Ask for the moon and see what you get

Our strategy for bidding on our first home was to ask for the moon and see what we could get. Our agent cautioned that while she thought our requests were reasonable, we shouldn't expect the builder to agree to all of them. We expected them to agree to the smaller things but maybe not the larger, more expensive requests. We were all shocked when the builder agreed to it all.

Here's the little extras we requested:

• Tile in the master closet instead of carpeting like in the sold comparable house because the closet is attached to the master bath. 
• Glass doors installed on the master shower
• An additional cable jack installed in the living room. We liked the idea of having jacks on two separate walls because it will give us more options for furniture placement and will also, we believe, help with re-sale because buyers will be able to picture their furniture in more than one set-up. 
• Upper cabinets in the laundry room. I personally love this idea because the garage is right off the laundry area. These cabinets will provide a lot of added storage. 
• Patio extension. The plans call for a patio of 7 ft which makes it even with the roof line but for grilling and outdoor living purposes we liked the idea of a larger patio area.
• Mirrors and all fixtures for the bathrooms including towel racks, etc
• Tile back splash in kitchen
• Upgraded carpet pad. Builder grade carpet pad is very thin and an upgraded pad will make help improve the look and feel of any carpet. 
• Extra linen closet installed that was present in sold comparable house but not on floor plan. Our agent said it would likely come standard because builder change floor plans slightly as they go along building them but it never hurts to clarify anything. 
• Larger window to be installed over the kitchen window. We had originally ask for this but during our first meeting with the builder it was discussed that we would have to lose cabinet space or the crown molding on the cabinets for it to be accomplished and we weren't willing to do that. So, the money allotted for this larger window will be devoted to additional landscaping in the front of the house.
• Our last request was a 6 ft privacy fence to be installed in the backyard. Our agent said it was unlikely due to cost that they would agree to this last request but they did! We are so happy! A fence was one of Brad's major wants so its great to check a major want off the list.