Jack8602

So, the time has finally arrived - the wife and I are looking to buy our first house together.

We've both decided we want to get a new build home.

Has anyone on here bought a new build from a house builder company? is there anything tips/tricks wise recommended on negotiating, or anything i can try to negotiate on? any best practices etc.

Advice welcomed.

Steerpike

I think you need to provide more specifics. Are you buying a custom home, a tract home, semi-custom ...? Will you be choosing fixtures and finishes? Will you have any control over room layout? What kind of up-front financial commitment is required by the builder?

SanDiegogirl

Have bought 2 new build homes since moving to US.

One was from a guy who, with his architect partner built about 2 or 3 homes a year. The other from a build/design builder who builds about 20 homes a year.

With the first, we saw the home when it was completely finished and had then been marketed with a realtor, and for the second we bought the land from the builder and then worked with him from the ground up to to speak, choosing every nut, bolt and screw it appeared!

Both homes were completed to a high standard (we have found US builders to be much better than UK ones) and any problems we had upon moving in were dealt with promptly and efficiently.

With the second home we paid in installments as the building progressed.

You can negotiate on practically anything these days. It helps if you can get to see the home on a regular basis as it is being built. My hubby is a structural engineer and we would go practically every day to see how the construction was taking place. We also knew the building inspectors from the city. These can be a big help.

Owen778

My wife has had several houses built for her, and the latest was while we were engaged, so I was involved in most of the decisions while customising the house. We've also talked to quite a few of the builders in our neighbourhood since then, looking round their model homes.

I don't know much about financing and negotiating prices, but I can talk about customising. Unless you are building a fully custom home and working with an architect, the builder will be working with a set house plan. How much they can change that model varies by builder. Some will make very few changes, and in general the more you pay, the more choice you get, but it doesn't always work like that. Sometimes there will be restrictions on changes from the developer, who owns the neigbourhood, like imposing a maximum house square foot for a given lot size, but then different builders will be more or less strict about following these restrictions.

Here are some changes we considered, or actually did:
- added bonus room upstairs, extending into attic space over garage, at the back of the house (this was an option set out by the builder)
- extended house (family room and garage) backwards, I think by 10ft, but maybe less
- chose where to floor with tile, wood or carpet
- selected tiles, and had them tile a rectangular pattern in the master bath floor
- chose paint colours (particularly kids' bedrooms)
- chose sinks, kitchen granite and backsplash
- added extra windows in bedrooms
- added wall sockets
And I'm sure there were quite a few others. Some builders will also build outdoor kitchens with a fixed grill etc.

- extended back porch

Jack8602

Cookie cutter effort with option of customizing rooms, kitchens, finishes etc. We're happy with the standard room layout, the only real thing that'll be different is we'd add a fireplace in to the living room. $5k up front is what gets the ball rolling - I've got the option of financing in house with them for an incentive of $4500 off of closing costs, or i can finance elsewhere - just doing my research on it now. We're going back on Sunday for a 3rd look around and to confirm we're happy with everything, So if we decide all is good we'll then look at the mortgage options.

Yeah i like the idea of that, the new community isn't far from where we live right now, and has around 20 homes already being lived in, the others being built as more are purchased.

Yeah this is a builder with set house plans, but there's room for limited customization, e.g. turning the dining room into a study / 4th bedroom etc. - We're quite happy with the base layout, and just have a few modifications we'd make. Apparently having a deep single sink in the kitchen is a good thing lol. The extension you brought up is something i was looking at for the master bedroom, there's an option to extend it out by 40ft and put like a half circle on the end of the room, quite like that idea.

This will be both of ours first house, so the whole mortgage thing is quite daunting and trying to wrap my head around all the costs / fees / terms etc.

Jerseygirl

We bought a new house over 20 years ago. It was already framed but that was all. We had a few extra windows put in, a few different cabinets and an island in the kitchen, a ‘suite’ of a bedroom, sitting room and bathroom. The house was built near a long gone farmhouse but the swimming pool was still there. The builder said he would stand the cost of refurbishing the pool, including new heater, pump etc.

We didn’t have a realtor working for us...neither did he...so he did all the above extras FOC.

Steerpike

I've recently become friends with a realtor and separately a builder, so I get a lot of information about this stuff these days ... The builder builds custom homes; he buys individual ('infill') lots, and then designs a house for the lot. If a buyer comes along early in the process, he's willing to give the buyer input but he actually prefers not to do this, because he feels it is easier / faster (and ultimately more profitable) to build the house he wants to build rather than get bogged down in the 'emotional' and fickle desires of a buyer. He often tells stories of buyers who cannot decide (husband/wife pairs) on anything and drag out the process endlessly, causing delays in construction. Construction loans are expensive (10-15% rates currently around here) so you don't want to slow down too much. Around here, almost every lot is part of a larger 'master plan' and these impose design elements so you can't do 'anything you want''. One lot he was looking at, for example, required 'four sided architecture' ... meaning, the house had to look good from all four sides rather than just good from the front, or good from the front / rear (presumably because it was a large lot and could be seen from all four sides).

He also builds multiple tract homes at once on larger areas of land, when he's not working on individual lots. When building those homes, there are far fewer choices because the economies of scale dictate a common set of plans and a limited range of materials / choices.

Personally, I 'almost' bought a new build back in the 90s with my then g/f. We hated the process; every decision was a battle (as an example, we got to choose the flooring type, and could not agree on the choice; then, having finally narrowed it down from carpet/wood/tile/stone to a specific ceramic tile, we had to choose the grout color ... same battles ... . While we were waiting for the house to be built an existing home came on the market that we both loved, so we cancelled our order on the new home and bought the existing home! Choice is not always a good thing

ETA: Through my realtor friend, I've seen one horror-story where the builder was a complete crook; I cannot comprehend how he could possibly be in business ... there were so many mistakes made, mistakes that somehow got past inspections, etc ... the buyers have a $3m + custom home that is a complete mess. Shoddy workmanship, leaking gas lines, sloping floors, crooked doors ... they are suing the builder and it's getting really ugly.

Jerseygirl

I was blown away with the choice of tiles, cabinets, light fittings, outside brickwork, roofing shingles. In the UK we had previously bought 2 new houses. The builder gave us a choice of half a dozen tiles, kitchen cupboard doors etc....no light fittings...just a bulb. In the US we could choose anything as long as we were prepared to pay the difference in price. When the electrician asked me to let him have the light fittings I was gobsmacked...I hadn’t even begun to consider light fittings. Too much for this Brit to think about.

SanDiegogirl

Agreed..... the whole process of choosing EVERYTHING for your new home can be exhausting...... !! By the time they asked about the cabinet handles, I could not have cared if they had put pieces of string on the cabinets in order to open them

Steerpike

And once you choose the handles, you get to choose orientation - vertical or horizontal ... and placement relative to the corners ... (just had that fun with a remodeled kitchen!).

Tarkak9

Who is the builder?

.... do you still get the incentive if you switch lenders? (is there a provision to do so?) - is their loan scenario and closing costs just as competitive to that of what your lender would be able to do? Such Incentives are carrots afterall, and merely are credits - imaginary money; so don't be mesmerized by "$4,500" and ignore the details.

tom169

My generic tips:

• Keep the uniqueness to a minimum to retain resale value.
• Don't buy too much house that you can't afford now or to maintain - get handy with tools and take on work yourself to save a lot of money.
• You're not a permanent resident, right? Make sure the finance bank/credit union/whoever are happy with that. Mine were happy to see proof of an I-485 in progress.
• As you're new to the US and won't have a substantial credit history you may want to check out lenders that do "Manual underwriting". Churchill is one, also my local credit union were willing to do that for me.
• Go for a conventional loan, stay away from FHA, VA, etc.
• Remember what ever they install will probably be builder grade. Expect a crappy AC system, crappy water heater etc.

Personally I would be tempted to see what's on the market for homes that are 10-20 years old, although in that range you may be coming up on the sweet spot for stuff to go wrong (new roof, new AC, new heater etc). I hit the home run and got all 3.

Jerseygirl

Not a PR...good point. I wouldn’t consider buying a home until I got PR. As we know most visas are linked to the job and we have heard too many stories of people losing their job and then having to leave the US. A company take-over, redundancy, company failing to renew visa or renew on time...

Jack8602

Cheers for the tips all.

Yeah my i485 is still pending, original L1 visa is no longer in effect, just got my ead/ap renewal card last week. 14 months in, waiting on interview still, cant keep delaying the house buying if the local office timelines are anything to go by!

Rete

Your pending adjustment is the same as Tom169's ... based on marriage to a USC and not job related. So it should be easier to obtain a mortgage. Also with a USC spouse, you have their credit rating to help things along as well as your own as you were previously here on a L-1 which allowed you to start a credit rating in your name before you married.