5 Extras You Should Always Negotiate With Your New Home Builder

Most new home builders stand by their price. If you are a savvy real estate agent on your team, however, you can negotiate extras in your contract instead. While these items do not cost the builder much, they may save you money, time, or frustration later. 

1. HOA Dues: When you are building a home in a new subdivision or master-planned community, you will have monthly HOA (home owner's association) dues. Ask the builder to pay for a year of association dues for you, upfront, at the closing. It may seem minor to the builder, but that can give you some breathing room as you adjust to life with a new, probably larger, house payment. 

2. Insulation: While insulating your new home's exterior walls, roof, and foundation is standard procedure, insulating the interior walls is not. Ask the builder to put fiberglass batt insulation in the interior walls for you. While it isn't the same as sound-proofing insulation, it will muffle the noise of the television and conversations from room to room and will cost the builder very little. 

3. Landscaping: Surprisingly, many new construction homes do not come with landscaping yet the HOA requires the new homeowners to install landscaping within a few months of moving in. Try to negotiate with the builder to have a landscaping package throw in when you agree to build the home. They can likely get a good deal from the landscaper that they work with on a regular basis. 

4. Lighting: Most new home builders include a kitchen lighting package as well as a chandelier above the dining room table and in the foyer. The bedrooms, however, do not come standard with ceiling lights. In fact, this is usually considered a "ceiling fan bracket" on the upgrade sheet. It will include the electrical junction box and be capped off with a flat, ceiling blank-up cover. Having ceiling fan brackets installed in every bedroom ceiling will make adding a light fixture there an easy, DIY project when you are ready. 

5. Appliances: Most new home builders include a stove, microwave, and dishwasher in the sale. Like is most home sales, refrigerators are not included. That does not mean that you can't ask for one to be included when you make your offer. This saves you from spending your hard-earned cash after closing on a refrigerator instead of that new sofa you've had your eye on.

Learn more about your options by contacting new home builders. 


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