Buying a New Construction Home in Southern Oregon
Transcript of Video Below
Alice’s Analysis New Construction Tips. What to Look For & What to Ask For
[00:00:00] Good afternoon, real estate fans, Alice Lema here, broker John L. Scott, Southern Oregon, again for another Alice's analysis. And today we're doing new construction. I gave you some tips, tell you what to look for when you're on your tours, in which I ask for when you're writing your offers. So we're here in Medford.
[00:00:18] There's a lot of new building going on. So we're just going through this particular house because it's almost finished. You'll notice that this one has, the ceiling, light that's an extra cost option. A lot of the builders don't do that. And that's kind a the purpose of our initial tour is why we're walking around.
[00:00:39] We're looking at the general quality of life, the property we're looking to see if the corners were done nicely, is the dry wall smooth was the mudding technique good. Also looking up in at the, edges of the paint, especially where there's color. Yeah. Changes did they do straight lines is the paint sloppy?
[00:01:00] We're looking to try to get an idea of the quality of work that the contractor had and the people that were working for that contractor, you know, so you can have a sense of how well built is the property. In this particular kitchen, it has granite countertops. It has an electric stove. It's got a stainless steel dishwasher.
[00:01:22] It does not come with a refrigerator. It also does not come with a washer and dryer, and that is super common in new constructions. The builders just don't usually include those. It won't stop you from asking. You can always ask for anything you want, but it's very uncommon unless you're in kind of a down market.
[00:01:42] It's very uncommon for them to include those. So don't get bent out of shape, if they say no, but go ahead and ask. So the other thing to look at when you're walking through the house is the doors. You know, when you're opening and closing the doors, do they open and close easily? Let's check this one out.
[00:02:03] And then the other thing to look for is do they lock, people that are installing the doors they're in a hurry or they just forget to go back and double-check that the lock is there and the appraiser is going to check. They want to make sure all the doors lock well. Plus you want to make sure the doors lock, and that's a real, simple thing to do on your initial tour.
[00:02:22] The other thing you might want to think about doing is opening all of the cabinets. There's nothing wrong with that. Um, check the drawers, feel, feel the hardware do they open and close you're going to get a home inspection. I hope please , please get a home inspection, even on new construction. You want a home inspection.
[00:02:40] You want to know what's going on with that house. And the builder needs to know if they forgot something or they did something wrong. So go ahead and, and get that. Um, but you're, you're going through the house and you're checking. Oh, look, that one has plans, so that's good. But you checking to feel the hardware.
[00:02:55] You also want to see you know, all the shelves are in and, did they put the little, resting tabs, all four of them. And again, your home inspector is going to catch some of that. But while you're doing your initial walkthrough or maybe even second, look, it doesn't hurt to, to do some of that yourself.
[00:03:15] So when you're looking at the master bedroom, I want to talk about this a little bit. This one has some really beautiful ceiling details. It also has a fan, a ceiling fan, which again, most of them don't have. But here's the thing is a lot of these new homes are on smaller lots and they're smaller houses. And they get this, living space, to be more generous by getting rid of hallways and, and just having a smaller guestroom. Or maybe two smaller guests rooms, maybe smaller living room. And then some of the builders will try to put the extra space in the master, but that only works if you know how big your stuff is.
So if you [00:04:00] need, or you think you need room for a California King and two giant nightstands and a couple of big dressers and all that stuff, then measure it before you leave your house to go look at other houses.
[00:04:14] You need to know how much space is really necessary. Also have a conversation with yourself. Do you really need all that stuff? Because you're going to have a trade-off. If you want this new house, it might be smaller. Not all your stuff is going to fit. You might have to put a dresser in another room or something like that, but just kind of sort that out ahead of time.
[00:04:32] So you're not looking at the house of your dreams falling in love, and then realize later, oh, my stuff doesn't fit and I'm not willing to give up my stuff. Okay. So have a plan ahead of time. Master bathrooms, this one happens to have one vanity. And it's beautiful. It's granite but you got to sort it out in your own mind.
[00:04:52] Can you live with that? Do you really need two vanities? If you can deal with one, the price point will be lower. You'll get a better [00:05:00] deal. Master closet. This one is awesome. This one has high, low bars. On two sides, it's extra wide. It's extra deep. I got to tell you though real estate fans, highly unusual, most new houses in the subdivisions.
[00:05:17] They don't have that big of a closet. So again, know what your priorities are. Look at how much stuff you have. Look at how many clothes you have. Boots, purses, ties, jeans, um, tennis shoes, whatever you got. And figure it out before you go out. So, guestrooms, everybody has a different lifestyle.
[00:05:38] Everybody's needs are different for their guestroom. Don't want to spend too much time on that. This one has indoor laundry. It also has a drip bar, which is, going to be over the dryer. I do not see a sink in here, so I also don't see room to introduce the sink, but you know, for most of us that's okay.
[00:05:59] All right. Let's talk about garages. I love garages. Garages are great. I love bikes. I love garages and new construction has usually a finished garage. Finished means there's drywall. There's insulation. It's been painted. It's like a room. So the temperature's more temperate, because of the insulation and the drywall.
[00:06:22] It's pretty, it's nice. It's it just makes it a great space to be in. So when we're in the garage, let's take a minute and check out the garage door opener. I'm listening. And listening to see how noisy it is. And also if it wiggles around us, like there's something wrong.
[00:06:45] Oh, that's beautiful. Nice and quiet.
[00:06:50] Yeah. Okay. Passed the garage door test. The other reason you want to check the garage door opener is because not all of the builders include one. I swear to God, some of them make you pay extra. And it's like, well, you didn't say you wanted one of those, of course you want one, but you have to tell them. So make sure that that is in there.
[00:07:08] If there's not one in the house, when you tour, make sure it's written in your offer. And the way you check when you're on your tour is you have a list. So you check the doorbell, you check the master size, you check the kitchen and open things. And does it have a refrigerator? You check the garage, you open the door, you check the master bathroom and look for sinks and closets.
[00:07:31] And sizes and things like that. There's a lot of apps you can put on your phone to measure rooms when you're in the field. A lot of the agents have those as well. There's agents like me that measure everything and provide floor plans. So, that makes it, that makes it easier. But, a lot of it's gonna fall on you to know what you need and how much you need in any given property.
[00:07:57] So you get the right one and you're happy, every time you come home. So that's about it for our new construction tips today. I'm Alice Lema, broker John L. Scott real estate in Southern Oregon. I work AshlinMedford and grants pass as well as Sam's Valley and out in Eagle point. And this is my bag. I love to help you call me, text me 541-301-7980 . You can also email [email protected], but really we'd rather just talk to you. I've always got an opinion and I'm here to help. So let me know, uh, with some thumbs up, give me some comments would love to know if this was helpful. Yeah. And make it a great day.
