While the nation is essentially still recovering its real estate market, here in Texas we are facing a different type of real estate problem. With so many businesses and families moving to our area, the north-of-Houston towns of Spring, The Woods, and the Conroe/Lake Conroe areas, our real estate woes are about a lack of homes. For my clients who aren't finding a good choice of homes available, many are considering the obvious choice of building. A family happy to build has lots more freedom with where they want to have their home. It's a good chance to design your dream house...in a perfect location. Prefer a home built by Lake Conroe? Interested in living on acreage that allows for one or two horses? These options are very available to a family if building is a consideration.
Finding a trusty builder of course becomes the issue. But this, too, is an issue that melts away if certain smart steps are taken. Here are the top 5 home building tips that I suggest:
1. Find Your Lot or Acreage
With your real estate consultant, look at available home sites. One of the advantages to building is that you have so very much more liberty in selecting your general location. With a real estate agent you can easily whittle down to a catalogue of home sites that fit your needs: work commute distance, area services, neighborhood features, deed limitations.
2. Start Off With an Authorized List of Reputable Builders
You can definitely investigate the best home builders through researching the Attorney General's website, or check the BBB and Angie's List for reviews. There is, however, a fast way to detour that headache. When you build or buy a house, it is a mortgage bank that really owns the house till it is paid off, so you can be sure the mortgage bank can provide you with a great list of dependable home builders. Talk to a loan officer who focuses on new construction loans. Attempt to get around five builders to interview. Stick to that list.
3. Interview
Take a little bit of time to reasonably interview your list of builders. Remember, you'll be interfacing with these people continually across the time it takes to build your home. Find the builder with whom you've a good rapport, with whom you are feeling comfortable asking the difficult questions, and with whom you're feeling you can easily communicate thoughts and concepts, and that each accurately, and solidly, understands the other. Also be sure to evaluate the following:
- Will this builder's approach to the home building process be a technique you believe will help you stay on time and on budget?
- Is this home builder's base of operation a satisfactory distance to the site for your home? The closer, the better.
- Tour other homes built by this builder.
Once you have found your favorite two or three from the list, take the time to re-interview to make certain you settle on the best fit for you.
4. Have a Real Estate Agent Review the Contract
A great and under-utilized function of a real estate agent is to review home building contracts before signing. A property agent can identify or discover oversights, find further possibilities for saving money, and could be a final and sure defense to make sure that the home you are about to build is completely the home you have in mind.
5. Get Your Own Inspector
It is an extra investment of about $300, nonetheless it is worth every penny to have your own independent inspector go through your home at the final stages of the building process. At worst, you have spent three or four hundred on yet another set of eyes to make certain that everything is as it ought to be. At the very best your independent inspector might expose a major issue that must be addressed to make your home defect-free.
There have been some great Hollywood movies that have humorously depicted the personal hell that may be the home building process, and shows like "Holmes on Homes" ® are an advisory reminder that the home building industry is loaded with disreputable builders. Yet with a little planning, and by following these tips on home builder selection and management, by being armed with a property agent, the direction of a mortgage officer, and the help of an independent inspector, you'll be able to find that to design your dream house and build it is no nightmare at all, but a dream-come-true.
Finding a trusty builder of course becomes the issue. But this, too, is an issue that melts away if certain smart steps are taken. Here are the top 5 home building tips that I suggest:
1. Find Your Lot or Acreage
With your real estate consultant, look at available home sites. One of the advantages to building is that you have so very much more liberty in selecting your general location. With a real estate agent you can easily whittle down to a catalogue of home sites that fit your needs: work commute distance, area services, neighborhood features, deed limitations.
2. Start Off With an Authorized List of Reputable Builders
You can definitely investigate the best home builders through researching the Attorney General's website, or check the BBB and Angie's List for reviews. There is, however, a fast way to detour that headache. When you build or buy a house, it is a mortgage bank that really owns the house till it is paid off, so you can be sure the mortgage bank can provide you with a great list of dependable home builders. Talk to a loan officer who focuses on new construction loans. Attempt to get around five builders to interview. Stick to that list.
3. Interview
Take a little bit of time to reasonably interview your list of builders. Remember, you'll be interfacing with these people continually across the time it takes to build your home. Find the builder with whom you've a good rapport, with whom you are feeling comfortable asking the difficult questions, and with whom you're feeling you can easily communicate thoughts and concepts, and that each accurately, and solidly, understands the other. Also be sure to evaluate the following:
- Will this builder's approach to the home building process be a technique you believe will help you stay on time and on budget?
- Is this home builder's base of operation a satisfactory distance to the site for your home? The closer, the better.
- Tour other homes built by this builder.
Once you have found your favorite two or three from the list, take the time to re-interview to make certain you settle on the best fit for you.
4. Have a Real Estate Agent Review the Contract
A great and under-utilized function of a real estate agent is to review home building contracts before signing. A property agent can identify or discover oversights, find further possibilities for saving money, and could be a final and sure defense to make sure that the home you are about to build is completely the home you have in mind.
5. Get Your Own Inspector
It is an extra investment of about $300, nonetheless it is worth every penny to have your own independent inspector go through your home at the final stages of the building process. At worst, you have spent three or four hundred on yet another set of eyes to make certain that everything is as it ought to be. At the very best your independent inspector might expose a major issue that must be addressed to make your home defect-free.
There have been some great Hollywood movies that have humorously depicted the personal hell that may be the home building process, and shows like "Holmes on Homes" ® are an advisory reminder that the home building industry is loaded with disreputable builders. Yet with a little planning, and by following these tips on home builder selection and management, by being armed with a property agent, the direction of a mortgage officer, and the help of an independent inspector, you'll be able to find that to design your dream house and build it is no nightmare at all, but a dream-come-true.
About the Author:
Lauri Kent is a professional real estate broker and agent with Keller Williams of Lake Conroe, Texas. Conversant with the best home builders serving Lake Conroe, Montgomery, and Magnolia, TX, she offers these five home building tips to be certain the process of building your perfect home is a success.
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