Realtor for a newly built home?

[rx7boi]

Hey all,

Just wanted to get some additional feedback. Was searching for some similar experiences and ran into some threads where Sugarphreak recommended not getting a realtor when building a home.

I'm hoping to get more experiences and suggestions about the pros and cons. This is going to be our first home. We've been trying to educate ourselves as buyers should by comparing listings in the area (NW Nolan Hill and surrounding) and also going to some homes to find out what we like/don't like. We have a good sense of what our 400-450k budget will get us.

A friend mentioned some Avi homes available so we went during the weekend. We liked what they offered but we haven't gone with a realtor yet.

We were thinking that without a realtor we could potentially have a bargaining chip for the realtor commission towards upgrades or the home itself. On the other hand, having a good realtor could guide us through the homebuying process and even help us negotiate.

http://www.homesavvyatoz.com/new-construction-purchase/

My question is whether or not a realtor would be worth it for a new construction, especially since the fee isn't coming out of our pockets.

Feedback?

[TimLacroix]

I would say yes to using a Realtor for purchasing new construction homes. They will give you good feedback on the builder, area and be able to negotiate for you as well...

They are representing you and not the builder but the sales person is representing the builder.

Jordan Lotoski is the Beyond Realtor and if I were you, I would call him even if it is just to get his opinion.

You have nothing to lose and everything to gain!!

[Sugarphreak]

...

[kenny]

New home construction is pretty overwhelming and would be pretty easy to overlook something without someone helping you out. In today's market I doubt skipping out on the realtor would result in any significant discounts, just more money in the builder's pocket since there are literally buyers lined up.

While it's important to customize your new home with the options you want, it's equally important to make sure you don't skip out on some key things that would become useful during resale.

One problem though working with Jordan is that he has lots of ideas and if you like them all, it tends to destroy the budget

[turbotrip]

i think it would be worthwhile to find an experienced realtor but only if he helps all the way to the end of construction, not just the beginning.

[G]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak


As a tactic if they don't want to negotiate; You can threaten to bring in a realtor, and they will give you a discount, haha.

A lot of builders clearly state that an agent must register the buyers first. If the buyer has already had contact with the rep the agent will not get paid.

Yes Jordan gave us a lot of valuable informatino and if you're anything like me, who hates picking colors and stuff he shows up for all those appointments too...he has good taste...very metro sexual.

[88CRX]

I doubt there much (if any) discounts being handed out these days. They already can't build them fast enough.

[Sugarphreak]

...

[v2kai]

I would definitely recommend having a realtor in your court.

With our recent home (first time purchase) we were very happy to have him on our side. We didnt know about the registering with a realtor for your first visit to a showhome. Luckily the builder allowed us to shoehorn him. It didnt change the price up or down at all although we were looking at a discount promo spec build so not sure how much that factors in. There were a few instances where he chimed in on our behalf and definitely proved his worth. Very glad his expertise was on hand.

[UndrgroundRider]

You can definitely save yourself a bit of money if you're approaching a builder without a realtor. Most builders already have "referral" programs which are essentially that, just cutting the realtor out and passing the commissions on to the buyer/referrer.

I'm not sure I agree with everyone else. Realtors seem to do very little when it comes to building new. The builder is usually setup to make everything as easy as possible already. Other than some common sense advice regarding layouts and lot location, I'm not sure you're getting much for your money.

[spike98]

Originally posted by v2kai
I would definitely recommend having a realtor in your court.

With our recent home (first time purchase) we were very happy to have him on our side. We didnt know about the registering with a realtor for your first visit to a showhome. Luckily the builder allowed us to shoehorn him. It didnt change the price up or down at all although we were looking at a discount promo spec build so not sure how much that factors in. There were a few instances where he chimed in on our behalf and definitely proved his worth. Very glad his expertise was on hand.

I went the same route as you with not knowing the Realtor had to be registered. They were kind enough to give him/her a piece of the pie however i didn't think that after the initial visit he/she was much use.

[frozenrice]

If the builder has show homes and sales people you don't need a realtor. With the competitive building market, the commission paid to the realtor usually comes right off the bottom line. The builder does not profit the saved commission as it's not typically budgeted in the price to keep the pricing competitive. Use a realtor with a Showhome builder and typically you will end up paying commission to the sales person AND the realtor. This means that the commission they didn't include for the realtor comes off your ability to negotiate the price down.

On that note, if you're dealing with Jean-Francois Benard who's office is the front seat of his truck, yeah I'd use a realtor. But with the larger builders there's no need.

[v2kai]

Originally posted by spike98


I went the same route as you with not knowing the Realtor had to be registered. They were kind enough to give him/her a piece of the pie however i didn't think that after the initial visit he/she was much use.

Our realtor offered some critical pieces of advice during write up of the contract with the builder and made sure our best interest was taken care of. Two discrete items in particular he chimed in and insisted different than what the builder was suggesting that we wouldnt have known otherwise. He was great. Even the builder's sales reps commented how awesome he was because his commission was a bit lower for some reason relating to the particular sale but he was still present at all meetings and ensured we were well taken care of.

[spike98]

Originally posted by v2kai


Our realtor offered some critical pieces of advice during write up of the contract with the builder and made sure our best interest was taken care of. Two discrete items in particular he chimed in and insisted different than what the builder was suggesting that we wouldnt have known otherwise. He was great. Even the builder's sales reps commented how awesome he was because his commission was a bit lower for some reason relating to the particular sale but he was still present at all meetings and ensured we were well taken care of.

I built spec so there wasn't a lot of input required however aside from a few emails checking in, that was it. No show at any of the meetings too.

EDIT: Im not saying he/she did jack. We were shown places in calgary which ultimately convinced us where we didn't want to live. But a few hours work at most.

[frozenrice]

Originally posted by v2kai


Our realtor offered some critical pieces of advice during write up of the contract with the builder and made sure our best interest was taken care of. Two discrete items in particular he chimed in and insisted different than what the builder was suggesting that we wouldnt have known otherwise. He was great. Even the builder's sales reps commented how awesome he was because his commission was a bit lower for some reason relating to the particular sale but he was still present at all meetings and ensured we were well taken care of.

That's a rarity that you found a realtor that committed and knowledgeable and fairly priced. We've had so many realtors come in through a Showhome and merely walk through with a client. Then when the client comes back by themselves to sign a deal the realtor would reappear after the deal is signed asking for commission for merely walking the clients up to door of the sales center.

[Sugarphreak]

...

[G]

Tough crowd...some of you sound like you would give birth to yourself to save a buck.

[rx7boi]

Originally posted by v2kai


Our realtor offered some critical pieces of advice during write up of the contract with the builder and made sure our best interest was taken care of. Two discrete items in particular he chimed in and insisted different than what the builder was suggesting that we wouldnt have known otherwise. He was great. Even the builder's sales reps commented how awesome he was because his commission was a bit lower for some reason relating to the particular sale but he was still present at all meetings and ensured we were well taken care of.

What critical information was that?

Thanks for all the feedback guys.

I'd also like to extend a thank you to Sugarphreak who reached out and PM'd me. He offered some very insightful information as far as working with builders which will be very valuable if we decide to go with a new builder.

I'm still on the fence at the moment with Avi, since the price will most likely be over our budget after the base price with upgrades and a garage. There are similar/cheaper homes built in the last several years nearby which are also attached garages, so that is another decision we will have to make.

We are going to take a look at couple of the lots today, so I'll be sure to check back and let you guys know how it goes.

The one thing I will say though, is that right now we have an opportunity to work with a family friend who is a realtor. He's had quite a bit of experience building homes, and even worked with demo'd homes to rebuild on the lot. He works on a flat rate (for new homes) and would be willing to give us a portion of his commission back as well, since we are family friends.

[v2kai]

Originally posted by rx7boi


What critical information was that?

Thanks for all the feedback guys.

I'd also like to extend a thank you to Sugarphreak who reached out and PM'd me. He offered some very insightful information as far as working with builders which will be very valuable if we decide to go with a new builder.

I'm still on the fence at the moment with Avi, since the price will most likely be over our budget after the base price with upgrades and a garage. There are similar/cheaper homes built in the last several years nearby which are also attached garages, so that is another decision we will have to make.

We are going to take a look at couple of the lots today, so I'll be sure to check back and let you guys know how it goes.

The one thing I will say though, is that right now we have an opportunity to work with a family friend who is a realtor. He's had quite a bit of experience building homes, and even worked with demo'd homes to rebuild on the lot. He works on a flat rate (for new homes) and would be willing to give us a portion of his commission back as well, since we are family friends.

Honestly I cant recall the details exactly. I believe it was something relating to waiving of conditions. I think the builder wanted to knock off a safeguard that was in place to allow us to walk away if something didnt work out or something of that nature and our realtor jumped in and said no, put that back in. The way the builder's sale's rep explained it, it seemed reasonable and no big deal but our realtor explained it from a different perspective outside afterwards and we were glad he was there to chime in. Also in our case, our builder wasnt going to budge on price whether we had a realtor or not so we had nothing to lose by having him in our court. Two items were kept/revised under his advice. I'll see if I can dig up the contract and home and get specifics later.

rx7boi sounds like you've already got a realtor lined up but if you or anybody wants to get in contact with the guy we used feel free to drop me a PM. I dont have any affiliation/relation with him other than our first home purchase. He has a local real estate blog I frequented (and still do) for real estate info prior to choosing him as our realtor. As we got closer to actually buying a home and I read his bio on his site about transparency and the emphasis of being informative in his role and real estate I felt he was the right guy for the job. And from what others are saying about agents not being present for meetings and showing up only for a paycheque I think his actions speak well enough. I might add we did all our viewing and purchasing in winter and he was there every step of the way and it seemed everytime we wanted to view something the weather was absolute shit. Very committed guy lol. Still learning new tips and keeping tabs on real estate via his blog.

[avishal26]

^ Care to share the blog? Sounds like it would be a good read