Ah the joy of a new property. After months of frustration or elation (depending on your experience) you receive a letter (depending on your builder 30 – 45 days prior to possession) announcing your possession walk through dates.
More and more I am getting contacted by people with new properties (imagine that), and I am noticing a disturbing trend among the builders: they are preventing access to the property prior to the "walk through". Even more disturbing is the trend of holding the walk through on the day of possession.
The "walk through" as it is called by some in the industry is simply the opportunity for you and the builder (usually the site superintendent or construction manager) to walk through the property and take note of any issues that may need to be addressed in order for them to fulfill their agreement with you.
In normal circumstances you should do the walk through your new home a week to ten days prior to possession, so that you and the builder can review the deficiencies. This then gives the builder plenty of time to correct things, so when you get possession the home will be in move-in condition. If your walk through is scheduled for the day of possession, it is very unlikely you’ll be able to move into your home in a manner that will add to your satisfaction level.
There are several proactive things you can do to make this process go more smoothly:
- When deciding on a builder ask when the walk through will be. If it’s possession day walk, hell, no run out of there. J/K (walking its much safer).
- If your property is already under construction… Try and arrange the walk through for a date earlier than your possession. Try.Try.Try. If they won’t do the walk through prior to possession, see if you can arrange to go into the home before possession to take note of the deficiencies. (If possible bring up some of those deficiencies with your sales person, site superintendent, construction manager and or whoever takes care of the customer care issues) so that there is at least a chance they will be taken care of by possession.
- Be sure to get the name and contact information for the person who will be walking through the property with you. Just in case there are problems and you need to reschedule or you have a question/concern you need clarified.
- Take a camera, and note pad to record the deficiencies, and use sticky notes or masking tape to clearly identify them for the builder.
At the end of the day its not their fault if its left to the last day if you didn’t ask before hand. Just try and avoid problems by dealing with them upfront.
p.s. don’t forget your mask for all the dust.
Here are some links for new home/condo purchasers.
Alberta New Home Warranty
http://www.anhwp.com/ptop/index.html
And for condos
http://intheknowcondo.com/
Traffic has picked up and I am spending more time with clients as they are ready to buy…something I haven’t been able to do for months.
I have a Coventry house where there were a number of sufficient deficiencies that I am having trouble getting done. Such as lino repair and seeling, carpet repair failure to put all the duct work in, drywall work, 3 taps needed repair, they even cemented over the roughed in plumbing in the basement. Trades won’t return calls, and getting Coventry to do much has been a pain. Any one who has had a more pleasant experience tell me, so the next time I will get a different builder.
Yogi has 4 Coventry houses, that is deficient.
Bad,
Your comment doesn’t even relate to this article. There are plenty of articles to post on relating to price. Last warning. Next time you’re blocked.
Really good advice. Also I would add, make sure you make a list of what you will need to get completed and repaired in writing, with an acknowledgment signature. Talk to your Realtor about Holding back some portion of the payment until work is completed to your satisfaction.
Once you take possession and move in, whatever work needs to be done will never be completed. Lots of shoddy sub-par workmanship out there, even in the million $ range. For new homes that seems to be the norm these days.
Yogi sold 3 of his deficient houses.
Yogi I bought a house with reid built thought it would be crap. It was perfect on the walk through only a couple of scratches. I bought it as a flip but I was impressed with the house. I would have sold but 55000 was not enough profit. I have tennants that love the place and want to buy in 6 months. I hope I make money having them live there
I love how I am being trashed about having 4 Coventry houses. I have one that I plan on living in for the next 20 years. Got to laugh at the responses, too funny. I do own investment properties, but honestly this is my principal residence. Hardy, Har, Har…love you cynics.
Yogi,
Your original post was posted 4 times for some reason. I think Karl was teasing you about having four houses because of those four posts.
Thanks Sheldon…. and sorry Yogi!!!
What is it with you people and your back and forth mud-slinging? As a consumer (I have ONE house and am looking to sell to buy ONE other house for me and my family). I’ve been looking at this blog as a way to keep infomed about where the housing market in Edmonton is going. If you guys want to slag each other, why not just get together later tonite in the ring and duke it out? Obviously some of you are “professional” realtors. Perhaps you could starting behaving that way and leave a little space on this site for relevant discussion I, for one, am tired of sifting through all the horse **it and will start looking elsewhere for real information.
I’m sorry murray, but I like to have some fun once in a while and not being dead serious all the time, besides, you still can have some useful information through this site.
By the way, this is the ONLY Edmonton Real Estate Blog.
????? Well, then I guess you’ll have to play in your own sandbox.
Are you still reading this blog?????