So i was thinking about buying a new home in milton to live in for my self. The builders that i am dealing with could be anyone from mattamy, fieldgate, arista or greenpark homes.
I am sure some of you bought brand new houses also in your life. So help a brother out and give some pointers as to which builders are good ? can you negotiate prices with builders? What hidden finances can u expect when buying a brand new home?
Re: Buying a new home
I have done it twice, but not in Canada so know little about canadian market, builders, tactics etc. I can tell u stuff in general from my experience here, if you would like
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^ Can you share your experience in the US then, I am also planning on doing the same thing here in the US, any advice would be valued...
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spock, I will do so later today.
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Furqan,
I don't know anything about those builders as I am also located in US but I had a a general comment regarding single guys buying new homes.
First of all I think its great! I can't stress enough on investing the money you earn rather than saving it all or spending it like crazy because when you are single you have the best of savings. Real Estate is probably the safest investment and most desis are very comfortable with it. So definitely go for it!
Though I would suggest that you look into buying a house that will build your equity and credit rating. Newer houses are generally expensive and thus you end up paying a lot more in interest than building your equity. So if you can, buy an older cheaper house that you can sell after a few years, it will help you build your equity and thus down payment for a better house in a few years. This doesn't mean go buy a dump but just something to consider.
Buying an older house also means you have to learn to be a handy man and there is a lot that goes into maintaining a house. Its a skill that will help you all your life.
Last but not least, when you will get married you will find out that most women, especially desi women, want a new house and might consider your house old, just something to think about ;-)
Ok, I confess, I like older houses and wood floors.
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I would disagree with Ahmadjee. First you don't really pay that much off in a few years so its not really going to build that much equity. Second a new house would have much less problems, so unless you're good with fixing things, the expenses to get things resolved might be there. As for wood floors, who doesn't like some!
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Tufibaba, for the first time home buyers who often don't have the 20% down to get out of PMI payments it does make a difference. For example if an older house of same square footage is $100,000 (20% down will be $20,000) but a newer house in a better neighbourhood is 150,000 (@ 20% its 30,000), there is a 10 grand difference.
Now if you are going to finance the house with nothing down, some ungodly interest rate or go with some sort of Islamic financing where down payment doesn't matter than yeah ... it doesn't matter.
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^^I thought down payment was even more important in Islamic financing than a ‘regular’ mortgage. (I.E. Doesn’t Islamic financing require at least a 5% down, no matter what.? I believe the norm is around 10-20% down in Islamic financing.) Whereas, in a conventional mortgage, you can buy with zero down.
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My tip, don't get your your tiles from the builder, they will rob you, you can do it later by yourself for 1/2-1/3 of what the builder is charging you.
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Creme Brulee, I am not so sure how the Islamic Home Financing work. Maybe someone here can explain it for everyone's benefit.
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a similar house is a simialr neighbourhood will no deviate highly in price. the square footage is not the only thing that is important, but the location too.
I would highly recomend buyign new construction housing, because with incentives and all you can get good deals and the appreciation on new construction is def higher than that of older homes.
Re: Buying a new home
Check te builder out, how many complaints have been made against that builder, better business bureau or consumer protection center etc would have that info.
Find out how well the builder is regarded in the industry.
Talk to owners of houses built by this builder and ask how happy they are or what types of issues they have seen.
I will not get into not falling for a demo model and figuring out for yourself if the place is designed in a way that it would compliment your lifestyle. I have seen ppl buy open floorplan homes and then stress because they are very traditional and with separation of where men and women would sit, it creates isues for them. Etc etc..but anyways those are things that u have to factor in whether or not it is new construction.
Now my next statement is a universal truth..I don’t know of a single person who had not struggled with this when buying a new construction place..
The whole dilemma stems from one word “options”
There is so much friggin choice, the same house could have different elevations, material,, appliances, fixtures etc etc.
The simple rules of thumb are
If something is structural, and/or is going to be hard to do later, then get it done now. E.g. sometimes they have options of a sunroom addition, or additional bedroom, or a second suite etc. if you think you need it, do it now. It is not going to be easy later
elevation- always do it thru builder, it is extremely hard to change later
if there are things you will do later, then try to do minimum there and get credits from the builder. E.g. you want to do wood floor in your living/dining room, builder has it very expensive. Builder would also have anywhere from 3-a dozen choices in carpet quality. You will have some basic one as the standard one, and you have the option to pay more and get better quality. Reverse is also true. You can opt to have them just put vinyl flooring instead of carpet and they will give you a credit. I mean it makes no sense to pay for something that you will then rip out shortly anyways.
Large fixtures- if you want a Jacuzzi..make sure you get it thru the builder, otherwise taking the old tub out and putting a new one in, wirng and factoring for extra weight of the Jacuzzi is a royal pain.
Small fixtures- light fixtures etc..builder would give you a choice, and it is always going to be ridiculous, now unless u can strikr a bargain where they give you an upgrade for free rather than the ugly ass shiny brass cheap shyt that comes standard. If not, you can tell them to either just give you the basic, or try to get crdit there also and say just have a bulb there .no fixture. It may be a waste but the standard builder fixtures are very cheap and your credit would not be more than a few bucks for each. So my advise, go with the basic package, as you change it u can dump it or sell it for a few bucks on craigs list. Same goes for switchplates,
cabinets/counters etc. while you can change cabinets and counters later, it makes sense to get what u want from the beginning, again thsis tuff is expensive, no sense in paying for it once and then replacing it with more expensive stuff later. Watch out here, they have many many many options, colors, tints door types for cabinets and then type of counters..granite, corian, laminate, quartz etc etc. ppl get stuck in h we have spend Xgrand already whats another few grand, before you know it your options have increased your purchase price by $50K …this happens easily.
Some small things are stuff that you can change but it’s a pain in the rear. E.g. if you want nickel or chrome finish hardware, i.e. hinges, locks, knobs etc. get them now. There are too many of those buggers around and changing them is a friggin nightmare.
Always always alawaus negotiate on a landscape package. They will give in. if you don’t they may not even give you sod and then you pay a few grand just to have grass.
Make sure you don’t make your house the most expensive in the neigbourhood with all the options as well as the floorplan and model you pick. That goes in your neighbour’s favor not yours.
You will almost always get a better financing rate from the finance company that the builder works with. And since they are in it together you can negotiate on points etc as well.
They will try to sell you on high efficiency furnace, heater, windows etc. you have to see do they pay off in the duration u are planning to live in that house. So think of eergy savings, plus any additional price that you can get just because you have these high efficiency furnaces and windows. From what I have seen if you will not be there for a long time, they don’t pay off. Someone else gets the benefit later to get energy efficient products that he did not really have to pay for it.
Make sure that u inspect the house and do walkthroughs properly, another good idea is to videotape the tours especially when you have the sticks up and wiring, vents etc being put in, it will prove very useful for any future projects.
You will see all kinds of color packages for the front of your house. Drive around see what looks good, go to builder’s other communities, colors that look good as sample pieces may not always look good on a house. Try not to get too wild and crazy
Best time to buy from a new home builder is either when the community is just getting started..they need to move lots quickly, or when its almost done..they want to sell the remaining few quickly so they can close the sales office and stop paying for all the sales efforts. In both these scenarios you can get freebies. Be careful if the community is in high demand because you may be waiting and all places could be gone.
Some of the big freebies happen to get you in the door, so do mention you are looking at competing builders, don’t tel em u are in love with the place even if you are until after the basic price has been agreed upon. They will throw in elevation upgrades for free, it does not cost them much at all, it’s a way they make money bigtime, so right ff that bat you could save on the starting price and major options.
Btw, some builders will nto give you itemized list of all options and u sit with them and they take your questions and ten give u prices. Force them, tell them u need list of all upgrades and prices. Do this before you even sign, tell them u want to compare prices of them and their competitors not just on the basic structure but with all your desired options..many times they will give you credits to use for options.
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agree .... both with tiles n wood floor
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Thanks Fraudia Paijaan, that was very insightful indeed, I actually went through everything and am starting the process within a month... Merey bachey aap ko dua den geye for the continued good advice that you give (for free)...
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spock abay gimme a call sometime, and let me know if I can give any other insights I have helped pals buy everythign from theri first condo to townhouses to luxury homes. I should get my realtor's license :D
shabash though, good idea to get a place..do check on real estate trends in the area. If they are goign down wait a bit.
bachon ko bas di raat musslay par bitha dena duaaon kay liye
and its not free, qiyamat kay din garebaan pakar kar sab say dues mangoon ga :) waisay kabhi email par respond kar diya karro. mana kay barray admi ho