What are the pros and cons of buying a brand new home?
What a joy it would be to own a home that required little, if any, maintenance for 5 or 10 years. This is a major attraction of buying a new home. There's no need to fuss with remodeling and repairing. You simply move in and enjoy. That is, unless you have the misfortune of buying a lemon.

Several years ago, a couple bought a new home in a small development in Marin County, Calif. They thought they'd lucked into the home of their dreams until one house after another in the project developed similar problems. First, the windows and skylights leaked. Then, the drainage systems failed. Finally, water seeped through some exterior walls. The only recourse was to sue the builder. He, however, had fallen into financial hard times soon after building the development.

New homes are usually built with approval of the local building department. This involves a building permit application process including such requirements as a soils report, architectural plans and structural calculations.

Licensed professionals - soils engineer, architect, and contractor - are involved in creating a new home project, which is inspected by city building inspectors during the course of construction. At the end of the project, a certificate of occupancy is issued.

You might expect that with all this planning and scrutiny, new homes would be perfect. But, just because a home is new and built with permits doesn't mean that it was properly built, or that it's free of defects. Sometimes builders make mistakes. City inspectors aren't infallible either, and they are usually immune from liability.

Many homes built after the Oakland Hills firestorm in 1991 developed costly dry-rot problems within several years after they were completed. The culprit in most cases was lack of adequate ventilation. City building inspectors had inspected and approved all the homes during construction.

HOUSE HUNTING TIP:
Don't assume that because a city inspector looked at the property during construction that you don't need to have it inspected. You should include an inspection contingency in your purchase agreement, regardless of the home's age.

It's best to have a new home inspected by a home inspector who has experience inspecting new homes. You may want to have an engineer evaluate the soils report, plans and structural calculations for you.

In addition to inspecting the structure, make sure that you investigate the builder's reputation. You want to buy from a builder who values his good reputation and will promptly take care of any construction-related problems that might surface in the first year or so of ownership.

Ask the builder for a list of homes or developments that he has built in recent years. Visit these. How do they look? Speak to some of the homeowners to find out how satisfied they are with his product. Be sure to ask how the builder responded to requests to take care of problems.

Ask the builder to give you a written warranty, which states that he will repair construction defects that develop within your first year or so of ownership. Some builders won't do this. Also, the law is not always clear about what a builder's responsibilities are to you. Consult with a knowledgeable real estate attorney if you have any questions about a builder's responsibilities.

Older homes need updating, they often aren't energy efficient, and they may be poorly designed. Renovating is expensive and time-consuming. But, a benefit of buying an older home is that it has stood the test of time.

THE CLOSING:
You should exercise diligent care in buying a new home.

Dian Hymer is author of "House Hunting, The Take-Along Workbook for Home Buyers," and "Starting Out, The Complete Home Buyer's Guide," Chronicle Books.

Copyright 2002 Dian Hymer
Distributed by Inman News Features

 
Cuales son los puntos positivos y negativos al comprar una casa?

Que felicidad seria comprar una casa que necesitara poco mantenimiento, por ejemplo cada 5 o 10 años. Esta seria una de las mayores atracciones al comprar una casa, ya que no hay necesidad de remodelar o reparar, simplemente mudarse y disfrutar de la nueva vida.

Hace unos años una pareja compro una casa en una cuidad pequeña de Marin County, California, ellos pensaron que habian tenido suerte y habian comprado la casa de sus sueños hasta que otras casas del mismo vecindario empezaron a desarrollar problemas similares. Las ventanas y los techos tenian goteras, y habian filtraciones de agua en las paredes. La unica solucion era demandar al constructor, el despues se habia declarado en banca rota ya que habia tenido dificultades financieras despues de finalizar las casas.

Las casas Nuevas son usualmente aprobadas por el departamento local de construccion, esto envuelve permisos para construir, planos arquitectonicos y calculos estructurales.

Trabajos profesionales con licencia como los ingenieros, arquitectos, contratistas, plomeros, etc. todoes loe envueltos en crear un proyecto nuevo siendo inspeccionados durante la construccion. Al finalizar se les otorga un certificado de aprobado para que la propiedad pueda ser ocupada.

Se deberia esperar que despues de todo el desarrollo y planes que lleva construir una casa, esta fuera perfecta. Pero solo porque una casa es nueva no significa que esta bien construida, o que no tiene defectos. Algunas veces los constructores cometen erroes y los inspectores pueden no ver el error y de esta forma la casa pudiese tener daños.

Despues de la tormenta en 1991 muchas casas empezaron a desarrollar problemas aun despues de varios años de haber sido construidas, el problema fue que en muchos de los casos no hubo suficiente ventilacion, aun cuando los inspectores aprobaron todas las casas cuando fueron terminadas.

HOUSE HUNTING TIP:
No asuma que aun cuando la casa es nueva y la ciudad la aprobo significa que no tenga ningun defecto, antes de comprar la casa deberia de hacerse una inspeccion no importando la edad de la casa.

Lo mejor seria que la inspeccionara una compañia que tenga experiencia en casas nuevas, tambien seria buena idea que un ingeniero evaluara los planos y los calculos estructurales.

Asegurese de la reputacion del constructor y pregunte cuantas construcciones ha tenido en los años recientes. Si puede visitelos, vea en que estado estan, hable con algunos de los dueños para tener una idea de como sera su situacion si compra esa casa y aun averigue como responde este constructor a los problemas que se presentan despues de la compra.

Exija una garantia por escrito que declare que si se desarrolla un defecto durante el primer año de comprada la propiedad esta compañia le asistira en cualquier situacion. Ya que la ley no siempre dice cuales son las obligaciones del constructor despues de la compra, si tiene alguna pregunta consulte con su abogado para que todos estos detalles sean inculidos en el contrato de compra.

Las casas antiguas talvez necesiten reparaciones y actualizaciones pero no siempre estan bien diseñadas, asi que las inversiones podrian ser costosas. Ahora algunos de los beneficios al comprar una casa antigua es el del tiempo ya que se han mantenido en pie.

El Cierre:
Debe de ser extremadamente cuidadoso en esta etapa, hay algunos libros que le podrian ser de gran utilidad: "House Hunting, "Starting Out, etc. para tener una mejor idea de lo que tendra que hacer.

Copyright 2002 Dian Hymer
Distributed by Inman News Features