Visiting Model Homes without a Realtor (loan, new home, buying)

[NYtoAZ2007]

Thanks for the great responses...I learned what I wanted to know! It is our plan to include the realtor up front when we've narrowed down to what communities or builders...it wouldn't be just involving her at close.

Boatdrinks, thanks for the heads-up on negotiating for some return cash, and I've been using your logic all along: I'm NOT CURRENTLY working with a realtor, so I can't bring her with me, but if I do choose to work with a realtor in the future...


Thanks again for all of the great feedback and suggestions. Everything is done so differently here than back in NY State. Both new builds and existing home sales.

[foma]

I'm in the same boat as you (and we're from upstate, NY!). We are waiting prob another year to buy a house so a.) they won't remember us and b.) they are desparate for buyers so if they make a fuss, just go to another builder. The ball is in your court.

[Gretchen B]

I think it's going to vary from development to development as to how accomodating they'll be when you finally bring your agent with you.

I recently had this happen up in my area: My out-of-town clients, whom I've been working with for several months now, were in town to zero in on a house for when their transfer gets finalized. We looked at a number of homes, including some in new subdivisions. Anyway, my clients decided to check out a development that was quite a ways further out than where they wanted to be. Thinking they probably wouldn't like the area, they didn't want to make me go all that way for nothing. (I would have been happy to accompany them, though.) Anyway, they wound up seeing something they really liked and took me back the next day. When I asked about registering my clients, the agent pointed to the "Agent Must Accompany On the Initial Visit to Get Commission" sign, and basically said I was out of the deal. My clients were so upset, because they wanted me to represent them, and even told the agent they wouldn't be buying there because of their policy. So, yes, some of the builders can be stinkers.

To me, new home builders should handle things the way we agents handle open houses. If a buyer states they're working with another agent, it means "back off". What a shame, after working with somebody for 4 months, to have a new home agent snap them away because they didn't follow some protocol.

Not all new home builders are like that. Some are great and I enjoy working with their agents. On the other hand, you better believe I'm not going to be too anxious to take my clients to builders that do business like the one I described!

[MotleyCrew]

What awesome clients you have. That sort of loyalty is rare today.

[Gretchen B]

I know - I just wanted to hug her. (Which I did, actually.) And I told her if that was the house they really wanted, then they should go for it, but that the builder was not going to let me represent them.

The ending to the story is that the broker personally called me and apologized for his agent's aggressive behavior. I passed that along to my clients, which they had actually crossed that home off their list because of this agent. So everything is smoothed out, if that's the home they choose.

I was shocked, though, by the whole experience. Overwhelmed by the loyalty of my clients, and shocked that in this slow market an agent for a builder would not want to cooperate on a potential sale. It has that trickle-down effect. We agents have a tendency to "talk". If we've been treated well by a builder, or have found a knowledgeable lender, or home inspector, we pass that infomation along. On the other hand, if we've had a bad experience we'll pass that along too. How you treat people now can come around and "bite" you later.

[jco]

We build two homes and didn't use a realtor for either. My sister built a home and worked with a realtor. The realtor talked the builder down on the price of the home significantly AND bought them their washer, dryer, and fridge.

That said, if you don't decide to use a realtor, you should print a 1% off the price of your home coupon from inest.com and present that on your first visit. Hey, it's 3k on a 300k home.

[kevinbonds]

Maybe i am a little nuts but why would would someone need a realtor to find a home in a new community. I could understand wanting a realtor in a tight market when you really need to find a specific house in a specific area and you cannot find one on your own. First of all if you like a community you can do all the demographic research on this site. Schools, crime, property values etc. You can also research all the builders on this form or just use google. Realtors are not attorneys and the last person I would ever have review a contract is someone who has no legal experience. Secondly most builders will not allow changes to their contracts. Most large builders have boiler plate contracts and you either accept the contract they way it is or have a nice life. Now if you have a friend that you want to give a free lunch to and they split the commission with you to help closing costs development then thats different. But I dont think a realtor adds any value in buying into new construction with all the data avaiable for free. Get yourself a decent real estate attorney and use him for a resource.

[Bummer]

Great points, Kevin . . .

I agree 100% but, unfortunately, some buyers are their "own worst enemy" and need lots of help.

[sierraAZ]

But I dont think a realtor adds any value in buying into new construction with all the data avaiable for free.

I've been reading that some people do get better deals using a realtor. I didn't... Can't say for sure if it wasn't possible or he didn't do anything about it. In my case I feel like I just dropped some easy money in his lap. I had used him before when buying a resale house. Didn't visit a lot of houses then, so I can't tell if he'd be very responsive to that. Otherwise he was quite knowledgeable and the process went smoothly. No advantage in using him in the new construction deal, though. Well, since you don't pay for it, it doesn't matter much, but I still have doubts in my mind that I could do better had I used somebody else.

In my experience, some of DR Horton sales folks are quite the sticklers with that rule, but I wouldn't buy from them anyway after seeing their 5 legal-size pages list of upgrades. In my book, they're not much better than KB.

[sierraAZ]

Forgot to mention something. I was told that if you really have a realtor, but don't wanna take him/her on all the trips, handing his business card or even just giving his/her name would be good enough.