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If everything goes as planned, I'm going to have a house built on a lot that I will be buying separately from someone else if it percs for septic. I have a Realtor for the land, but not for the house. I've never had a house built before and didn't know that Realtors handled new builds, but a friend told me they do.
I've already met with the builder that I plan on hiring. They are not a big company. The don't have their own Realtor or sales consultants. They are two brothers who own the company and I'm dealing with them directly. They have existing basic floorplans that they adjust according to budget. Basically, I gave them my budget and asked them what they can do and they will design something that fits the budget. They already visited the lot to make sure there won't be any unusual lot prep expenses.
I looked at a house that they're currently building that is in my price range, and was happy with what I saw. There is only one thing I'm a bit concerned about and that is that they want me to use a particular lender. They said they don't like to deal with other lenders because this one disperses the money quickly so that there are no delays.
I haven't signed a contract yet. Everything so far has been verbal and they haven't done a floor plan for me yet. Should I get a Realtor at this point or is it too late? If I need a Realtor, I won't be using the Realtor I'm using for the land, as he's not very good about following through with anything, so I would have to find a new Realtor. My budget is very tight. It's hard to find a builder that will even build in this low of a price range and I'm kind of worried that if I get a Realtor involved, the builder will have to increase the price to cover the Realtor. As I said, they are not a big company with a marketing budget or anything. They mostly just advertise on free sites. They have an A rating with the BBB and no complaints.
Why would you need a Realtor? I'm currently building a house on a lot I bought a few months ago. I talked to several builders, had a set of plans drawn up, had the builders bid based on the plans and a few other specs and just signed a contract with the builder I decided on.
If anything I would have a lawyer look over the contract with the builder before you sign it but what would a Realtor contribute?
Why would you need a Realtor? I'm currently building a house on a lot I bought a few months ago. I talked to several builders, had a set of plans drawn up, had the builders bid based on the plans and a few other specs and just signed a contract with the builder I decided on.
If anything I would have a lawyer look over the contract with the builder before you sign it but what would a Realtor contribute?
I agree. No need for a realtor. I would have my lawyer overlook anything the builder wants me to sign.
If anything I would have a lawyer look over the contract with the builder before you sign it but what would a Realtor contribute?
I'm involved in most of my clients builds. It just depends on how comfortable you are with construction and such. Some people don't need agents, some do. It's like any kind of real estate transaction. Experience and comfort with the process matter.
The thing about being an agent is that we are in and out of homes all day long. I've also seen which builders homes stand up over time. I've seen some amazing custom touches over the course of time, and I've made many suggestions to my clients over the years as we go over the floor plan. They have always found my suggestions helpful. So what I contribute to my clients is a lot of experience about how to customize their homes to their needs without making it unsellable in the future. I've seen many horrendous custom floor plans over the years that make it difficult to sell those homes. My job is to try and help my clients get what they want without creating a bad real estate product. So that is what I contribute.
We are also building a house right now. We used a realtor when we bought the land. We had been talking with the builder we ended up with for over a year and had also talked to some other builders, big and small. If we had chosen the bigger builder, which is more of a tract builder who will also build on your lot, then we would have used the realtor because the realtor has experience working with and getting discounts from this kind of builder. But we did not end up using the realtor for the smaller, local, custom builder that we chose. The builder gave us an extra 3% discount for not using the realtor, since that amount was budgeted into the contract and he wouldn't have to pay it. We did take the contract to our lawyer for review.
Thanks, everyone. I think I might just get a lawyer. I would love to have a realtor, but I live in a small town and our realtors are horrible. It was next to impossible to get one to even show me some land. Same with existing homes, which I was also looking at. Nobody returns calls, nobody is interested in actually showing anything unless it's in the upper price range.
When I bought my current house here, my realtor didn't even show up for the inspection, the final walk-through or the closing. My current realtor (different from the last one) is also doing nothing for me, and he was referred to me by a friend who was very happy with him on a high-end home. Like, he was supposed to get utility letters for me, verifying how far utilities are from the lot line. We are on week 4 and still nothing. I called the utility companies myself today and they looked through their requests to see what the holdup was. The holdup was that he never submitted any requests to any of the utility companies. This shouldn't surprised me though, as he hasn't followed through with much of anything else either and I've had to do most of it myself. If he didn't have an "in" with the seller and couldn't jeopardize the sale, I'd fire him. At least he showed me land, unlike the others, but still... Honestly, I don't see how these realtors stay in business, unless they sell enough high-end homes that they don't need clients like me.
If I knew I could get a good realtor who would actually do something for me, I think I'd rather go with a realtor even if it would mean the builder would add a little more to the purchase price, but if my experiences with the local realtors are any indication of what I can expect, I'm afraid that I might be spending that money for nothing. I doubt any of them would even know this builder's work, as the builder is a couple of towns over from here and this will be their first house in this town. They have a good rep in their own town. I don't know. I'm kind of torn about this, as this is my first new construction and I would feel so much more comfortable having someone guide me through it.
Unless the Realtor is experienced in building homes, they really know nothing about building. What you may want to talk to are engineers, etc., that understand building.
Building and Realtors are two different fields, and most Realtors really do not understand building and are not able to give adequate advice. This is from someone that went into real estate brokerage in 1972 and stayed till he retired. I can tell you from experience in the business, a Realtor to help run the building is nearly worthless unless he has done development and had properties built. I did, but very few know one end of building from another. In many states, they are not even allowed to advise you on such. An engineer, architect, etc. are the ones that can give you excellent advice.
Thanks, everyone. I think I might just get a lawyer. I would love to have a realtor, but I live in a small town and our realtors are horrible. It was next to impossible to get one to even show me some land. Same with existing homes, which I was also looking at. Nobody returns calls, nobody is interested in actually showing anything unless it's in the upper price range.
When I bought my current house here, my realtor didn't even show up for the inspection, the final walk-through or the closing. My current realtor (different from the last one) is also doing nothing for me, and he was referred to me by a friend who was very happy with him on a high-end home. Like, he was supposed to get utility letters for me, verifying how far utilities are from the lot line. We are on week 4 and still nothing. I called the utility companies myself today and they looked through their requests to see what the holdup was. The holdup was that he never submitted any requests to any of the utility companies. This shouldn't surprised me though, as he hasn't followed through with much of anything else either and I've had to do most of it myself. If he didn't have an "in" with the seller and couldn't jeopardize the sale, I'd fire him. At least he showed me land, unlike the others, but still... Honestly, I don't see how these realtors stay in business, unless they sell enough high-end homes that they don't need clients like me.
If I knew I could get a good realtor who would actually do something for me, I think I'd rather go with a realtor even if it would mean the builder would add a little more to the purchase price, but if my experiences with the local realtors are any indication of what I can expect, I'm afraid that I might be spending that money for nothing. I doubt any of them would even know this builder's work, as the builder is a couple of towns over from here and this will be their first house in this town. They have a good rep in their own town. I don't know. I'm kind of torn about this, as this is my first new construction and I would feel so much more comfortable having someone guide me through it.
Based on that, I certainly wouldn't use either of those agents. Small towns are difficult as agents can get away with not being all that good, based on my experience out here. The good small town agents in my area are few and far between.
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