The salesperson you are dealing with moves to another community. A new salesperson takes over negotiations and does not honor verbal agreements made with the previous salesperson.

As you progress through negotiations, you should put in writing everything that you and the salesperson agree on: deposit amount, included options, final sales price, etc. The salesperson (or any employee or company representative you are working with) could be fired the next day and you would have to start all over. Before you sign any purchase agreement or sales contract, your attorney should review all documents.

You choose a beautiful lot that your salesperson told you borders a nature preserve. You are more comfortable paying the hefty “lot premium” because you think you will be able to get your money out of it if you sell your home. After moving in, you realize that your back yard does not, in fact, directly border the nature preserve. Instead, your lot borders a strip of land owned by a utility company that you are forbidden to cross to get to the nature preserve. To make matters worse, after living in the home for more than a year, the developer puts in a walking trail across a ten-foot wide easement that runs the length of your back property line. As the community grows, more and more residents take advantage of the walking trail and invade your privacy and enjoyment of the back yard you paid extra for because you thought your lot bordered a nature preserve and had no idea the easement could be used by the whole community.

You need to understand for what adjoining property can and can’t be used. Never let a salesperson sell you a bill of goods by painting you an inaccurate picture. Your attorney or the planning and zoning department of the municipality can help you understand the permitted uses of adjoining property and any easements or encumbrances on your property. Remember, if you pick the wrong color for the front door, you can always repaint it. If you pick the wrong lot, you may be stuck.

You are prevented from bringing in your own inspector early on, even though you had an addendum to your contract that you thought allowed access for your inspector at any time. Your builder shows you the standard “Inspection Addendum” you signed that clearly states that the home will only be made available to your inspector for a final inspection immediately prior to closing.

Make sure that your attorney reviews all “standard” forms used by the builder. Such addendums and contingencies may have hidden clauses that favor the builder. In this case, the addendum should have at least mentioned key inspection points.

When you are out at the job site after work, you verbally notify the assistant construction supervisor about some major concerns you have about a wall that looks out of square. He assures you that he will address the issue but that it’s really “not a big deal.”

When you have problems throughout the process, they should be documented and addressed to the proper person. If you verbalize a problem to a person that has no authority to correct it, you are wasting your time. Make people on your “team” aware of problems and let them decide if they are a “big deal.” For example, your attorney and not your salesperson should decide if a contractual issue is of concern. Likewise, your architect or inspector should decide if construction defects are major or minor.

You are notified of the date of your final walk-through. You know that the home isn’t ready but you show up for the walk-through anyway. The home is dirty and doesn’t even have electricity yet.

Never allow the builder to force you into a walk-through until the home is finished and clean. You cannot assess the quality of the finished product if the home is not actually complete. If the home is dirty, you may miss scratches or gouges in counters or floors that certainly won’t be covered after closing. Don’t even bother performing a partial walk-through. Pressure the builder to reschedule.

You go ahead with the walk-through and document as many problems as you can find. When you return several days later, the house is clean and most of the items from the list are complete. The problem is that in correcting some of the defects you documented, the builder caused more problems. For example, they replaced the defective dishwasher, but in doing so, damaged the hardwood floor in the kitchen. Also, in cleaning the house, more problems became apparent. There is no way they can correct all of these problems before your closing this afternoon!

Don’t put yourself in a position where you are forced to accept sub-par work. Your attorney should have included in your contract language stating that you would not close until all outstanding items are complete. If that means pushing your closing off another two weeks and living in a hotel, then so be it. Once your builder gets his money, the bargaining position changes completely; they will care MUCH LESS about you and your home.

You go to closing with the assurance from the supervisor and his boss that the items will be complete within a week of closing. Several weeks go by and some items remain unfinished. The biggest problem is that your air conditioner is blowing warm air. You are told to contact the heating and air contractor and set up a time to meet at your home. You take off work, but the contractor doesn’t show. So you reschedule with the very apologetic contractor for next week. You take off time the following week and meet the contractor. He shows up this time, but without the right part. Guess what? More time off of work and more frustration. You are going on three weeks without air conditioning and you knew it didn’t work before you went to closing.

Problems not resolved while the home is unoccupied only magnify after you move in. You may have to take time off from work, the contractor may not show up, the “fix” might just damage something else, only compounding the problem. Be sure to have all issues resolved before closing.

These scenarios are neither fictitious nor uncommon. I have dealt with customers who have faced much worse circumstances. I have spoken to new homeowners who wished a broken air conditioner was the worst of their problems. Imagine having to move out of your six-month-old home for three weeks so that major structural repairs can be corrected because of the utter incompetence of the framer and a municipal inspector who looked the other way. Imagine having to live in your two-year-old home while the synthetic stucco skin is removed and rotted wood replaced and toxic mold cleaned because of persistent, hidden leaks.