Buying New Construction in Skagit, Island, Whatcom and Snohomish Counties

Buying new construction, in Skagit, Island, Whatcom, or Snohomish County, feels simpler than buying a resale home. The house is clean, the finishes are chosen from a board, and the person at the desk in the model home is helpful and knows every answer. Worth knowing before you walk in: that person is the builder's representative. They work for the builder, and their job is to sell the builder's homes on the builder's terms.

That is just the setup. The builder has someone at the table whose only job is the builder's outcome. The question is who is at the table for yours. The contract, the lot premium, the upgrade pricing, the lender incentives, the timeline, the warranty, and the inspections all have room in them, and someone has to know where.

That is the work DiAnn Sager does for new-construction buyers. How she is compensated is spelled out in your written buyer agreement before your first visit, and many builders pay a buyer's agent as part of their sale, so you are not choosing between representation and the house.

Every item here is part of DiAnn's standard buyer package, applied to a home that does not exist yet.

• Registers you on day one, so your representation is on the builder's record from the first visit.
• Reads the builder's contract and addenda with you: deposit terms, the construction timeline and what happens if it slips, change-order rules, what is included and what is an upgrade, and the warranty.
• Negotiates where the builder has room. Base price moves rarely on a new build, but upgrades, lot premiums, closing-cost credits, and included appliances or landscaping often do, and the room changes with the builder's standing inventory and the season.
• Keeps your lender choice yours. Builders often tie incentives to their preferred lender. Sometimes that is the better deal, sometimes not, and you compare with real numbers from both.
• Schedules inspections, because new does not mean finished. A pre-drywall inspection while framing, plumbing, and wiring are still visible. A final inspection before closing. And a walkthrough near the end of the builder's workmanship warranty period, so items the builder is responsible for get on the list while they are still covered.
• Runs the final walkthrough and the punch list, so what is written down gets fixed before you sign, not after.
• Tracks the build and keeps your lender, your rate lock, and your move date in step with the builder's schedule.

If you are selling a home to fund the new one, the trading up page covers running both. If you are coming from out of the area, relocation covers the four counties.