Joe Duggan, BROKER/OWNER, REALTOR®, CBR®
Massachusetts Notary Public
Direct: 617-230-3957
Fax: 781-322-9002
Joe's Biography
Joe Duggan is a native of Reading, MA and has been in the customer service industry for over 25 years. He attended Suffolk University in Boston, MA majoring in Communications. After 16 successful years in the airline industry, earning numerous customer service and safety recognition awards, Joe decided on a career change to Real Estate, the ultimate customer service opportunity! Joe chose the best; RE/MAX. In his 1st year, he quickly earned 2 REALTOR awards. In 2005, Joe was the recipient of the RE/MAX REALTOR of the Year Award within the 5 locations in his franchise as well as a nomintion for RE/MAX of New England’s 2005 REALTOR of the Year Award. In 2006, Joe remained a top representative in the company earning numerous REALTOR awards throughout the year and received his 2nd consecutive RE/MAX International 100% Club Award and in 2007, RE/MAX Int'l's Executive Club Award. To better meet his clients needs, Joe is a Certified Buyer’s Representative and a Massachusetts Notary Public. In 2007, Joe went on to acquire his Broker's license and is now the owner of RE/MAX TRINITY.
Joe’s philosophy for success is treating each client and customer with the utmost individual attention. He gives 100% of his energy to his business. Attention to detail is extremely important and the respect of all he comes in contact with in business and personal life is key. These characteristics have contributed to Joe's successful referral based career.
Home
About RE/MAX
We Are Realtors
Tips for Buyers & Sellers
Community Information
Mortgage Tools
Find A Home Inspector
Inman Realty News
_________________________
|
Buying a New Home
What are the pros and cons of buying a brand new home?
What a joy it would be to own a home that required little, if any, maintenance for 5 or 10 years. This is a major attraction of buying a new home. There's no need to fuss with remodeling and repairing. You simply move in and enjoy. That is, unless you have the misfortune of buying a lemon.
Several years ago, a couple bought a new home in a small development in Marin County, Calif. They thought they'd lucked into the home of their dreams until one house after another in the project developed similar problems. First, the windows and skylights leaked. Then, the drainage systems failed. Finally, water seeped through some exterior walls. The only recourse was to sue the builder. He, however, had fallen into financial hard times soon after building the development.
New homes are usually built with approval of the local building department. This involves a building permit application process including such requirements as a soils report, architectural plans and structural calculations.
Licensed professionals - soils engineer, architect, and contractor - are involved in creating a new home project, which is inspected by city building inspectors during the course of construction. At the end of the project, a certificate of occupancy is issued.
You might expect that with all this planning and scrutiny, new homes would be perfect. But, just because a home is new and built with permits doesn't mean that it was properly built, or that it's free of defects. Sometimes builders make mistakes. City inspectors aren't infallible either, and they are usually immune from liability.
Many homes built after the Oakland Hills firestorm in 1991 developed costly dry-rot problems within several years after they were completed. The culprit in most cases was lack of adequate ventilation. City building inspectors had inspected and approved all the homes during construction.
HOUSE HUNTING TIP:
Don't assume that because a city inspector looked at the property during construction that you don't need to have it inspected. You should include an inspection contingency in your purchase agreement, regardless of the home's age.
It's best to have a new home inspected by a home inspector who has experience inspecting new homes. You may want to have an engineer evaluate the soils report, plans and structural calculations for you.
In addition to inspecting the structure, make sure that you investigate the builder's reputation. You want to buy from a builder who values his good reputation and will promptly take care of any construction-related problems that might surface in the first year or so of ownership.
Ask the builder for a list of homes or developments that he has built in recent years. Visit these. How do they look? Speak to some of the homeowners to find out how satisfied they are with his product. Be sure to ask how the builder responded to requests to take care of problems.
Ask the builder to give you a written warranty, which states that he will repair construction defects that develop within your first year or so of ownership. Some builders won't do this. Also, the law is not always clear about what a builder's responsibilities are to you. Consult with a knowledgeable real estate attorney if you have any questions about a builder's responsibilities.
Older homes need updating, they often aren't energy efficient, and they may be poorly designed. Renovating is expensive and time-consuming. But, a benefit of buying an older home is that it has stood the test of time.
THE CLOSING:
You should exercise diligent care in buying a new home.
Dian Hymer is author of "House Hunting, The Take-Along Workbook for Home Buyers," and "Starting Out, The Complete Home Buyer's Guide," Chronicle Books.
Copyright 2002 Dian Hymer
Distributed by Inman News Features
|
|
