Relocating to Richland: Buying New Construction on a Hard Deadline

Two doctors, two young kids, a job start date, and a house that hadn’t been built yet. There was no room for things to go sideways.

Rakshit reached out to me in January 2025. He and his wife, Kanika, were relocating from St. Louis to the Tri-Cities, where Kanika had accepted a position at Kadlec Medical Center.

They had two young children, and needed help finding a home that checked a specific list of boxes:

• good schools
• the right neighborhood
• room for a full-time nanny
• space for visiting family
• strong resale value for when their time here eventually wrapped up

They also had a start date at Kadlec, so the clock was running from day one!

Finding the Right Home on a Compressed Timeline

Rakshit and Kanika flew in twice. The first visit was in April, where we covered a lot of ground and toured homes across the area. The second visit in May was focused, because they had narrowed it down to three or four finalists.

By the end of that day, they had made their decision. They chose a home that was still under construction with New Tradition, a local builder I’ve worked with enough to know they take their timelines seriously.

When you’re buying new construction, builders have less flexibility on price than a traditional seller, so it’s often harder to “get a deal.” But we found room to negotiate, and got the home for a little more than 3% below its asking price!

What Makes New Construction Tricky

Now, buying a home that’s still being built comes with a specific set of constraints that catch some buyers off guard. By the time a home is actively under construction, the major decisions are already locked in. Cabinetry and countertops were ordered months earlier. Structural changes aren’t possible because the permits have already been submitted and approved.

Rakshit and Kanika were buying something that was already designed. But, what we could do were the smaller things: swapping a wire shelf for a wood shelf, adding ceiling fan pre-wiring, and other small finish upgrades that don’t require structural changes. We worked through those options and customized the home as best we could given where things stood in the build.

The bigger challenge with new construction is timing. Builders give you a target completion date, but that date can shift for any number of reasons. For Rakshit and Kanika, a delay would be a major problem — remember, they had jobs starting and a family moving across the country.

Everything depended on the house being ready, and New Tradition came through!

Managing the Details from a Distance

Rakshit and Kanika are both doctors, which means their schedules are unpredictable. Long shifts, irregular days, and a cross-country move happening simultaneously meant that most of the transaction had to be handled with them at a distance. I coordinated the pieces they couldn’t manage from St. Louis: the home insurance, keeping tabs on the build as it progressed, the logistics around closing, etc.

The home was complete about a month before they arrived, which actually created its own set of logistics. A finished, empty home sitting vacant for a month needs attention: the lawn still has to be cut, the house needs to be kept clean, and everything has to be ready when a family walks through the door for the first time with two small children and their belongings. I arranged for lawn maintenance and got cleaners in before their arrival so that when they showed up, the house was exactly what it should be.

They were able to come back for the final walkthrough, which I was genuinely glad about. New construction walkthroughs are important — the builder walks you through every system in the house, explains how things work, what to do and what not to do, and answers questions in real time. That would’ve been tough to replicate over video.

The family moved in right around the Fourth of July. The house was ready, the kids had a home, and Kanika could start her new role at Kadlec without the distraction of an unresolved housing situation hanging over everything!

If You’re Relocating to the Tri-Cities for Work

Relocations have a way of magnifying every decision. You’re learning a new city, managing a job transition, and trying to make a major financial decision, often without the luxury of time. I’ve helped a lot of families navigate exactly this situation, including new construction purchases where the timeline is largely out of your hands.

If you’re moving to the Tri-Cities for a position at Kadlec, PNNL, or anywhere else, and you want to talk through your options, reach out anytime. The earlier we connect, the more we can get done before you ever set foot in town.

-Cari