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Curious as to what a structural upgrade would be.
The upgrade commission would depend on agreements between builder and Realtors. In this case the Realtor would probably only be getting $225. If they negotiated the upgrades and went with you to the upgrade place to help pick out I would agree that they should get some benefit.
My structural upgrades included a basement, taking down a wall on the first floor to create a separate dining room rather than a den, and an expanded second floor, adding another bedroom.
Quote:
Originally Posted by johngolf
Atlanta
Your first mistake was using a realtor for a new build home buy. All you needed was a lawyer on your side.
In some markets, real estate closings are primarily handled by real estate agents. Yes, you can find an attorney but not many handle closings, so it's honestly not their area of expertise. My realtor was great and did an excellent job of handing some issues that did arise in my closing - and they weren't even things that a lawyer necessarily would have handled or done any better of a job since they weren't specifically legal issues. The builder paid the commission and I got the benefit of the services. And since I bought in an extremely popular area, there was no price break if I hadn't used my own realtor, it just would have been some extra profit to the builder.
Your first mistake was using a realtor for a new build home buy. All you needed was a lawyer on your side.
That's a matter of opinion. I'll respectfully disagree (and I've told that story many times on CD, detailing how our realtor saved us nearly $20K by getting everything the builder's sales agent verbally said in email.)
Additionally, I contacted my longtime family attorney (who happens to be in NC). He put me in touch with the real estate attorney in his practice. He offered to answer any of my questions about the contract, but recommended that I not insist that he review the whole thing. Why? Two reasons:
1. I was capable of reading it myself, and picking out the stuff that I didn't understand.
2. The builder wasn't going to change one word of the contract nor were they going to add any addendums. It was a take it or leave it contract. Period. In his view, I'd be paying him for a situation in which he was powerless to achieve any contractual security to us. He called it, "Wasting your money for no good reason."
All builders are different and they're not only different across the country, but they're different within their same markets. Some builders pay on base price, some pay on initial price that included structural upgrades, while others pay on the full price once it's all said and done. When the house is an inventory home, it's usually always on the full price because that's the price marketed.
Why do you care? Your agent is getting paid by the builder, and it's nothing that you, the consumer, should be worried about. Why has your agent brought you into the discussion of her commission? Is she trying to get money out of you? That's wrong.
All builders are different and they're not only different across the country, but they're different within their same markets. Some builders pay on base price, some pay on initial price that included structural upgrades, while others pay on the full price once it's all said and done. When the house is an inventory home, it's usually always on the full price because that's the price marketed.
Why do you care? Your agent is getting paid by the builder, and it's nothing that you, the consumer, should be worried about. Why has your agent brought you into the discussion of her commission? Is she trying to get money out of you? That's wrong.
I suspect there's been a miscalculation in the agent's rebate to the buyer, which is wildly more popular with each passing day.
I have no idea what our agent was paid. I know she crossed out some wording that would have put us on the hook if the builder didn't pay the standard commission. She also got the builder to agree to addendums, which would have allowed us out of our contract, and a lower non refundable portion of our deposit.
every time we have bought new construction the base price let's call it X, is what's reflected in MLS , so presumably that is what was used to calculate their commissions. 3% of X. The upgrades were separate and paid up front in cash by us. That seems to be the norm here.
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