Buying in a new construction community means buying two things: a house, and a neighborhood that does not fully exist yet. Buyers scrutinize the first one carefully. They walk the model, compare floor plans, negotiate options, and read the builder warranty. Then they sign without asking a single question about the second one.
Here is the reframe. The house is the part you can inspect. The community is the part that gets decided later, by a developer, on a timeline and a budget you have no vote in. How many more phases are coming, what those homes will be priced at, whether the promised amenity actually gets built, and who controls the HOA are all answerable questions right now. They just are not on the sales center’s list of things to volunteer.
Nicole France works with buyers across the active build-out corridors of North Paulding, Cherokee, and West Cobb. Here are eight questions to ask before you sign a builder contract.
1. How Many Total Homes, and How Many Are Left?
Start with the number that shapes everything else, and ask for it in writing.
You want the total approved lot count, how many are built and closed, how many are under construction, and how many phases remain. A community with 90 of 400 homes sold is a very different purchase than one with 380 of 400 sold, even though the model home looks identical.
The practical consequences are immediate. Years of construction traffic, dust, and noise. Ongoing marketing that competes with your resale. And the amenity you were shown may not be built until a later phase triggers it. Ask what the projected build-out completion date is, then ask what happens to that date if sales slow.
2. What Will the Next Phase Be Priced At?
This is the question that protects your equity and the one buyers almost never think to ask.
Builders adjust pricing to market conditions. In a softening market, they discount, and they discount to move new inventory, not to protect the value of homes they already sold. If the next phase releases at lower prices than you paid, your comparable sales are now lower than your purchase price, and refinancing or selling in years one through three becomes harder.
You cannot get a guarantee, and no builder will give you one. You can ask what has happened to pricing in the last three phases, whether incentives have increased over time, and how many standing inventory homes exist right now. A builder sitting on completed unsold homes is a builder about to discount.
3. Which Amenities Are Built, Which Are Committed, and Which Are Marketing?
There is a meaningful legal difference between a rendering and an obligation.
Ask which amenities currently exist and are open, which are contractually committed in the recorded declaration with a deadline attached, and which appear only in a brochure or a site plan. Then ask what happens if the community does not sell out. Amenities frequently trigger at phase milestones, and a stalled build-out can leave a promised pool unbuilt for years.
Get the answer from the recorded documents rather than the sales agent. Marketing materials are not enforceable in the way recorded covenants are, and a site plan showing a future clubhouse is a plan, not a promise.
4. Who Controls the HOA, and When Does That Change?
This is the single most important governance question in a new community, and almost no buyer asks it.
During what is called the declarant control period, the developer runs the association. They appoint the board, set the initial budget and assessment amounts, control the architectural review committee, hire the management company, and contract with vendors. That is standard and it exists to keep the project stable during construction. It also means that for years, the entity setting your dues has interests that are not identical to yours.
Read the declaration to find when control transfers. Transition is usually triggered by a sales percentage milestone, a calendar deadline, or the cessation of sales activity. The declaration should also spell out the turnover procedures, and the bylaws should cover voting rights and election processes. If a buyer cannot find those provisions, that is a question for a real estate attorney before signing, not after.
5. What Are Your Rights During Developer Control?
You are not powerless during the declarant period, and Georgia gives owners a specific tool.
Under the Georgia Property Owners’ Association Act, the right to control may pass to homeowners if the declarant fails to meet certain requirements, and O.C.G.A. § 44-3-232.1(b) provides that homeowners may send the declarant written notice of the failure and give a 30-day opportunity to cure, delivered by certified mail or statutory overnight delivery to the declarant’s principal office.
Note the threshold question first: the POA Act is opt-in, and a community must have affirmatively adopted it. Confirm whether this community did. Separately, owners generally retain rights to attend board meetings and inspect financial and governance records even during developer control, and certain decisions such as special assessments and amendments may require owner approval regardless.
6. What Do the Reserves Look Like on Day One?
A brand new community has brand new everything, which makes buyers assume reserves do not matter yet. That assumption is exactly backwards.
Developers set the initial budget and the initial assessment amount. Setting dues low makes homes easier to sell. It also means the reserve fund starts underfunded, and the first homeowner-controlled board inherits the gap. The pool, the clubhouse roof, and the private roads all have finite lifespans that started the day they were built.
Ask for the current budget, the reserve balance, and whether a reserve study has been performed. Ask whether the developer pays assessments on unsold lots, and at what rate, because some declarations let a declarant pay reduced or deficit-funded amounts. Turnover done poorly is how communities inherit depleted reserves and years of deferred maintenance.
7. What Is Actually Going on the Surrounding Land?
The lot behind you is somebody’s plan, and nobody in the sales center is required to tell you whose.
The undeveloped parcel across the road, the wooded buffer behind your lot, the field at the entrance. Ask specifically whether the developer owns adjacent land and what is entitled for it. Then verify independently, because county zoning and planning departments publish pending rezoning applications, approved land use maps, and development plans.
Also ask which streets will be public and which will be private. Private roads mean the association pays to repave them, and repaving is one of the largest capital expenses a community ever faces. Check the Georgia Department of Transportation for planned road projects nearby while you are at it.
8. Where Does the Water and Sewer Come From?
Infrastructure varies more than buyers expect across Northwest Atlanta, and it affects both cost and buildability.
Confirm whether the community is on public sewer or septic, and whether it is on public water or wells. In outer Paulding and Bartow, septic is common, and that changes your inspection needs and your long-term maintenance obligations. Confirm the utility providers for electric, gas, and internet, since provider boundaries in this area follow city and district lines rather than county lines.
One more: ask whether the community has a stormwater detention pond and who maintains it. Detention ponds are frequently turned over to the association, and they carry inspection, maintenance, and occasional dredging costs that surprise new boards.
What Buyers Need to Know
Get your own representation before you walk into the sales center. The onsite agent works for the builder, is paid by the builder, and represents the builder’s interests. In most new construction transactions in this market, having your own agent costs you nothing, and it changes what questions get asked and what gets negotiated.
Have an attorney read the builder contract and the declaration together. Builder contracts are drafted by builders and typically include arbitration provisions, warranty limitations, and sometimes waivers of implied warranties. Those terms are negotiable before you sign and not afterward, which makes the contract stage the only moment that legal review actually helps you.
Then think about your exit before you enter. If you may sell within three to five years, an actively building community means competing directly against the builder’s inventory, their incentives, and their model home. That is a harder sale than resale competition. For buyers across Acworth, Kennesaw, Dallas, Cartersville, and Woodstock, the later phases of a community often carry less of that risk, and the tradeoff is fewer lot choices.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does developer control of an HOA usually last?
It depends on the declaration and the pace of sales rather than on a single rule. Transition is typically triggered by a sales percentage, a calendar deadline, or the end of sales activity, and the full transition process commonly takes twelve months to two years once it begins. Read your community’s declaration for the specific trigger, and confirm whether the community adopted the Georgia Property Owners’ Association Act, since that affects owners’ options.
Can the builder change the plan for the rest of the community?
Often yes, within limits set by the recorded declaration and county approvals. Declarations frequently reserve broad rights for the declarant to add phases, modify plans, or adjust the site plan during the development period. That is why the recorded documents matter more than the rendering on the sales center wall, and why an attorney’s read before signing is worth the cost.
Should I buy in an early phase or a later one?
Both have real tradeoffs. Early phases offer better lot selection and sometimes lower pricing, at the cost of years of construction and the risk that later phases release at lower prices. Later phases mean finished amenities, an established community, and clearer information, at the cost of fewer lot choices. The right answer depends on your timeline and how long you plan to own.
Considering New Construction in Northwest Atlanta?
The builder’s agent will answer what you ask. Knowing what to ask is the part that matters, and it usually happens before you ever walk into a sales center. Reach out first.
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Selling your current home before you build? Start with a home value estimate, or learn more about Nicole’s background.
Sources: guidance on Georgia declarant control transition under O.C.G.A. § 44-3-232.1, an explanation of declarant powers during the development period, and a 2026 guide to HOA developer turnover and owner rights.
This post is general information, not legal advice. Nicole France is a REALTOR®, not an attorney. Declarations, builder contracts, and turnover provisions vary by community, and the Georgia Property Owners’ Association Act applies only to communities that adopted it. Consult a Georgia real estate attorney before signing a builder contract.
Nicole France is a REALTOR® with RE/MAX Center serving buyers and sellers across Acworth, Kennesaw, Dallas, Cartersville, and Woodstock. Client Focused · Results Driven.