New Construction Plus A Buyer's Agent Equals A Happy Buyer

There are a lot of people out there that buy a new home without any representation, except for the one provided by the builder. And that person works for the builder in their sales center. Most of the objection is that I can get the price I want and I do not need a buyer's agent. Or the builder's sales representative is an honest and fair person looking out for my best interest. And my personal favorite is that without a buyer's agent I can get a better price because they do not have to pay the commission to the Agent. All of the above are false... There are multiple reasons to ensure you are protected when you purchase a home. There are questions you do not know to ask. There are negotiating tools an experienced Realtor will use that the builder will not tell you. I just, the other day had a client who referred me to his parents to sell their house. When they told me they were going to build a new home I said where? they said we already picked the lot out and are going to sign the papers tomorrow.... I was able to get them to hold off until i could review the contract and talk to the builder's representative. After a week of bantering back and forth with the builder's representative; we agreed to have the buyer meet with the design studio for options. Now, we got the complete price and package deal we wanted. The options came in substantially higher than my buyer thought. The builder was providing a $15,000 credit but the upgrades cost over $42,000. So, that had to be added back into the price of the house. So, after taking all the numbers and having the buyer contact a third party mortgage professional for payments and pre-approval we knew where they were at a month. I also knew what they wanted to spend a month. Those numbers were $47,000 apart. After weeks of negotiating the builder agreed to a price. it was a little more than the buyer's wanted. However; by having a buyer's agent they saved $34,500 off the price that they would have paid for the house. Or they would have given up options they really wanted in their retirement home. We signed yesterday and put the deposit down on the lot. As we were leaving they were astounded at how more complicated it was to buy a new construction than they thought. Without me they said they might not have bought the house or gotten in over what they were comfortable with... There is a lot a builder will not tell you. We do this every day; but the average homebuyer only buys a home on average once every seven years. So, the moral of this blog is that; if you are buying new construction make sure you have representation. it costs you nothing and can save you thousands of dollars.... Dave dicecco Realtor/Broker www.davedicecco.com