DRHorton Home Construction Experience (Virginia)

Like most builders, DR Horton conducts a final walk thru / orientation with the buyer a week or two before closing.  Our walk thru lasted about 3 hours and was conducted by the construction manager, George Leon. The experience was an absolute pleasure as George covered everything in detail and shared ins and outs regarding various items, including appliances, water systems, heating, air conditioning and everything else. This was our first view of the home in a clean condition and we were blown away. Everything looked fantastic and it was impossible to not get really excited about moving in. First there was the setting. The back yard is a completely private open field and in late May the grass was tall and beautiful. The landscaping was well done and - at least for now - most of the new sod that was installed is still alive and green. The builder has a timer-based sprinkler system that is keeping the lawn alive at least until we move in. There were many small bushes installed in the fro

Once all the heavy installations are done, there's still a long list of more minor things that can take up 1-2 months of time.  Our walkthru is set for this coming Thursday (25 May) so everything is just about done.  As everything was installed, there were three issues that we needed to raise with the builder: The septic in the back had an access that was about 20 inches above the natural grade, and it was in a very central position behind our house.  The driveway makes a hairpin turn (150 degrees) as you reach the area house, making it hard to turn into the garage, especially if there are other cars in the driveway and the blacktop area gives us almost no maneuvering room.  The refrigerator promised in the sales literature included a premium refrigerator with in-door water and ice dispenser, but the only available fridge would not fit the installed cabinet design. The great people at DR Horton, George Leon - our Construction Manager, and Riich Moortgat, our Builder Rep, were able

One thing happened during the home inspection for our existing house that will impact new home buyers, so I want to mention it.  Part of the contract was a Home Inspection Contingency that included a radon test. Radon is a radioactive gas that naturally occurs in many parts of the country, including where we live. There is no legal requirement for builders to address radon. So our current house, built in 2017 did not have a radon test prior to occupancy and had no remediation system installed. However, once we went to resell the house, virtually all home inspections include radon testing. Virtually all them, including ours, failed. This means that we, as the buyer of a new home where the builder is not required to address radon, have to address it when we go on to sell our house. Honestly, this seems like a scheme for builders to lower their costs. The cost of radon always falls on the initial owner.  Of course, if I'd have known, I'd have installed a radon mitigatio

Sorry it has taken me so long to write another entry. There were a number of things that go in the way, like a graduation in California, work, and training for some physical events coming up. However, the biggest reason for going silent was that we were waiting to sell our current home.  This is the first time I've purchased a new house and planned to use proceeds from my current house to pay for it. Given the past few years of crazy real estate stories - houses selling for above asking price before they even go on the market officially, no contingencies, no home inspections, multiple cash offers, etc, we were conditioned to expect a quick sale. After all, our current home is beautiful. Surely it would sell within minutes.  Well, we were a little off in our thinking. Several factors conspired to make our home selling experience much more 'normal' than the stories we had heard. The current higher interest rate environment, the subsiding of the COVID home-buying frenzy that t