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Building A Home: 6 Things Your Builder Will Not Tell You

Buying a newly constructed home should be an enjoyable experience. Sadly, for most consumers, it’s a nightmare that will stay with them the rest of their life. A common statement made by many new homebuyers is that they will never have another home built for them.

Here’s 6 things your builder will probably never tell you.

“We market that our company only uses the finest craftsmen to build our homes when in reality, we use the cheapest trades we can find, which means that many are not skilled and are day laborers.”

Custom and spec homebuilders bid out the work on your home to the lowest bidder. Kinda like the U.S. Government. There is few Custom builders left who do their own work and have their own crews.

“I have a binding contract that will prevent you from suing me should you have major defects in your home after you move in. And better yet, there is little you can do to get me to fix it!”

Read the fine print on your contract. Better yet, have a real estate attorney read it for you and explain to you what legal recourse you have should there be problems after you close. I bet you’ll come out of the attorney’s office amazed at how little rights you have if you sign the builders contract.

“If you’re really smart, you’ll hire your own third party, code certified, home inspector because the public inspectors and even my own inspectors aren’t here with your best interest at heart!”

Builders today search out third party inspectors to perform “Quality Assurance” inspections. Problem is, this is just more marketing hype than anything. In most states, these third party inspectors do not have to be licensed to perform “Construction Inspections”. My inspectors and I find a long list of items that these inspectors either miss or ignore on every new home we inspect. Not once have we found a home that the builders inspector found a majority of the defects.

City and county inspectors are generally about the same as the builders inspector or worse. Many of these inspectors are so piled up with work that they can only spend 15 to 20 minutes in a home. Besides, it is not the City or County’s inspectors job to look for workmanship issues, they are only there looking for health and safety issues and protecting the City and County’s interest. Just like the builders inspectors are there protecting the builders interest, not yours!

If you don’t know a good code certified home inspector ask around or check out the American Society of Home Inspectors at ashi.org

“My sales people and I can tell you anything we want because we’re not regulated by the State”

In many states, you’ll find that the sales people for builders are not licensed with the real estate commission like Real Estate Agents are. This lets them tell you whatever they need to so you’ll buy a home from them. I’ve heard just about sales people promising homebuyers just about anything you can imagine they’d buy from their builder. Buyer beware and get them to put it in writing before you sign the contract!

“Your home is built over a landfill or swamp… maybe both.”

As prime land is filling up with new homes, real estate developers and builders are turning to sub prime land. Here in my market, we have subdivisions sitting on landfills, swamps and former rice patties. None are prime areas for building a home on.

“If you back out of the contract for any reason, we’ll keep your earnest money an upgrade money”

Many people are surprised to find this is true. In Texas most builders will, check with the Attorney General in your state to see if this is legal. Again, the builder or sales people may tell you different, but most contracts have a clause that says you’ll forfeit your earnest money or upgrade money if you back out of the home. Get it in writing what happens if you back out and the steps you must take to get your money back. Don’t think it won’t happen to you because I see it happen all the time.

As each state, county and city is different, you should check with a knowledgeable inspector in your area plus your real estate attorney before purchasing a newly constructed home. Also, GET EVERYTHING FROM THE BUILDER IN WRITING! If he promises you he’ll throw in a few extra outlets in the garage, get him to put it in the contract.

This article may be reprinted, copied and distributed as you see fit as long as it is not altered and the article remains intact, including the resource box below.

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Home Insurance Companies & Home Insurance Quotes

Home insurance rates can vary greatly from one insurance company to another. A quick research will find that there are almost 1800 providers in which you could choose from, but now you can find low cost home insurance online more easily then making a hundred different phone calls. Insurance companies are based upon a sharing program in which the money or premiums are placed in a pool then distributed and used when that insurance company has losses and claims by its customers. Back in the 1970s and before, several insurance companies would send salesmen into areas and neighborhoods to knock on doors then signing up large numbers of new customers located in these areas.However, one year brought a string of tornadoes that devastated entire subdivisions and small towns where these insurance providers had signed up so many new customers. Because of such devastation in a concentrated area several of the smaller companies had to go out of business before fulfilling their obligations and responsibilities to their customers who had paid their premiums. Larger companies were simply overwhelmed by the amount of claims that had to be filled out and completed. Not only was it a loss to the customers when those companies went out of business, but it was also a long period of time before many of the others were able and capable of processing their claims and rebuilding their homes.In evaluating of this unfortunate incident Congress enacted new laws that limited the amount of customers that an insurance company could sign up in any given area. This helps to keep all our rates low and protect the insurance company as well as the customers. Getting a quote by getting a home comparison in this age of technology should be an easy chore for the person searching for home insurance companies.A Quote can be accomplished simply by providing a few basic details and allowing your computer to search hundreds of different insurance companies that fit your needs. If you’re one of those who owns a home which is your most prized asset then there is no doubt that you need from a quality company that will provide you with a decent home owners insurance policy. A good home policy not only covers the house itself, but also other buildings on the property and the contents of the home for replacement.Many insurance companies will also check your credit rating when getting insurance so you yourself need to know what your credit rating status is. You also should have a very good ideal of how much it would cost to replace all the contents in your home including furniture, appliances, clothing, and a place to stay while your home is being repaired. Don’t forget most insurance companies only offer flood insurance as an additional. So make sure you ask the company just what all they cover in their insurance quotes. Remember, getting an online home insurance quote can save you hundreds of dollars from one insurance company to another insurance company.Well known names are not always the cheapest and best.

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Macro Photography

Exploring the world of miniature objects with a macro lens is a special and exciting area of photography, and once you start, you will quickly become addicted. The world of macro photography holds many delights and is an area that cannot be appreciated with the human eye.Macro photography is the name given to close-up photography, and is best explained as images that are taken at reproduction ratios of life-size and above. Ratios of between 1:7 and 1:1 fall into the macro photography category.Understanding Ratios: This is a term used to express the magnification of a macro lens or other macro equipment that relates the real life-size object to the reproduction size on a slide or negative. If you shoot an object that is 3cm in length and it measures 1.5cm on a 35mm slide or negative – the ratio is 1:2. When both are equal length the ratio is 1:1Choosing the right lens is the most important factor with macro photography. While a telephoto lens may be acceptable with some types of close-up photography, the macro lens is invaluable to get really close and really accurate focusing.There is an endless range of subjects that fall under the range of macro photography. The most common subject for macro photography is the natural world – all types of flowers, plants, and insects. For the more creative photographer, macro photography is used in abstract imagery.With many forms of macro photography, especially with insects, a lens with a long focal lens – minimum 200 mm is required for some nature subjects. You need to keep a working distance from the subject to get a successful image – you don’t want to frighten your subject away.When shooting close-ups you are limited with depth-of-field – to get an attractive image you must focus on the most important part of the subject. This will be achieved easier if you place your camera on a tripod or monopod.By using your tripod you will reduce the risk of camera shake. Subject movement is also an important factor to consider. Macro photography magnifies the subject, leaving more room for blur. A strobe unit can be used to freeze movement – even on the brightest of days you should consider using your strobe unit. Try bouncing light from your strobe unit off a reflector. This will give your image a softer illumination.Many amateur photographers stay away from macro photography because they feel that their technical ability is too inept – your personal ability should not turn you away from this exciting part of photography – macro photography is like all types of photography – practice makes perfect.

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