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Builders

When to buy a new home
Many buyers are feel the urgency of completing the "buyer responsible" details of a new home purchase these days. Why? Because the market place waits for no one right now. If buyers drag their feet holding up their end of the bargain, builders can simply mail out letters of cancellation for non-compliance, raising their prices, and moving on to the next buyer.
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Timing is everything
Markets can shift often from a buyer's to a seller's market and then back again. When it's a sellers market the builder may be calling all the shots, but the builder may also be under pressure by mounting construction, land acquisition and land hold costs. Buyers who take their time getting loan approvals, making final decisions for their options and upgrades, and forking over deposit monies may be finding themselves out of a deal and no longer in a position to talk up their new dream home. They may also be faced with a considerable price hike for the same house if they decide to come back and try to buy it again. Waiting for prices to go down or interest rates to dip again? Good luck. It's a little like the guy who was standing on the corner downtown passing out thousand dollar bills yesterday. What good was it if you weren't there to get one?
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Get pre-approved
How can you avoid getting one of those horrid letters dismissing you as a non-performing buyer? Perform! Tie in the price by writing a contract and stick to the agreement. If the reservation or purchase agreement calls for a 30-day window to accomplish your formal loan approval, shower the lender with all the documentation they ask for. Most builders require this important milestone before they will even let you set foot in their design center. They don't want to spend time with buyers who are less than qualified or less than committed when the market busy.
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Making deadlines
Although the Design experience can be considered one of the more positive and enjoyable aspects of a new home purchase, don't make so many special requests for customized item pricing that Design personnel must constantly "get back to you" with answers. Try hard to choose from among the builder's many pre-priced options and upgrades if you can. (A lot of builders won't even consider special custom requests these days, anyway) And don't miss your appointments with them! Builders are usually very busy, you may have a tough time re-scheduling a time slot and still comply with the purchase agreement deadlines. Take a little time off from work for this, if necessary (this is the one of the biggest investments you'll ever make!) and be prepared with a "wish list" of your own before you go for your appointment.
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Sitting back
What's great about getting all this done so early in the process is: Not only have you "locked in" a purchase price in a market where you may have a chunk of equity on top of your down payment before the house is even complete; you also have the pleasure of sitting back knowing you have done your part. And you can and watch it all come together before your eyes--from bare dirt, to sticks in the air, to your kids playing in front on moving day. It just doesn't get a whole lot better than that.