We enjoy helping Cincinnati home buyers with new construction. The challenge of matching a buyer with the right community, the right builder, the right floor plan, the right lot, etc., whether it's a Cincinnati area patio home or regular home to be built, is something we enjoy!
There's a lot of variety in this type of work, and it requires a lot of attention to detail by the buyers, the builder and of course us as the buyer's agent.
One of the more challenging aspects of buying new construction is picking out the features of your home. Unless you've gone full custom build, most builders work from an a la carte type menu of options.
They have X number of floor plans.
With each floor plan there's a selection of how the front can look. That look is called the elevation, and it can make a huge difference in the curb appeal of a home. While the inside might be identical from Elevation A to E, your home's look may vary from contemporary to Craftsman to traditional, or even some mix of styles.
Inside the home there's a long list of options to consider. The type of flooring, cabinetry, counters, baths and more. Whether or not to have a basement, how tall to make the ceiling, etc. It can be pretty comprehensive.
Now where it gets interesting is when the buyer would like to go off menu. In some cases the builder may have done the exact change before (e.g. bump outs to extend the garage or master bedroom), so making that change is already something they're willing to do.
However, depending on the builder there may not be much flexibility. With a desire to streamline their building complexity, they may limit what they'll consider.
Want the front elevation adjusted with different material? While it's physically possible, the builder may pass on allowing the change because they don't want one more variety of architectural plans to manage.
Don't like the location of the kitchen sink? That also entails plumbing changes, so that might be another thing they won't consider.
Most Cincinnati mass production builders (Fischer, Drees, M/I, etc.) do have a mechanism to consider changes. If a change is a deal breaker for the buyer, it's critical to make sure that decision by the builder is known before being totally committed to building a home with that builder. You don't want to be in the position of being told "sorry, you're under contract and if you back out now you'll lose your deposit" if the builder declines to make a "must have" change you want.
Ready to explore your Cincinnati area new construction options further? Just give Bill a call at 513-520-5305 or email Liz@LizSpear.com and we can discuss how we can help you with your new construction home search.
Serving Cincinnati home buyers and sellers,
Liz and Bill aka BLiz
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