Building isn't without its own headaches vs buying a completed home that is brand new. Sometimes you will end up with weird things quality control wise that need a significant amount of stupid arguing to fix. For instance, I had a friend whose stair banisters had random railings that were obviously installed upside down. When they complained, they were asked if it was ok to just ignore it (obviously not). They got it fixed, but had to argue about silly things like that. I've had others who had a builder ask to enter their home a few months after they moved in, did their own assessment, then offered to fix things my friend didn't even mention to them (above and beyond). I've had other friends who had no issues with their home, but there were so many months of delays that it turned into a headache as they had to move temporarily into a family members home to wait out the completion of their home to move in. I also believe it's important not to forget that a brand new home I believe has GST. I seem to recall there have been times where a few friends forgot this and were given a bit of a shock when they had leveraged themselves to the limit (All were able to ask for a family loan or were granted the extra loan to deal with the GST).
I think it's absolutely fair to interview realtors and select one that you're happy with, rather than jump on the first guy that responds or is recommended. I did this recently and my wife and I selected a realtor that we felt was more in tune with understanding what we wanted in our house search.
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