New construction adds a second document
on top of the state contract.

Buy a house that already exists and there is one contract. Buy one that is still being built and there are usually two documents: the standard New Jersey form, and a new construction addendum attached to it. The addendum is the one that describes building a house rather than selling a finished one, and where the two disagree, the addendum is what governs.

The first thing in it that runs on a clock is the right to cancel. The buyer has five business days from the date both sides sign the addendum to send notice of cancellation by certified mail, and it counts from the day the notice is mailed rather than the day it lands. That is a shorter window than most people expect, and it is why the addendum is worth reading at the sales office rather than after the fact.

The second clock is selections. Standard color and other choices are due within seven calendar days of the buyer getting a fully signed copy, unless the builder extends that in writing. Let the window pass and the builder can raise the price of decorator choices, move the anticipated closing date, or make the selections itself, and a processing fee can attach to a late choice or to changing one after the period has closed.

The addendum also sets out what the builder keeps the right to do while the house goes up. Materials, equipment and design can be substituted without notice as long as what goes in is of equal or better quality, and the builder decides where the house sits on the lot, which can include building the floor plan in reverse. On the other side, the buyer is not obliged to close unless a certificate of occupancy, temporary or conditional or permanent, is in hand at or before closing. The walk-throughs before closing are the point at which cosmetic items get written down, which is what makes them worth doing slowly.

What to ask, and who answers it: a licensed New Jersey attorney is the one who reads your particular addendum and tells you what a section of it means for you, because builders write their own versions and they are not all the same. Your lender can tell you how an anticipated closing date rather than a fixed one affects a rate lock. Your agent can tell you which deadlines in it arrive first and what the selection appointment involves.