Buyer agent or not (Crawford: sales, real estate, broker)

[ATXtoSA]

Hello fellow CD readers. Been a long time reader of this forum but never had the opportunity to participate until now.

Basically my wife and I are looking for some recommendations on some good buyer agents that can help us with a new construction home. We have done pretty much all the research and know the community we would like to build at - floor plan and all. But here is the problem we have.

Because we have been talking to the sales rep and have been visiting the community about 3-4 times already, we are unsure whether we should have a buyer agent represent us or go at it on our own. I know it’s better to have an expert in the field guide us through the process, but we are wondering if the sales rep would object, since we did not show up with an agent at first visit. We did fill one of those registration cards at first visit, but left part of realtor rep blank and the sales rep never asked if we had one representing us.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[wCat]

Most communities welcome agents. While they may not encourage you to have one, I don't think they can prevent you from having an agent. It might be a good idea to call the SA Board of Realtors and get an unbiased opinion about how this might work with your particular circumstances. Kevin Crawford is also a great source for real estate advice.

Good luck!

[dvlpr]

You're going to have a tough time getting the builder to agree to pay an outside broker if you didn't make it clear that you had a broker when you registered. The fact that you've been back 3 or 4 times (without your broker) won't help.

I'm curious - if you know what you want, why do you think you need help from an "expert" (and I would really dispute that 99% of brokers are "experts").