Saturday, November 20, 2010

Buying New Constrcution..Do You Know What You Are Signing?

I remeber the day I bought my first new construction home. It had a contract that was about ten pages long. Today the contract is substantially longer than that as lawyers have put in every conceivable clause to protect the builder. So, the question remains the same. Do you know what you are signing?

The questions always loom as to why someone buys a new home without representation. The sale person represents the builder and gets paid by the builder. They are looking out for the builder's best interests. Having your own representation costs the buyer nothing. The builder pays the buyer's agent.

Well, the other day a client of mine decided on a new home that was pre-built. We went to sign the contract on the house and it was 55 pages long. After reading it extensively there were charges showing up that should have been paid by the seller/builder that were showing as incurred costs to the buyer. I advised my buyer fothe charges and the ramifcations of them paying for it as additional out of pocket expenses that should not be incurred by the buyer.

In addition, the builder was promoting their finace option to the buyer. Offering a premium discount toward closing cost with the buyer using their preferred finacning. Well, the buyer had already shopped around and received a better quote for interest rate and terms than the builder preferred program was offering. In fact over the period fo 30 years the buyer saved an additional $38,000 in interest over the life of the loan by calling a recommended mortgage professional I gave them.

In total the cost of the home saved my buyer an additional $41,000 over the course of 30 years by using a buyer's agent unaffiliated with the builder to represent them. And the total cost to the buyer in this case was ZERO. The information and savings were priceless.

Dave diCecco
Realtor/Broker
www.davedicecco.com

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