Quote:
Originally Posted by mountainman
In process of buying land on which to erect a house. Am, of course, expecting unforeseen issues, expenses, and red tape.
Have other board members, perhaps, been through this??
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On the “land buying”. Dont underestimate the value of a good realtor with experience in the area the land is in. Your buying, the realtor is paid by the seller. Find a good one.
Don’t forget mineral rights etc. if it’s in a residential neighborhood make sure you know setback lines and easement lines.
A good realtor can answer 90% of the questions and suggestions you will see in this thread.
Before You decide on a builder, go look at houses They have done in the last 2-5 years. Concentrate on the ones 2+ years old. It takes time for stuff to show up. They love to show brand new houses, but it takes time for roof leaks and drywall settling to occur.
Do a google search on your builder prospect. Look for people who may have posted about them. Google crawls most websites and finds stuff.
Ask the builder if they are an LLC-Incorporated or whatever. Builders love to go bankrupt and start all over again. Ask who owns them. Get full names, google the full names and check the BBB profile. You should be able to check with the attorney general on the owners full name and what other companies they have owned. Many states do this online.
On the building part, don’t skip talking to prior customers. Good builders will not have a problem with it. Bad guys will.
On the build site. Never show up and bitch at the actual guys swinging hammers. Those guys have a million ways to get back at you five years after you move in.
On home inspection, make sure your inspector scopes the Hvac vents (trash somehow finds its way into vents) and pressure tests the vent runs and temp tests the a/c at the farthest vent from the blower.
If you can afford it, put in extra tonnage on the a/c. When it’s ten years old and running at 80-90% efficiency it will still be adequate. Hopefully.
Just my .02