What to look for during your walk through...?

[MMHinCA]

We are buying a newly built house and have our final walk through tomorrow (we sign papers July 9/10 and then close July 12/13). Does anyone have any suggestions on specific things to look at or for?

[SiValleySteph]

Is it too late to hire a home inspector? We didn't for our new construction house, but in retrospect, I wish we would have. (Not that we had any probelms, but I have heard horror stories with new construciton since then, so I would have been more prepared.)

I think if you google you can probably find a checklist somewhere.

It's like, check all the light switches, check the faucets, the toilet flushes, the appliances, the drains, etc. Look for any cracks, caulking missing, etc.

Oh, and congratulations! :D

[Weddings by]

I think that a home inspection sounds like a wise idea.

Is this a house that you had built? Do you have access to the plans? The reason I ask, and it may sound silly but it could be annoying later, is because my dad built his house but hired somebody to do the sheetrock. Since he had built it, he knew where the outlets were, and the company had covered several of them, and then argued about it! If he hadn't thought about it, he would have had to locate them later by himself instead of having the company fix the problem.

If I remember correctly, they even covered a light switch.

[Guinness]

I think checking the plans is a really good idea. We should have had an attic access in one place that they didn't put in. Also a counter in the laundry room. I knew about the attic when we realized there was a water heater up there that is impossible to get to. The laundry counter I seriously didn't notice until I got the plans out to sell our house :o We were just so excited to get in and looked at stuff like paint, cabinets, that lights and outlets work, etc, but we never checked that they did everything in the plans!! Many times you have a warranty for a year to keep fixing little things - USE IT!!

[Asha]

i agree with the others that if its not too late, i would hire a home inspector. my sister is a realtor and said even with new construction, you need to safeguard yourself by getting a home inspector. we plan on doing this for the new construction home we will be buying towards the end of this year.

[Ericka_Jarett]

Even though we don't own a home, when we went looking at apartments, we checked water pressure in all the faucets. DH said he learned that from his dad since they moved around so much with his dad's job. His dad said you don't want to get stuck in a place with crappy water pressure

[Tenny]

I agree get a home inspector!

When we walked through our new home I brought a night light and tested every outlet, made sure the appliances worked, checked each drain and toilet, open and closed each door and tested the locks. Pointed out any paint or stain that needed to be touched up.

Get them to fix even the littlest things. I had a small bump in the carpet that I thought was no big deal, don't you know 4 years later it is still bugging me!

Even with all that the number one thing is hiring an inspector. He has the trained eye and can see things that you can't.

Good luck!

[snowzilla]

One of the home builders here encourages folks to go into the inspection with a pad of sticky notes, placing one wherever there is an issue (while also making a written list). This makes it a no-brainer to identify things like spots that require paint touchups, cracks, etc.

[mrsface]

We took a roll of blue painters tape to mark any spots that needed help. Open and shut all the windows and doors, make sure the locks work easily. Look at the trim around doors and the baseboards to see if it was installed well- our builder was in a hurry to finish things up and this was an area that they did a crappy job on.

Most of all I would recommend being as picky as you can at the walk-through and have them take care of things. And then, leave the critical eye behind! You don't want to move into a brand new house and be annoyed everytime you look around. A person could go crazy!

Good luck

[MMHinCA]

Didn't have time for an inspector...

Just got back from the walk thru and I think everything looks good. Prior to, DH and I had gone through the house and took notes of things we wanted corrected or fixed. Most of those were already corrected before today. The field manager (who I did the walk thru with) had the blue tape and we marked a bunch of things (mostly paint touch ups, nix in the walls, etc.) We tested out most if not all appliances, lights, and faucets. We have one more walk thru before we close to make sure all items were fixed.

Thanks for all the suggestions!