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Old 02-02-2013, 10:43 PM
 
15 posts, read 44,646 times
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Hello-

Is it necessary to have an agent when building a new house and why?
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Old 02-03-2013, 05:43 AM
 
Location: Pearland, TX
3,333 posts, read 9,145,799 times
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No. But I had one anyway. They share the commission with the builder's rep, so why not share the wealth. My co-worker's wife is a RE Agent. No reason she can't get some free moolah.

Ronnie
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Old 02-03-2013, 08:40 AM
 
Location: Houston, TX
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When we bought our current house, we were renting previously and used our landlord as the agent. Gave us flexibility in the move out date as we cut our lease short by 2 months, but he didn't care since he was getting a $6K commission in return (= to 5 months rent!). He offered to give us back about $1,500 in upgrades for the new house, so we got the back yard sodded, a better gas cooktop, and a couple of other things.

Not that all agents would do a rebate, but the sales guy said if I didn't use an agent, then the builder would just keep the commission as additional profit, so the agent might as well benefit, and so did we!
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Old 02-03-2013, 09:18 AM
 
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Yup...ALWAYS have someone representing you (it costs you nothing so why not). Stuff comes up during building, it's great to have a realtor do the bad guy work. There are things to negotiate, even if price isn't one of them, again, a realtor will know what is fair game and what isn't.

You could get a lawyer instead. That's fine. But a lawyer of or a good realtor is a no brainier if you ask me.
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Old 02-04-2013, 05:54 PM
 
Location: Houston-ish, TX
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I agree with all of the above, PLUS it helps to have someone to bounce ideas off of who isn't representing the builder.
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Old 02-04-2013, 07:04 PM
 
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It's not necessary, but I would recommend it. I had an agent when we built our house. Her husband did contruction work as well (they are a team). It was nice because several times a week at least one of them would stop by our home during the build process and check on the progress and quality of the work being done. A couple of times they caught something before we did.
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Old 03-01-2013, 09:27 PM
 
15 posts, read 44,646 times
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Decided not to use an agent since the builder's offering $5K to use toward incentive and/or closing cost...that's a good chunk! :-)
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Old 03-01-2013, 10:54 PM
 
Location: Houston area
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Quote:
Originally Posted by midnitelite View Post
Decided not to use an agent since the builder's offering $5K to use toward incentive and/or closing cost...that's a good chunk! :-)
That sounds like very little. Did you get any help with lender fees or closing assistance? I obviously don't know the full details, but $5k sounds very low.
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Old 03-02-2013, 06:32 AM
 
Location: Cypress, TX
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Quote:
Originally Posted by City Love View Post
That sounds like very little. Did you get any help with lender fees or closing assistance? I obviously don't know the full details, but $5k sounds very low.
The $5K may have just been the builder incentive holdback money. I lost $3K by having a realtor when I bought my inventory home a few years back. Had I not had a realtor, I would have gotten the $3K holdback incentive at closing. But instead, my realtor got 3% + $3K holdback. I probably would not use a realtor again to buy new construction, considering I did all the negotiating anyways. For someone new to the home buying process though, I would definitely recommend a realtor.
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Old 03-02-2013, 07:56 AM
 
15 posts, read 44,646 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by City Love View Post
That sounds like very little. Did you get any help with lender fees or closing assistance? I obviously don't know the full details, but $5k sounds very low.

Yes, an extra $5k on top of what they already offered me towards incentive, closing and title.
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