New Home Buyer Tips

New home buyers, specially the first time home buyers.  Please look at not just the finished home you want to buy but others in different stages that your builder is in the process of building.  See from the start and the finish before you make up your mind that this is the home you have to have.  You need a check list like the one I will show you.  Yes, I am a home builder and yes I want you to look at and buy one of my homes but the difference in my homes and others start at the beginning and go throughout the building process.  You want a home that will increase in value because it has been built to stand and withstand weather and time.  You will find this in my homes.  Now for that check list.  Save this and take it with you when shopping for a new home.

• Start with the footings, are they deep enough, wide enough and do they include core filled blocks when they are over two blocks high?

• Next comes the slab, is it as level as the eye can tell, and is it at least 4"
  deep?

• The framing needs to be the next inspection, you should look for nice tight corners, headers, heavy beams and load bearing walls.  This is important to where you put your roof and your brick later.

• Insulation and the shell of the home, is it air tight, or too air tight, your
  home has to breathe but needs to be tight enough to keep your utility bills low.

• Siding, what quality and skill was used to put it on, it will be with your
  home for many many years, it should be no maintenance.

• Roof shingles, ask about the years, and company that makes them.  You will never want to replace a roof.

• Deck covered or not-- covering is the best for the sun and weather is hard on the wood and it would save you many years of maintenance.  An uncovered deck needs to be treated almost yearly, depending on the amount of shade it gets. Remember it is only wood.

• Now for the inside when the home is done.  Is it easy to clean, maintain and repair if necessary.  Your builder should be happy to give you a one year guarantee and there will be little things that first year, really the first few months.  But nothing major, and he should be willing to get to you soon if something should need repairs.

• Ask for a list of references, other people who have bought the builders homes.   Ask them how they feel about the home and the builder?   Have they had to call and keep calling to get simple things taken care of? Are the people happy in their homes, if they had to sell did they make or loose money on the house?  Your home is a big investment and should be making you money.  But keeping the home in good condition is like your car, you know it will be of more value if you take care of it.

• Thinking this way, remember, you look under the hood and kick a few tires
  before you buy that car.  Do the same with your home, but spend more time as the investment is larger.  Ask, look, talk to others-- know your builder!

• And last but not least, are you on septic or sewer?  Check your lines and make sure they are the ones for your home and the people that live in it.  In Bella Vista the Acc and the health dept. as well as the Waste water department make sure your home has adequate septic and sewer systems.  The builders are to do everything from code and that should be checked out through the papers you get when putting an offer on a home.  Just some advice that I think all of you would want to know. There are builders that are proud of their work and there are builders that just toss a house up and try to make a profit. Check and double check before buying -- its a lifetime investment, know your builder first!  Hope I have been of some help and We stand behind our homes from beginning to end.  You will love one of our new homes from the minute you drive up to the front door. It says "welcome home".