New Home Inspection
 

Helping a friend purchase a new, never lived-in home from The Villages and I understand that all new homes come with a one year warranty.

Anyone here or any advise on obtaining an official Home Inspection evaluation performed prior to closing date on a brand new home?

Any suggestions on whom to use?

Also, any insurance agents OTHER than The Villages ?

Thanks

Do not perform the home inspection prior to closing. Schedule it for about 10 months after closing - just prior to the end of the 1-year warranty. During the first 10 months, call the Warranty Dept. to report anything the homeowner notices.

I'm not going to recommend one inspector. There are several here with excellent reputations.

We used AAA for insurance. The local independent agent enrolled us with policies for home, golf cart and car.

Make sure your homeowners insurance policy clearly states that you have "sinkhole" coverage. If it says "catastrophic ground collapse" instead, don't buy it. It is a very complicated topic, but the two coverages are not the same. You can read other threads on this site about it.

I think that Frank D'Angelo is the best home inspector in The Villages.

Second vote for frank, and I agree to have the inspection 1 to 2 months BEFORE the 1 year anniversary.

Allstate insurance is very good for home ,auto,golf cart 259-3825

An inspection BEFORE closing is very rare....and in all probability not needed. It is difficult to even have done, since the property is officially the Villages property and home until closing. It is not the same as a pre-owned home.

What IS done however is the following;

You close on your home. You have a "walk through". This could be with the builder or a Villages representative. It could vary in time and degree of thoroughness. Any issues pointed out during that walkthrough should be documented and initialed.

You typically have 30 days to submit a "checklist" of anything reasonable you find that needs repair, replacement, etc. This typically needs to be turned into The Villages within the first month. Sadly, many new owners neglect to do this, only to find out down the road that something is not covered because it was turned in after those 30 days.

Here is a list of many of the things that are "typically" covered for only the first thirty days.

Scratches, dents, blemishes or damage on Appliances, windows, sliding glass doors, shower doors, kitchen sinks, all bathroom and kitchen fixtures, bathtubs, sinks, mirrors, toilet seats, Countertops, light fixtures, etc., etc. All landscaping, plantings, sod, etc. Also most of your irrigation system, underground piping, etc.

Rips, cuts, damage to screens, including all window screens and lanai screens. Dents in doors, molding, garage doors, etc.

This makes sense, as for example a big scratch in your kitchen sink should be covered right after closing, but after that the scratch could have been caused by your pots and pans, diamond ring, etc. A dent in your garage door reported a year later could have been made anytime by the homeowner.

You must do a detailed inspection of all these items within the first 30 days to have them repaired or replaced. No offense, but The Villages will not typically accept the excuse, "We were up North for months, we are not here much yet".

We sometimes do this inspection for folks. We call it a punchlist inspection. It takes some time, and it is different than the 10-11 month (one year) inspection because while we ARE looking at the whole house, roof, attic, mechanicals, etc, we are also focusing on these items that they WILL NOT fix after 30 days.

Our "one year" inspection is different because there are many items we find during the one year inspection, like settling cracks, cracked grout, etc., that simply WILL NOT EXIST during the first 30 days because the home is too new and settling has not yet occurred.

Most of our business is doing the one year inspection, because typically the 30 day stuff could easily be done by the homeowner if they are willing to make the time and effort to do so. Some folks will have us do both inspections.

I hope this helps!

Frank D'Angelo ACI

Thank you Mr. Frank D'angelo-

Your response was very appreciated and helpful.
Both myself and my friend will set-up an appointment with you next year......Joe Miller

Make sure you set up that appointment MONTHS in advance of your one year warranty time frame.

Frank and his sons are VERY busy!

As for your insurance question, there are several agencies to use, I have used AAA, The Villages, and an independent agent over several years, one think to double check....after your agent gives you a proposed list of companies and coverage, check the actual rating of the insurance company. I had instance where the recommended company was a "D" rated company, did not find out until several months later. I was able to have the companies checked out by contacting my financial advisor, as I did not have member access to the rating sites.
Also, as mentioned above, ALL Florida house insurance has 'catastrophic ground collapse' coverage, but this only provides coverage if the house is condemned, if you have a sinkhole on your property that does not condem the house, you are not covered, this is the seperate "sinkhole" insurance coverage. It typically has a large deductible, but I have heard of cases where people were able to pay a larger yearly rate for a smaller deductible. Your agent should be able to provide a detailed explanation of these coverages.

I agree that an insurance agent "should" be able to explain sinkhole coverage, but my Allstate agent sure couldn't. He tried to sell me a policy from a company in Orlando, that he said had sinkhole coverage. But, when I asked him for a clear and concise explanation, I could tell that he did not understand it. So, I called the Orlando company directly, and they confirmed that the policy did not include sinkhole coverage. If your insurance declaration section does not use the word "sinkhole", then you probably do not have the coverage.

Isn't there a 10 year warranty of some sort on new homes in The Villages?

By law you have a 10 year structural warranty.

Frank

I think there is also a 10 year "parts only" warranty on your HVAC system, if you have a Carrier system.

And make sure the irrigation is checked as soon as possible after closing. The name of the installing company should be on the irrigation box, as well as in papers given at time of closing. Any irrigation/landscape issues are only covered the first 30 days after closing AND only if an inspection was made by the irrigation company.

Redwitch, you are correct...I did forget that item in my post and edited it. Thank you. I will say that in all our inspections we always check the irrigation....some items ARE covered for the year, while other items are only for the 30 days. They always take our inspection reports and are responsive. Because we work for the homeowner and not the builder or The Villages or anyone else, we have an ethical obligation to our client.

Thanks! Frank D.