How to Search for a Home Builder

• check the Internet and local newspapers for advertising and information placed by builders
• look at the features, standard items and options offered by builders and compare offers
• study photographs, video, floorplans and virtual walkthroughs at builder Internet sites or sites like the Toronto Star’s New In Homes Web site (www.newinhomes.com) and Real Estate News site at www.ren.ca
• check the builder association in your area. For instance, most good home builders in the Toronto area are members of the Greater Toronto Home Builders’ Association and most of these are listed at Goldhawk.com.
• Make a list of the features you want in your home. Consider things like number of bathrooms, whether you want an eat-in kitchen or home office or …
• Visit sales centres of builders to look at model homes or suites. Talk to sales representatives to get a feeling for the homes and the builder. Take notes so you can compare room sizes, features, standards and options and pricing. Take along measurements of large furniture to ensure all pieces will fit into the space of your new home.

• Ask what is standard and what on display in a sales centre is optional so you will get fair comparisons between builders. Understand as well what cannot be changed – like a range of brick colors.
• Ask if there are bonus packages and other upgrades or incentives (like Internet connections).
• After you have decided on a builder and are presented with the Agreement of Purchase and Sale or other contract, make sure the features you were offered in the showroom exactly match those in the formal – and binding – agreement.
• Visit the building site and spend time studying the orientation of the home-to-be, the neighborhood, possible views and other considerations. Talk to neighbors in established areas and to people in the area whose homes were built by your preferred builders.
• Once you have made your basic decisions, consult the professionals, like your banker, lawyer, real estate agent, mortgage lender and others to make certain your decisions are sound, that your preferred builder is rock solid and that you will get what you planned.