As a first time buyer we had the seller buy a year home warranty. It was a waste of money. We gave up after trying to have them rekey the locks. They made claims difficult for us. I can’t recommend them at all at least for pre owned homes.
I think a lot of people would agree with that. It’s more like catastrophic insurance. For example, recently one of our rentals had the ac motor literally burn up - filled the house with smoke. That cost us $450 but would have been a $100 deductible with a home warranty. So much of the time, though, you think it’s covered and it’s not.
@WendyPannell If you consider a pre-owned home, how do these factors like inspections work in this scenario? Can inspections be done with pre-owned? If so, is it easier to do with pre-owned? Also how has Highland Homes been for allowing inspections etc? Thanks!
@@WendyPannell What if a family member was a home inspector and came with you, like a Dad? Point out to much wrong and then they get suspicious of YOUR knowledge. "How'd you know that?"
@@DreamVicarious I think that's an excellent strategy! I recently had a buyer who was very well educated, had watched many videos about what to look for in a home and the sales consultant was speechless as to how educated they were. Bringing along a family member inspector is an outstanding idea.
@@ExtremlyFit There are tons of builders in DFW. Finding one that will allow an inspector to accompany you on the blue tape may be hard, but not necessarily impossible. You can just make that one of your screening questions.
Priceless information - thank you! Based on this, if I’m buying a new-built home, I’ll insist at the time of signing that the agreement should include permission to be represented by my inspector, plus the items on the list as pointed out by the inspector should be fixed prior to closing even if the closing is delayed, and that there will be no penalty to me for late closing due to that delay. They agree to it, sign off on it, I get a copy of that document - or I walk away! I don’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars to blow on some flaky builder’s poor construction.
Thanks! I'm glad it was helpful! I've yet to know a builder who will agree to make changes to the boilerplate sections of their contracts but super small builders might.
you say many times "fight for it" - how do you fight? i can ask, they say no, i can ask again, they say no again, at that point i'm just being annoying. any thoughts?
This is such an excellent question and I've been mulling over it this morning. I think it will vary based on the situation and how reasonable the request is. For example, if I had a master bedroom that the inspector is telling me will be hotter than the rest of the house, that is something I personally would pursue but not everyone would. I would say let's explore solutions. I might make some phone calls to hvac professionals and say here are some possible solutions and they will only cost __ dollars. I might say can you call your manager. Can you call your regional manager? I might walk out of the final walk through and threaten to not close. I mentioned in the video this can be sticky - there can be late closing penalties you want to be mindful of. More can be accomplished over time than in one setting, persistent erosion as I like to call it. You'll usually have at least a week between the blue tape and closing that you (or preferably your Realtor if you have one) can be the annoying squeaky wheel whilst constantly posing possible solutions/alternatives when possible. I hope that helps!
I went under contract for a new home build (KB homes) and now the price is coming down after 4 months. Can I cancel the contract even if I am ready to lose the earnest money.
It depends on the verbiage in the contract. For example, the Toll Brothers contract contains verbiage about liquidating assets if needed in order to close. It all depends on the contract.
It's a bit more convoluted than that, though not completely. DR Horton and First Texas are among some builders saying no pre-pour and pre-drywall inspections. So they are not allowing those. I'm not familiar with any home builders that are completely forbidding the final inspection (when the home is complete), but many are making it very difficult. For example, the inspector is required to have 10x the amount of insurance than what the state requires, or must be a member of a nationally recognized trade organization, or the reporting guidelines are more stringent. What could make sense though is to say don't buy from a builder who has any inspection restrictions.
What's interesting is a lot of the sales consultants at the local level don't even know the restrictions are in the contracts and they don't enforce them. I'll point the clauses out and they'll be surprised. Still, others do enforce them and you have to know if it's in the contract it could be enforced.
As a first time buyer we had the seller buy a year home warranty. It was a waste of money. We gave up after trying to have them rekey the locks. They made claims difficult for us. I can’t recommend them at all at least for pre owned homes.
I think a lot of people would agree with that. It’s more like catastrophic insurance. For example, recently one of our rentals had the ac motor literally burn up - filled the house with smoke. That cost us $450 but would have been a $100 deductible with a home warranty. So much of the time, though, you think it’s covered and it’s not.
I never knew there was such thing as a Blue Tape Walk Through.
Thank you!!!
Anytime! I hope it was helpful!
New builders who reject inspectors, is a red flag on build quality
So many inspection restrictions! It doesn’t make sense to me.
@WendyPannell If you consider a pre-owned home, how do these factors like inspections work in this scenario? Can inspections be done with pre-owned? If so, is it easier to do with pre-owned?
Also how has Highland Homes been for allowing inspections etc?
Thanks!
Hire an inspector, pay them well, and have them do the "blue tape" walk through.
That would be your best plan except most home builders will absolutely NOT allow it. It reads that way right in the contract.
@@WendyPannell What if a family member was a home inspector and came with you, like a Dad? Point out to much wrong and then they get suspicious of YOUR knowledge. "How'd you know that?"
@@WendyPannell Then find another builder.
@@DreamVicarious I think that's an excellent strategy! I recently had a buyer who was very well educated, had watched many videos about what to look for in a home and the sales consultant was speechless as to how educated they were. Bringing along a family member inspector is an outstanding idea.
@@ExtremlyFit There are tons of builders in DFW. Finding one that will allow an inspector to accompany you on the blue tape may be hard, but not necessarily impossible. You can just make that one of your screening questions.
Priceless information - thank you! Based on this, if I’m buying a new-built home, I’ll insist at the time of signing that the agreement should include permission to be represented by my inspector, plus the items on the list as pointed out by the inspector should be fixed prior to closing even if the closing is delayed, and that there will be no penalty to me for late closing due to that delay. They agree to it, sign off on it, I get a copy of that document - or I walk away! I don’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars to blow on some flaky builder’s poor construction.
Thanks! I'm glad it was helpful! I've yet to know a builder who will agree to make changes to the boilerplate sections of their contracts but super small builders might.
One would think/hope the buyers realtor would have a check list for the buyer at the ready as a guidance.
Indeed. We’ve posted ours in the description section.
you say many times "fight for it" - how do you fight? i can ask, they say no, i can ask again, they say no again, at that point i'm just being annoying. any thoughts?
This is such an excellent question and I've been mulling over it this morning. I think it will vary based on the situation and how reasonable the request is. For example, if I had a master bedroom that the inspector is telling me will be hotter than the rest of the house, that is something I personally would pursue but not everyone would. I would say let's explore solutions. I might make some phone calls to hvac professionals and say here are some possible solutions and they will only cost __ dollars. I might say can you call your manager. Can you call your regional manager? I might walk out of the final walk through and threaten to not close. I mentioned in the video this can be sticky - there can be late closing penalties you want to be mindful of. More can be accomplished over time than in one setting, persistent erosion as I like to call it. You'll usually have at least a week between the blue tape and closing that you (or preferably your Realtor if you have one) can be the annoying squeaky wheel whilst constantly posing possible solutions/alternatives when possible. I hope that helps!
I went under contract for a new home build (KB homes) and now the price is coming down after 4 months. Can I cancel the contract even if I am ready to lose the earnest money.
It depends on the verbiage in the contract. For example, the Toll Brothers contract contains verbiage about liquidating assets if needed in order to close. It all depends on the contract.
This isn’t hard. Don’t buy from a builder that doesn’t allow for an inspection by a third party.
It's a bit more convoluted than that, though not completely. DR Horton and First Texas are among some builders saying no pre-pour and pre-drywall inspections. So they are not allowing those. I'm not familiar with any home builders that are completely forbidding the final inspection (when the home is complete), but many are making it very difficult. For example, the inspector is required to have 10x the amount of insurance than what the state requires, or must be a member of a nationally recognized trade organization, or the reporting guidelines are more stringent. What could make sense though is to say don't buy from a builder who has any inspection restrictions.
This home contract should not be legal to do to home owners. Profit over people!
So much truth to this!
This should be absolutely illegal...... How is this allowed.....lobbyist? .totally ridiculous. Blame the people who run the state down in Austin.
What's interesting is a lot of the sales consultants at the local level don't even know the restrictions are in the contracts and they don't enforce them. I'll point the clauses out and they'll be surprised. Still, others do enforce them and you have to know if it's in the contract it could be enforced.