NEW BUILDS AS INVESTMENT PROPERTIES

[Luke Calhoun]

I work with a residential home builder and have found it strange that I hardly ever get investors coming through the door.  Whats the general consensus on buying new-builds as investment properties?  

The way I see it, the purchase price is not much more than most of the older homes in the area. Basically EVERYTHING is under warranty, so you don't even pay for repairs for around 3 years (and still have some things covered past that such as structure and foundation). You have all new appliances, so they are less likely to break down in the near future. Most builders offer to cover a significant amount of your closing costs (or at least all of them around here). For the first few years you can advertise it as a relatively new home, which renters love. Plus with a relatively small HOA fee the neighborhood is kept up and looking nice.

What are some of the cons to purchasing new builds as investments?  Seeing as I am strongly considering purchasing one as a buy and hold here in the future, I want to understand why I don't see more investors showing interest. 

[Jay Hinrichs]

if they hit the one percent rule the out of state marketing companies will sell the crude out of them.. if not investors are taught 1% or better and only locals will usually go under that... plus homeowners don't want their brand new subdivision over run with renters so builders are cautious as well..