Gas meters delaying closing?

0day

New member
My builder keeps saying that they can't give me a firm COE date because they need to wait for SoCal Gas to install gas meters and that they can't schedule a date for this. They basically come and install it whenever they feel like it and that there's a shortage of meters. Has anyone experienced this in the past few months?
 
No idea why this ever became an issue given the planning that builders have to go through with all of the utilities, but has. From a multi unit in Oceanside to a $2m home in Porter Ranch, I've had multiple customers from many different builders all see their home delivery delayed by gas meters. I'd be amazed if it's a true shortage of physical meters given SoCal Gas has had over a years worth of notification in most cases.

My .02c

Soylent Green Is People
 
I thought there was a way to close without gas installed, it's just some paperwork with the sales office.

We closed a few weeks ago and I was ready to close without gas if needed (we had some improvements to do before moving in that didn't require gas). SoCal came on the day of closing to install the meter but I know one out of 6 houses was not able to close on that day because they were not able to install the gas meter in time.
 
All lenders require a Certification of Completion AKA "442" from the appraiser prior to closing. If you're financing your purchase there are two ways around this:

A)  Some lenders will close without the 442, obtaining them post close with the date showing as installed/complete prior to close.

B) Some appraisers will show the property completed without noting any remaining items such as gas or water being turned on.

I get that in some cases, buyers don't really care about the gas meters. These buyers aren't going to live in the home until a month later once their outside flooring goes in. The trouble though is that the buyer isn't the asset the lender has put their lien against. It's the home, and the property does need to be in livable condition.  Most builders are pretty good about completing a home in a professional and workman like condition. Some are a bit lackadaisical about getting things done correctly after you've closed. A buyer loses all leverage when closing early when issues remain - small ones like chipped tile, bigger ones like no gas meters - so it's a case by case decision to allow a closing without a property being completed.

My .02c

SGIP 
 
3 cash buyers in our phase closed without gas. At least one who financed closed without gas, apparently they put something like 80% down and their lender was ok with it.
 
Soylent Green Is People said:
No idea why this ever became an issue given the planning that builders have to go through with all of the utilities, but has. From a multi unit in Oceanside to a $2m home in Porter Ranch, I've had multiple customers from many different builders all see their home delivery delayed by gas meters. I'd be amazed if it's a true shortage of physical meters given SoCal Gas has had over a years worth of notification in most cases.

My .02c

Soylent Green Is People

We were delayed closing our Irvine home nearly 20 years ago because electrical wasn't hooked up (found on walkthrough......... Edison "forgot" to hook our street up) and we were told on our current home a couple years ago no houses could close without the gas meter hooked up because gas would not be turned on without it and the city (Tustin) wouldn't sign off without gas on (not for heat, but for the ability to use the cooking appliances).
 
Well, I'm glad to see that it's not just happening to me and that my builder isn't dropping the ball on this. I still can't believe it's so difficult for them to schedule the installation in advance.

This poses a dilemma because our lender will need to get the final appraisal done before we close but that can't happen until the meters are hooked up. And once they are hooked up, the builder expects us to close but we still need the appraisal done. I sure hope they don't charge us for delaying COE while we wait for the appraisal to get to the underwriters.
 
0day said:
Well, I'm glad to see that it's not just happening to me and that my builder isn't dropping the ball on this. I still can't believe it's so difficult for them to schedule the installation in advance.

This poses a dilemma because our lender will need to get the final appraisal done before we close but that can't happen until the meters are hooked up. And once they are hooked up, the builder expects us to close but we still need the appraisal done. I sure hope they don't charge us for delaying COE while we wait for the appraisal to get to the underwriters.

The first house we had a mortgage so I'm not sure if the lender had a problem. (We weren't going to move in for a week anyway so we didn't need the elec on).

The second home had no mortgage and we pushed hard to get it done because we had no place to put our belongings since the buyer for our house wouldn't let us stay longer. We were told the city was the one causing the problems with not giving a certificate of occupancy.

One of the issues is labor. There are so many new homes being put up that sometimes there just isn't enough workers to install the meters and it's a matter of waiting in line.
 
I was told the same spiel about not being able get a firm COE due to the gas meter installation. Luckily, it was a non-issue in the end. But, I was told that especially around the end of year or the holidays its worse and harder for them to schedule the gas meter installation.
 
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