Lisa Johnson's House and Home - Articles on Home, Family, and Living

Lisa Johnson on Buying a New Home or House

Chapter 12: Looking Back on it all

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October 1, 2003

Looking back on the whole experience, the decision to buy a new construction home, and choosing which development to buy in, we're actually happier than ever.

We probably could have been just as happy buying a resale home, but the experience of all this is something that we wouldn't give back.  It was a lot of fun picking out all the customization options and visiting the construction site each week to see the progress.

It's kinda amusing visiting our neighbors and seeing the same house as ours, same floor plan, same appliances, same amenities, but with different decorations.  

All of our neighbors seem very friendly.  About four to five of the neighbors closest to us we know very well. Everyone in the neighborhood is new to the neighborhood, and I think that contributes to why everyone is eager to meet each other and be friendly.

We've since put in a swimming pool and patio cover, and painted some rooms.  We bought a pool table and a big-screen television, and enjoy entertaining friends.

The warrantee on the house covers one year.  There are other parts of the house that actually run longer, such as the roof tile, the air conditioning system, the water heater, etc.  Before the warrantee expires it's probably a good idea to hire a home inspector to find all the problem areas and report them to the builder to get them fixed under the warrantee.

Several months after moving in, we had problems with leaky pipes in the master bathroom.  The first time, we called the plumbing contractor that installed the plumbing, and they came out and fixed it at no cost.  Later on, about a month after warrantee expired, another leak was discovered.  We dreaded it because it came after the warrantee, and figured we'd have to pay for the repairs.  But we submitted a customer service form anyways, and the builder came out and fixed it for us at no cost.

One thing about getting leaks fixed.  Make sure to demand a letter in writing that the leak did not cause any mold to grow, or that any mold has been completely cleaned out.  You will need this letter in the future when it comes time to sell your home.

Will we buy another new construction home?  Probably, but we've talking about maybe buying a few acres of land somewhere and hiring our own contractor to build a home just for us.  That would be even more fun!

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Suggested Links

·  Tips on Buying a Home

·  HUD Homebuying Guide

·  Homebuying Consumer Info Center

·  Real Estate ABC

·  Home Buying Guide.com