Buying New Home From a Builder!

You can often save a significant amount of money if you purchase a home directly from a builder. Some builders don't even require that you use a REALTOR, which is fine, that's money that you keep in your pocket. But do not, DO NOT buy any home, ever, without having it inspected by a competent home inspector, hired and paid for by you.

Let me explain. Most builders are great. Lord knows that we need more housing in the Permian Basin and we have begged them to come here. It is a business for them and they must turn out the houses rapidly. They work with any number of contractors and subcontractors in building a house, which is very complex, with many complex systems and parts, and everything is moving fast. At the end, they have a house. It looks great on the surface, or it wouldn't sell. But unless you are very familiar with the compex systems, it isn't a good idea for you to buy it just based on the surface appearance.

Otherwise you can be in for a great deal of pain.

Recently I was helping some nice people who made an offer on a very nice, fairly new home. When we had the home inspected there were several "issues" that had to be addressed before the home could be sold to anyone. The furnace and water heater had some difficulties that were necessary but not expensive. But there were problems with the roof that were expensive to correct.

Now the sellers had moved away, bought another home, and was ready to be done with the "old house". Then inspector turned up these problems. You know the sellers were dismayed. Imagine having to come out of pocket for all of those unexpected expenses when you had bought a "new" home?

I say this for your sake. Buy from anyone you want. Just be sure that the home is sound in all respects prior to purchasing. Even when every party has the best intentions, human beings can overlook things. The original buyers did not imagine such a thing could happen. They did not know what to look for, as most of the "civilian" population doesn't. Have a professional come out and check your house. It could save your pocketbook or your life.