Advice on Closing on New House

Oct. 22 is the closing date.
I’m as excited as a kid ina candy store.
Nervous as wife with a husband who has a gambling problem in a casino :stuck_out_tongue:

So this thing is finally gonna happen.
I need some advice from home owners though.

House:
Brand new, new lived, just completed.
2500 sq ft.
1400 finished sq. ft upstairs 3 beds all w/ walk in closets.
2 full baths upstair ( 1 is master bath )
1100 unfinished sq. ft downstairs ( this is gonna be the gym )
12x16 cedar deck of kitchen.
basement has walkout.
3 car garage with 8 ft garage doors
irrigation front and back.

Ok so thats the house. More then I need. But with the economy the way it is, I would never be able to buy this home. Thanks recession :slight_smile:

We do the walk thru. with the builder on the 16th.
Here are some things I’ve noticed that are not up to par:

  1. Garage door does not go up all the way. Still has 1/3 of the door hanging down when up.
  2. Piece of molding on garage siding @ base of door loose and creating about a 1" gap. (concerned mice can get in ).
  3. Grass. We had the sod layed down a little over a month ago. They have been watering the awn 3 times a day. It looks great. But is thick as hell. I think they have only cut it once. Currently is still 6" tall and we close in 2 weeks. Shouldnt they cut it again before I mjove in?
  4. Noticed damp concrete bricks downstairs in the corners after heavy rain. Contractor said its normal since they are also watering it 3 times a day.
  5. Pest problem: In the garage and basement I have noticed these beetles that are about 1.5" long. Not sure what kind of beetles they are. They dont look like the fly, and move pretty slow. But what are they doing in a new house? They look like they come out of the cracks in the garage where the concrete meets the wall. Not sure in basement? In the basement where the wall meets the concrete flooring there is a little gap. I’ve never seen this before. Someone said to me its for water runoff so it doesnt collect in my basement floor. My guess is this is where the beetles are coming from. Should I have them cock this up?
  6. Since the home is un-occupied right now, and they are leaving a lot of the lights on, many of the bulbs inside are burnted out.

So what would you guys do?

  1. Should the grass be perfect when I move in? OR should I have to mowe it?
  2. What about the damp concrete bricks?
  3. Solution for the beetles? Its not just 1 or 2. Were talking a dozen easy. Is this common? Will it go away come winter time ( Minnesota ), but will they return in Spring? Or shuld I have them have a pest control company come out and exterminate for me? Or is this an easy DIY?

Sorry for the long post.
Any and all advice is welcome.

Also.

The door that leads from inside of the garage into the house is banged up and scuffed pretty good already. How did they do that? No ones lived there?

And should I have them come and blown out the irrigation for me before we close?

I hate to nit pick. But this is my 1st house and its costing me just under $250k. Maybe I have high expectations, but with a brand new house shouldnt everything be perfect?

The bug problem can be fixed with poison and Biotest! Biotest brings in and poison keeps em there.

have them cut the grass.

I would get a home inspection done if I were you.

I’m getting one on a house I’m buying, I don’t see how it would be different for a brand new house. You shouldn’t be getting water in the basement, definitely get it checked out.

My family built a house back when I was in high school and we had a bunch of problems.

Lawn:
I wouldn’t make a big deal out of it but say it makes the place look vacant and you don’t want kids to come in a mess it up.

Wet Bricks:
Definitely have this inspected because you could have bad drainage problems.

Pests:
This is very common for a new home. All those animals and shit come in while they are building. So new animals may or may not be able to come in but they are there now and need to be taken care of.

We had a nest of mice trapped in our wall…when they all died it smelled so bad but the builder had to take care of it. I’d make sure to get a good pest guy out there and make the builder pay for it if possible.

Garage Door, Molding, Door, etc.:
Make a list and give it to the builder. How long does the builder provide a warranty? I’d definitely makes sure you keep that on hand because builders are notorious for moving people in then not getting shit done.

They’ll give you the whole next week bullshit line in hopes that you’ll leave them alone or the warranty will expire.

Our builder tried to fuck us out of so much shit and it was his fault to begin with. If he’d spent more time at our house supervising then we probably wouldn’t of had the fucked up door, drainage, and house settling.

We had to finally threaten to put up a large sign saying “Don’t buy name of builder’s homes” before he’d take care of business. I’d make sure to stay on top of it and if he starts being difficult make sure to send everything by secure mail so he has to sign for it. Having a well known lawyer send an official letter might do the trick as well.