What makes moving one of the most stressful events in your life?

Complaint 1- Delayed, Delayed, DELAYED!

Why can’t any contractor keep a schedule!?! Yes, its annoying. Yes, its often true. This justified reputation has plagued the construction industry for too many years. One day, contractors will wake up to a better way.

The biggest cause for this is due to so many different companies trying to coordinate schedules to get your house done. I know of no builders who employ every trade within their organization. Most of these builders hire subcontractors. Therefore, they are all susceptible to it in one degree or another.

Sometimes though, the builder isn’t the cause of the delay. Aside from weather, which nobody can control, there are also the banks. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen a buyer yelling at the contractor or sales agent, only to find out that they had an inexperienced loan officer at their bank of choice. This especially comes in to play when reverse mortgages or other non-standard loans are applied for. Not all bankers are created equal.

Less reliable builders also don’t know how to manage their money, thus they have financial difficulties that keep them from fulfilling their obligations. Hopefully you don’t get stuck buying from one of these fly by night builders. Not only will they delay your new home, sometimes for months on end, but they might be out of business before your warranty expires.

Remedy

Stop in and give your builder or sales agent a friendly visit every couple of weeks. If you can’t visit personally, call. Even if the builder experiences a delay, its better for you to know about it earlier on, rather than the week that you have your movers already scheduled.

Also, you don’t want your bank to hold you up at the finish line. Make sure you give them plenty of time to process your loan. I’d recommend starting the process about one month before you expect to close. Just don’t start the process too soon. If you do, and the builder runs into a delay at the very last minute, your mortgage might expire before you can close. Then you’ll have to start the whole loan application process over again.

Delays may happen. The best thing you can do is stay informed.

Conclusion:

Buying a new home can be stressful. Even if the process is as smooth as winter worn asphalt, a little extra effort on your part can take away some of those surprise potholes down the road. When you go looking for a new house, location is always important. But where there is one builder, there is often more. Feel free to check them all out. Make an informed decision. Then choose the one that makes sense for you. There are some really good builders out there. We consider ourselves one of the best builders to work with. But we’ve also seen some who we wouldn’t recommend for anyone.

Moving should be exciting. It should be an adventure. I hope this helps you prepare a little for your next move. Hopefully you can avoid most of these issues. And if you are and active adult 55 or older, look us up. We really do understand you. We want to make your next move, the best move of your life.

Have we missed anything?

If you want to add to the discussion, by all means, let us know in the comment section below.

About the Author:

Hi, I’m Brent Lindstrom, with Leisure Villas, Inc. I’m a contractor and an author (B.C. Crow). For the last couple of decades, I’ve built hundreds of homes in Utah. I’ve seen just about everything you can imagine in the residential world. The views I’ve expressed here are my own opinions. Over the years, I’ve been privileged to work with many great contractors, subcontractors, home buyers, homeowners, bankers, and real estate agents. Here at Leisure Villas, we pride ourselves on quality and a great customer experience. I love working for Leisure Villas and I urge you to stop by and visit with us some time. See why we’re different. See why we are, Utah’s preferred builder of active adult communities for seniors and empty nesters 55 and better.