Buying a new construction home is different than buying a resale home. What does that process look like? What do I need to know? And what is the buying process with Fischer Homes? That’s what we’re going to talk about in this video. I’m Eric Sztanyo from Keller Williams Realty and teamsztanyo.com where we are helping you find your home and strengthen your family. I’m a realtor here in the Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky area. So if you’re looking at buying a new construction home here in the Greater Cincinnati area. Whether that’s in Ohio or in Kentucky. I wanna help you out and want to walk you through the home buying process with Fischer Homes, the largest homebuilder here in the Cincinnati area. And provide a little bit of an idea of what that process is like. What you should look out for some questions to ask along the way.
Some Of The Top Home Builders Here In The Cincinnati Area
The first thing I wanted to do before giving you a few tips just look at some of the largest Cincinnati home builders. We’re going to walk through the Fisher homes today. But I wanted to show you that there’s a lot of great home builders in the Cincinnati area. Fischer happens to be the largest one. This is as of 2017. They have sold the most housing starts in 758. Next is M I homes. You see a lot of them up in the Mason Westchester area. And Drees company is number three. Oftentimes in the neighborhoods, you might see Fisher Angie’s and they’re together, and they both have their advantages or pros and cons.
The Buying Process with Fischer Homes Website: Styles, Neighborhood, Price Points
Step one of the buying process with Fischer homes is to get pre-qualified.
This is really the same. If you’re buying a resale home, or if you’re buying a new construction home. What they don’t say which is really important is that the demand for new construction homes in Cincinnati right now is so great that most home builders will not accept financing that is contingent on the sale of another home. When you get a home under contract for new construction, you’ve got 30 days to lock in your loan application. That could be with their preferred lender, which in this case is Victory mortgage, or it could be with your own lender, but you have basically 30 days to make sure that you have a preapproval letter that says it is not contingent on the sale of your other home.
So if you’re selling the house first, before you go and buy a new construction home. You want to be sure that that home is going to be sold and closed basically within that 30 day period of when you need your loan application. Make sure you talk to the sales rep of whatever builder you’re working with, whether that’s Fisher homes or anyone else. And double-check on that financing requirement if they are accepting the pre-approval letters that are contingent or does it need to be, non-contingent. Make sure you have that locked down with your agent first before you go talk to a sales rep at a builder.
Step two of the buying process with Fischer homes is to choose your new home.
And It’s really fun! You get to pick out the neighborhood. You get to kind of go to the model home and figure it out and get to look at the different pricing options. The sales counselors that Fisher homes or any new construction home builders are going to have onsite work for the home builder. And they’re great.
They’re going to be able to tell you everything you need to know about that builder, and they’re gonna help you buy your house. They’re going to walk you through that process. But what I would say is, before you walk into that model home, make sure you’re working with a buyer’s agent, someone like me at team Sztanyo, or somebody else. Because you want to have an agent on your side. And I guess what’s good news for you that the buyer’s agent is completely free. It doesn’t cost you a thing, but it gives you someone who has an agency responsible for you. Who’s working for looking out for your best interest on your side, and guess who pays for it? The builder pays for it. The builder pays for the commission for the buyer’s agent to work for you!
It’s already built into their proforma companies like Fisher and my homes, they have this built-in. They want buyer’s agents to bring them people. But just make sure you do this ahead of time, because oftentimes what will happen if you go to that model home and you don’t have an agent on your side, then they would probably lock you in, and now they’re not going to pay out the commission. And so then you don’t have anyone on your side when it comes to all the things that will happen during the buying process. Not only reviewing the contract but looking at inspection periods, seeing if there are any incentives that you can look at. Being just an intermittent intermediary between you and the builder throughout the entire process, because let’s face it. It is a longer process.
It’s not going to take you one month to go buy a house and close. It’s going to take you six to eight months to not only purchase the home but then build out the home. So you want a buyer’s agent on your side. I would recommend going in with your agent to the model home so that you can pick all those things. In fact, your agent can actually help you pick out the neighborhood and look at different builders ahead of time so that you can save some time.
Step three of the buying process with Fischer homes is you’re going to sign a purchase agreement.
That is once you figured out the neighborhood, you’ve picked out the lot, and you’ve picked out the home design.
The contract will indicate the specifics of the house you choose and the amount of money. The way Fisher homes do it is you choose a lot, the different layouts of the home ahead of time. And when you’re with that sales counselor, either on the phone or in person, they would ask if you want a particular space to be a morning room? Or do you want it to be like an optional fifth bedroom? Or do you want a finished basement or not finished? Do you not want a fireplace? You make all those like big builder decisions upfront before you sign this purchase agreement. And then at a later time is you go through their design process, but you actually signed a contract. Also, there’s going to be a deposit you need to put down. So this informs you of your deposit dates.
Step four of the buying process with Fischer homes is you’re going to work with your loan officer.
Whether that’s with the preferred lender of the builder. And you might want to consider that because sometimes you get incentives by working with their builder because they work with them over and over again. Or you might want to choose your own. It’s up to you. You can shop around different rates. Again, your buyer’s agent should help you figure this out. But your loan officer, once you sign the purchase agreement, then you’re going to go fully apply for the loan and get that application in place. They’re going to do research on all of your finances to make sure they can fully approve you for the loan, not just that preapproval letter.
Step five of the buying process with Fischer homes is now you close on your home.
It’s that easy. But all your deposits are going towards the final down payment of your house. Due at closing – you will receive keys to your new home.
This is a simplified version of the buying process. It gives you kind of a general idea of the overview. The other things they have on the site, which I recommend you checking out is: What does the building process look like? And what does the design process look like?
The way Fisher homes do it is pretty cool. You can go to one of their lifestyle design centers and they basically have every option you can choose from every type of flooring, every type of paint, every type of lighting, fixtures, every type of granite countertops, every type of backsplashes. It’s all in this one. You choose all the design finishes at once.
With Fisher, the way it works is you kind of sign that original contract. And then once you go make your design choices, it’s possible that some of the choices you make might up that contract price that you signed for. So you get to decide all that. But just realize that, like, when you’re in the model home, everything is fancy and top of the line. The things you might choose in that initial contract are kind of the baseline.
Once you go to the design center, you’re probably gonna be like “well, I really want that style of a sink” or “I really want this laundry finished” Just know they’re not really upselling you, it’s just the way they do it. Most of the builders do something similar where it’s like you choose the base contract, and then you choose your design finishes that might add a little bit, not like a huge amount.
When you see those signs, as you’re driving down the road, it’s like starting from the 200 or from the 300 – 500. But realize that, that number is like starting there, It’s not finishing there. So just know that ahead of time and I’ll help you out. So that’s a little bit of the overview of the buying process for Fisher homes.
Find The Right New Construction Homes For Your Family With Team Sztanyo
If you’re looking at new construction in the Cincinnati or Kentucky area or want to know the buying process of Fischer homes then hopefully, this was helpful for you. If it was give us a like and make sure you watch these other videos that we’ve done on new construction homes in the areas. Get a feel of some of the neighborhoods and if you’re shopping or moving to Cincinnati or looking to buy new construction in Cincinnati or Northern Kentucky, give us a call at team Sztanyo and we’d love to help you out!
Our mission is all about helping your families find their way home and strengthen family bonds. Cause we believe that home is where families grow stronger together. Thank you so much for watching guys.