New Construction Rant

It's time to talk about buying new construction.  A large number of home buyers like new construction.  And, what's not to like?  Once you walk into one of those beautiful models, decorated impeccably nothing else ever looks quite as good!

But from my perspective it's never good news when a buyer says they want to buy new construction. My clients who buy new construction are most likely to end up unhappy with the transaction.  And since the vast majority of my business comes from referrals from satisfied clients that's very bad news for me.  Even worse from my perspective I'm less able to control almost any aspect of the transaction in new construction. That starts with a contract written by the builder to protect the builder's interest. That contract is different than the standard regional contract used in this area.

Many builders are very good at over promising and under delivering. My only way of controlling this is working to properly set my clients' expectations.  That means telling them to not take as gospel truth dates the builder gives them on when they will move into their new home. In the typical new construction purchase I deliver an awful lot of bad news! While it's part of my responsibilities to my client, like every other normal human being, I hate delivering bad news!

Buyers of new construction are buying it because it's new and they have the expectation of perfection when they walk into their newly completed home.  That's pretty much never the case. Let's face it, builders and the people who work for them are all human beings and fallible and I've never seen a completely perfect home from any builder. Some builders are very good at taking care of whatever problems arise.  But an astonishing number of them are not. Again, I've now got an unhappy client and very little control over satisfying them.

Part of my reluctance to sell new construction is no doubt due to the fact that I'm a control freak.  I know that repeat business and referrals depends on the quality of the experience of each and every client. In every transaction there are things I can't control.  But I work hard to minimize that and to implement quality control of everything else!

So, I'd be happy to help you buy your next home, even if it's new construction!  But, don't say you haven't been warned about the potential for a bumpy ride!