Will this builder negotiate more on price for an inventory home? (foreclosures, appliances)

[HoustonRonnie]

Originally Posted by drains44

Chris_ut, thanks for your input.

How is it not fair that my friend receives $2-3K for about 2 or 3 hours of work, maybe even less?

Dude! You actually think earnings for agents should be quoted in $/hr? Think about it....how many hours do agents spend on a single buy/sell transaction to get that fee? I know lawyers charge by the hour, but damn! You aren't one of those guys that St. Peter is going to note at the Pearly Gates: "Hmmm....I see you died when you were 212 years old...at least according to your billed hours." are you?

Ronnie

[drains44]

Skyeanjel, I apologize again for using you as the example above. It is clear that you are offended at what I said. Although I stand by my reasoning for not needing an agent and I think you have missed some of what I have said about finding the paperwork to be drudgery, I sincerely apologize if I have offended you.

HoustonRonnie, I appreciate your input, but I think you must have missed much of what I have said throughout this thread. My agent will not be doing anything except reviewing the paperwork and showing up for closing. He will not be doing ANYTHING else. While an agent may put in several hours to a normal purchase, that will not be the case here at all. How is it an unfair comparison to say that he will essentially be making $1K an hour for this work? You seem to infer for some reason that I am an attorney and bill by the hour, so I must think that way of all people. I do not and I am certain that your point is irrelevant. Either way, the only reason I made the argument was to respond to skyeanjel's assertions that my agreement with my agent is in some way unfair or disadvantageous to him, which I find to be a preposterous argument.

I appreciate the input some have given in this thread and would truly appreciate any more input that answers my original question if anyone else is willing to share any experiences purchasing inventory homes. However, these attacks are getting pretty desperate and border on the irrational.

By the way, I have since spoken with the builder and negotiations have begun. Wish me luck (although most of you will probably be wishing me extreme physical pain among other things)!

[crone]

Due to corporate transfers I have bought 14 houses and sold 13. Only once did I need a lawyer and an agent.

One of those houses was a brand new builder house. We ended up suing the builder, real estate agent and the warranty company. We won. The warranty company fixed the house so we could sell it, and then went after the lying builder and agent for about $150000. Have you made a study of the things that can go wrong with a new house in Texas? If you were to offer to give me a $500000 new house in Texas, I would say no thanks. There are a few former American Airlines lawyers and the Director of the Dallas zoo who got screwed royally up in Arlington, to the point that they founded the group Sick of Bad Builders. That should have resulted in changes in rules about who builds houses in Texas, but didn't. The name has changed to HOBB, i think. It is so easy to be a builder in Texas that when the feds need to put somebody in the witness protection program they bring them to Texas and set them up as contractors. You better check it out before you write one check.

[chris_ut]

Originally Posted by drains44

Thank you, David. I have looked at other websites that also contain this info and had to dig a bit through public records, but I think I have all that though some of the sales of inventory homes in that MPC do not contain records of the selling price. I would think they would have to. The only problem, like you mention as a possibility, is that the other homes by this particular builder tend to be larger, so the comparison is not as good. This builder also does not tend to build a lot of inventory, so it is hard to compare original list prices to selling prices since it appears that this is not a common occurrence.

In Texas, unlike many states, the selling price of homes is not public record. Many real estate pricing websites, such as Zillow, are pretty useless in Texas for that reason. This is one area where a Realtor can be useful since they have access to selling prices via har.com

[SkyeAnjel]

I really need to quit this thread,lol! I am not offended and I do hope everything works out for you. I just would like to clear up this idea that agents make thousands per hour..The reason the commissions are high is for all the work we do that we don't get paid for..For instance, and this happens quite a bit..I was referred a lady looking for a home in the 500-900,000 range..I live in Conroe, work The Woodlands and she lives in Spring (which is where I'm from, so I know the area well). I took her to see at least 15 homes including a for sale by owner. These homes were in The Woodlands, Tomball and halfway to Spring. I went to see her home at her request in Spring because she was planning to put it up fir sale. One of the homes she was considering had a custom pool. My husband is a custom pool builder in The Woodlands, I called him at work and he came and inspected the pool for me to reassure her that the pool was in good condition..This is a service you would typically pay for. I met with 2 new home builders and searched for the perfect lot for her when she decided she may want to build..Long story short, after all this, she e-mailed me and told me she decided she didn't want to work with me anymore and within 5 days bought a house I showed her in Augusta Pines and put her house up for sale with a Realtor who was a friend of her daughters..That agent is the one who made the 1,000 an hour for doing nothing, and I'm sure my buyer felt that saving money was a good idea for her, I'm sure agent kicked back alot of her commission....bottom line is, she used me..and this happens alot in RE.When we finally get a sale, it is good money, I will give you that but the fees to stay in RE are high as well..office fees every month, continuing education, HAR fees(
you are able to go to HAR to search for homes because WE pay for the service) mls fees, and it goes on and on....I think I would prefer if everyone was charged across the board for anything an agent does for them, this would be less expensive for the clients and would insure a check for the agent..like attorneys..there's always a fee to meet with an attorney and ask questions..thats not free..
Having said that, not everyone needs an agent, but for the majority, it is a good idea..hopefully, thats all..

[crone]

I strongly suspect some of the agents we have worked with through the years wound up making a quarter an hour. Most people have no clue what a good agent does to put a deal together. I would never go to a builder without an agent between us. It is just good business. A good agent can save much more than they cost. Texas just needs a reliable way to find the good agents as the problem starts, with how do you know what is good? Most people only use an agent 3 or 4 times in their lives.

[cheryjohns]

HAR has a good feature that was designed to help with that. About 2 years ago, the agent could opt into a program that sends out a questionaire to EACH transaction after it closes. The agent cannot pick and choose which clients - it goes out to all or no one. If you will look at the web site on HAR for the idividual agent, there will be the testomonials - good or bad. If there are none, the agent opted to not be in the program (can you guess why?) - or they are too new to have any - also not a good thing.

[SkyeAnjel]

I am in that Cheryl..unfortunately not alot of my clients participate.

[cheryjohns]

Originally Posted by SkyeAnjel

I am in that Cheryl..unfortunately not alot of my clients participate.

Yeah, only about half do - but that's half!

[movetotexas09]

Originally Posted by drains44

My wife and I found an inventory home that we really like in a MPC that we like. The asking price is $310K, but without any negotiation at all (literally within 5 minutes of having met her) the saleswoman said she could lower the price to $280K, but that that would be as low as she could go. We would like to be closer to $250K. What are the chances there is more room for negotiation? I am guessing there is more room since we haven't even really started, but I am interested in your opinions. Thanks.

Based from my engineering background I will implement trial and error technique to determine the chances of success .How would you know the chances if you dont negotiate? if they say no to your price then wait for a month. If house is still available at thattime then offer your price again then repeat same process.

But what do I know, i am not a Lawyer.