We are in the market to buy our first home and it is a bit overwhelming! I am curious to see what people have to say...
We are considering a new construction town house being built by Lennar (north Broward county FL). They are offering lots of incentives to make it in our price range. A google search has returned a large amount of conflicting info from if we should use a realtor to being difficult about repairs under the warranty...I wanted to know if any of you had any experiences on buying new construction.
Our other thought is, would it be wiser to buy an older town home or single family home that is in a similar (or less) price range? Would it be a better investment?
Well, thanks for any input you all might have!
If you want Broward County, then don't think about other locations.
I've bought three 'new constructions,' and one resale. In my mind, no comparison -- the new construction takes it, for a number of reasons:
- You're there for the construction. You can drive the GC /builder nuts *every* day, by making them get every detail right (once it's built, and you sign the papers, and they complete the punch list, you're on your own - you can get it right before that happens). Be a nag... You'll be the one living IN the result for a long time. It took the first two homes I had built to learn to stop being a nice guy.
- You can pick out your lot, and have some say on how the house is situated.
- You can specify extras (outdoor spigots, lighting, etc.). I've always specified I wanted a 4" open end poly-pipe run through a 'dead space,' usually the same space they run exhaust vents, from attic to basement, accessible on both ends. Allowed me to run wiring after the fact, if I wanted to add anything. My current house has structured wiring run to every room, with dual coax, dual cat5, and even dark fiber -- all terminating at a structured wiring box, which allows me to control everything electronic in every room from one point.
- You get to pick out all the aesthetics, and infrastructure up front (flooring, paint, Tyvek house wrap, wiring infrastructure, central vac, lighting, small structural changes, etc.). Most things you can't do with a resale.
- You can visit on a storming day before closing, and go through the attic with a fine-tooth flashlight, and have someone fix any leaks you find (in Atlanta, with the use of toe-boards by roofers, all new homes have 'em), or any leaky windows, or doors. Put it all on the punch list.
- You get a structural (foundation) warranty with the new house (phased out over time).
- If you do it right, and you do your due diligence with your punch list, you won't have to "get the kinks" out -- there won't be any.
- You can take a zillion pictures of all the walls, floors, and ceilings BEFORE the sheetrock goes up, so you have a visual reference of all the pipes and wiring in the walls, in the event there's an issue).
- You're not dealing with someone else's abuse of the house (the one resale I bought, I found towels stuffed into a wall to catch a leak, rather than replacing a $2.50 compression fitting, termites behind a finished wall, as well as other ridiculous nonsense).
Good luck!
