predictions of the number of homes that will be sold in a given year. The pressure to meet or exceed these goals is intense, especially if the home builder company is publicly traded.
When a year is coming to an end, the home builder must take every imaginable step to meet their yearly sales targets. Every empty home in a residential community or residential development represents somebody’s reputation – or even their job. As the months become days before a year ends, those whose job depends finding new home buyers for an open single family home for sale will take every imaginable effort to find a new home buyer.
For those that want to purchase a house, the climate creates both risks and opportunities. People considering a new house purchase from a residential home builder are faced with unique opportunities to seize and detrimental sales ploys to avoid.
When Fall approaches the turn to Winter, a new home builder will offer discounts, freebies, loan reductions and other incentives. As each free amenity is presented, you must discern if the intention of the new home builder is simply to sell a new home or to get rid of problematic inventory.
The following four guidelines should be followed if a new house purchase is being considered at the end of the year.
Due Diligence
In today’s real estate market, as the year comes to a close, selling prices of everything from single family homes for sale to luxury homes for sale to condos to new homes for first time homebuyers will be discounted. These discounts will likely only be finalized if the new house purchase is completed before the end of the year.
Everybody likes a bargain. It is likely that because it is a buyer’s market, an open home in a new home development is open simply because there are more available houses. But you will want to do your due diligence. Find out how many people considered purchasing the house. Did they choose a new home from the same home builder or did they look elsewhere? Why didn’t they choose the home you are considering? Be creative in your search for answers to these questions. For example, find out if there are other homes of the same model you are considering and ask these owners of similar homes about their experience and evaluate if the deal is as good as it seems. If the home builder can stand by their product, they may even offer to put you in touch with other happy homeowners. Also, if possible, find a home inspector independent of the one recommended by the new home builder.
Home Builder Reputation
When the sales office offers free carpeting or luxurious draperies, you are probably just enjoying fortunate timing but perhaps those new drapes are hiding poor construction. Look into the home builder’s reputation. How long have they been on the market? What do existing home owners say about the home builder? If the home builder has been around awhile, if they have a website demonstrative of quality and professionalism, if they encourage you to contact current home owners (or try to change the subject), these are all factors that indicate the reliability of the home builder. Transparency, longevity and steps taken to ensure trust, these factors all should demonstrate you are working with a trustworthy homebuilder.
Quality of Construction
As you consider if the free television offered is big enough, consider the quality of the electrical system that gives the TV its juice. Consider the walls, the floors and ceilings, the plumbing. Each home builder will work with one or more vendors to supply the materials with which each home is built. Research the vendors – are they of quality or shoddy. If a home builder is using inferior products, the result will be an inferior home.
Customer Service
Chances are, the home builder office contacted you via phone or email soon after you first expressed interest in buying a new home in a residential development. Find out if that responsiveness continues after papers are processed. If you buy a home at the end of the year, remember that this is holiday time. If you need to speak with somebody, will they be available? And will you have the support you need when you move in? Be sure that you will have the customer service you need after the sales process is over. Keep in mind these questions can be answered with a little online research, by contacting existing home owners, and by evaluating the quality of customer service before you sign the dotted line.
These guideline and pieces of home buying information for people considering a new house purchase from a residential home builder should assist potential home buyers. Remember, the incentives offered by a new home builder are probably offered just to meet sales goals. But the possibility exists that the homes are open because there is something problematic about the homes. So do a little bit of research and these incentives are yours to enjoy.
* You may republish this article provided you retain the active hyperlinks below. Copyright 2006, Robert O’Shaughnessy.
* Written on behalf of New Home Builder Orleans Homes
About the Author: Robert O'Shaughnessy is the Online Marketing Manager for Graphic Language in San Francisco. Graphic Language provides results-driven online solutions to businesses, primarily in the home builder industry. Robert welcomes the opportunity to help Graphic Language build their reputation as a "one stop shop" for businesses seeking to develop and maintain a web presence.
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