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Defiantly!! The builders rep is just that the builder's rep. They essentially work for the builder. They are going to sell what they need to sell first. The commission is paid by the builder out of their marketing budget. You are not going to save any money by not using a Realtor. Your Realtor will have your best interest in mind and point out resale variables.
Yep...we are using a realtor for our new custom home and he is helping with the negotiating. He is familiar with what is normal here and he is our guide to help us with the ins and outs of buying our first home in Texas.
Or you can be resourceful and do the research yourself and then ask for the 2 or 3% commission that they would have given to the realtor. You just have to do some legwork and the internet is a great start....especially if you have already found what you want....yahoo finance site, cnnmoney, bankrate are good sites to figure out what you need to focus on when buying. -Oshun
Knowing current resale information for the area, desirable floor plans, and current reliable statistics can not be found online. Who wants to gamble with a home purchase?
Builders in the metroplex do not work that way. You are not going to receive a 2-3% discount in lieu of the builder paying a commission. The commission comes out of the marketing budget.
Last edited by TXprincess; 03-18-2007 at 09:27 PM..
Knowing current resale information for the area, desirable floor plans, and current reliable statistics can not be found online. Who wants to gamble with a home purchase?
Builders in the metroplex do not work that way. You are not going to receive a 2-3% discount in lieu of the builder paying a commission. The commission comes out of the marketing budget.
I dont want to be rude, but are you a realtor? there are benefits to having a realtor, especially if you are not going to do the leg work yourself. I admit that. I have purchased a home before and have a little experience. Also, I am a very detailed person, analytical, so I do a lot of reading on and off the internet. also, I am very technically capable, thus, all the information I can get off the internet I have. Also, I started to get my real estate license in my spare time to go into real estate investing...but life got in the way...i.e. I needed to focus on my actual profession to continue the lifestyle I want...Okay, so with that bit of information...
I don't need a realtor to tell me about desirable floor plans...I want a townhome and they are not desirable here in dfw and top it off they do not appreciate as much/quickly as the single family home. But guess what, that is what I want!
Are you saying you cannot find out about the local real estate market without a realtor! Let's be real. Show your biases if you have them, but don't try to sell a realtor's services like they are required to not get swindled. Again, I am not saying the service is not appropriate for some people but dont try to insinuate that everyone has to have one. Google is about all you need to figure out the local real estate market. a few magazines, newspapers will give you an idea as well....and they all have websites/blogs so as I said google....you can even go in to your local realtor office and sit and talk with a realtor to get information on the market...oh wait, they have websites/blogs too! Or maybe you can try to county offices to see what the value trends are....yep, u guessed it, they have websites too! Have you tried...http://www.housealmanac.com/ , or www.zillow.com to get infomration on the neighborhoods? Check out the zillow blog as well, pretty cool tools and new websites....good information! Let me know if you would like somemore cool tools/websites.....
And lastly, I hate to be the one that breaks it to you, but a realtor is not the only one who can negotiate deals. All you have to do, is do a little research (okay a lot) and know what you are willing to pay. Most realtors are not going to tell you about all the junk fees that a mortgage broker will put on your loan contract that you can negotiate down. How do I know that? By experience that's how!
So, do you need a realtor for a NEW HOME???? I would say no, if you do a little of the research and negotiating yourself. If you are too busy, timid, or afraid, go get a realtor. Just understand that they are not free, even though you are not paying them. I would prefer to spend $500 or so on an independent inspector to inspect my home as it is being built. Again, this is my own opinion.
I have built with a custom builder a few years back and when meeting with a few builders to get a feel for what they do when deciding on who should build our home, this is what I was told. If you use a realtor, their fee is worked into the price of the home but if you go directly to the builder without the use of the realtor, then it is less expensive. Heard this straight from the horses mouth.
I do see realtors marketing spec homes and that can be nice when a realtor is working with a builder in this regard. If they aren't, then you don't see it out there on the main real estate web sites but many builders I see around don't work with realtors unless they are trying hard to get a spec home sold. Custom builders usually rely on reputation and word of mouth for business. In my nieghborhood we have some really beautiful homes that are for sale by a few custom builders. I see available signs on them and only one realtor sign on one spec. If they can negotiate a good price on a spec, that is great but I believe just outright using a builder to build you a home here, well that cost is worked in for the realtor I believe at 3% more versus if you just went alone on a house they would build for you from scratch.
Certainly there is a time for a realtor, no doubt but before involving one, do some research and interview builders you like and get a few estimates on what it would cost to build your dream home from the ground up.
Too don't sign any documents making them your buyers rep if you are wanting to build . Then you would be legally obligated to pay them regardless
if they helped you or not.
Yes I am a Realtor, it is my full time profession. My two closest friends are new home reps for two of the biggest builders in DFW. I resale homes everyday where the buyer paid too much to a builder without using a realtor. Most people do not think of resale when buying because they plan on living in the home for 10+ years. Things happen in our lives that are not planned.
I do not want to pick your floorplan, but want to advise you of what is not desirable in the metroplex. One example - master bedroom upstairs - very hard to resale. Master upstairs is popular in other areas of the country. If you are relocating to Dallas would you know that? Would the builder's rep tell you that about the spec home they just reduced 10k to remove off the books?
The following is all quoted out of the current issue of Inside Collin County Business (www.insidetxbiz.com)
"Some home builders say that 70-80 % of their business is from Realtors"
This is why I said reliable information.
March 14th issue
You’ve probably heard of Web sites where you can look up property values for homes. You may even have looked up your own house. Just how accurate are those sites? Sometimes they can be very accurate. The key word in that last sentence, though, is sometimes. Often, the accuracy leaves quite a bit to be desired. For example, Zillow.com rates its estimating accuracy for Texas as a two-star rating out of a possible four stars, with a median error of 9.2 percent. That means that half of the estimates were within 9.2 percent of selling price and half differed from the selling price by more than 9.2 percent.
Think about that a minute. Nine percent of $150,000 is $13,500. Nobody wants to price their home $13,500 too low or make a purchase offer that much higher than necessary. And what about the other half of homes on the site—the ones with estimates more than 9.2 percent away?
The Wall Street Journal performed its own research on Zillow’s accuracy, comparing actual sales prices of 1,000 recent home sales in California with the Zillow “zestimate” prior to the sale. The newspaper found that about one in three estimates fell within 5 percent of the actual sales price, but estimates were more than 25 percent off for 11 percent of properties and higher than 50 percent away from the sales price for 34 of the 1,000 homes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by osjo73
Most realtors are not going to tell you about all the junk fees that a mortgage broker will put on your loan contract that you can negotiate down. How do I know that? By experience that's how!
What?? That is unethical - Why would any agent do that? Your Realtor has NO affiliation with the mortgage broker THE BUYER chooses. It is the Realtor's obligation to their client to point fees out.
I am not sure what part of DFW you are looking in, but townhomes are popular. No not as popular as single family homes, but new construction townhome communities are selling at a steady pace. One reason townhomes in Plano have not shown appreciation is all the new construction. Buyers would rather buy new than a couple years old. Two agents I know invested in a townhome community to flip. There are two new communities in McKinney as well.
If you are building a true custom home then no you do not need a realtor. If you however are looking at the typcial builder in the dallas area in many of the subdivisions then I'd say yes, get a realtor. They know more or should know more about the area than what the sales rep will tell you. They will know what is planned in the area and can advise you of such (ie, heard Walmart was looking at that vacant lot that backs up to the lot you want). From experience the realtor will also know what they can ask for the builder to "throw in" for the deal like certain upgrades, costs and fees to be covered, etc. These are things that can NOT be found ANYWHERE on the internet. If you are moving to the area you need a realtor that KNOWS what is going on in the area to be on your side. As I said, the builders sales rep just wants to sell you a house and will downplay any and all negatives. Don't worry about that supposed new landfill............. the trucks will be using another road to the entrance. HA! Whereas a knowledgeable realtor will KNOW for a fact that there is a problem w/ such and will advise you of such. As for sales prices, those are NOT available online in Texas. The sales price you DO see is what was mortgaged. Those little listings in the local section of The Dallas Morning News are NOT accurate. The county tax office does have the taxable market value available online but it will not have new homes listed so if your looking in a new subdivision this will not help. Zillow is a JOKE!! I would not put ANY stock into zillow. And TXprincess is correct, the home builder will NOT reduce the sales price 2-3% if you don't use a realtor nor will they give YOU the commission if you are not a realtor. BTW, yes, I have my license and my mother has been a realtor in this market for over 25 years. And she is also correct about the mortgage fees. Though if a buyer is using the builders mortgage company they will REALLY need a person on their side and a realtor can be that person to go to bat for them if a problem comes up.
I will definitely agree that a good realtor can be beneficial. A fact, period. But I have to disagree with you on not being able to get reliable information on the internet. Yes, zillow is a joke if you are not using it as a tool to get an idea of what prices are like in the area. Since they are only taking into account property values based on county records and not the newly redone granite kitchen tops. ( but they do have current prices that a house sold for, not taking into account any concessions, etc.) But I know you will agree that if you are willing to do the legwork, you can get all this information on your own. A realtor is not the only person that can find out what new building plans are for the area. And quite frankly, if you are a realtor and say these things about zillow, I can only guess that you are very defensive because you think these tools are hurting your career as a real estate agents. I don't believe that is the case by the way. But as a real estate agent, you should embrace the new technologies and see how it can benefit you instead of bad-mouthing it to potential clients. But back to the topic....I can back down a little bit with buying a non-new home. But I really do not see the value with a new builder/new home/custom home. Yes, you are going to pay a little premium for a new development but you can always ask for the 2 to 3% that a real estate agent would get for the referral.....I really find it hard to believe that you, as a realtor, would say absolutely no way! I would believe you if you said, more than likely they wouldn't give you that...but you said no way! Isn't real estate a negotiating game? Isnt the house worth what the seller is willing to sell for and the buyer is willing to pay?....but then again, I am from Northern California and am not a realtor, so I could be wrong. My opinions only, admitedly...take it with a grain of salt....just be careful to understand the biases of others....
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