Having a realtor? (Houston, San Antonio, Fredericksburg: sales, mortgage, appliances)

[Rebelsbabe]

Should I use a realtor if we plan to go the build a new house route? Wouldnt the incentives be better without needing a realtor? Or be better? Advice?

[Drzy]

Originally Posted by Rebelsbabe

Should I use a realtor if we plan to go the build a new house route? Wouldnt the incentives be better without needing a realtor? Or be better? Advice?

It depends. If you're new to the area and need advice on which neighborhoods to look at or the other typical realtor chores, a realtor can be good. They can sometimes negotiate better discounts than you would've otherwise gotten, or if you back out of a contract, they can sometimes get you your deposit back. When I was looking at homes and didn't have a realtor, I always asked if I could get a reduction in price or better incentives since they wouldn't have to pay the commission, and I always got the same answer & explanation: no, because if we did that, we'd be shunned by the realtors, and they bring in most of the business.

If you're like me and kind of already know what you want, you can do what I did and get a "realtor." I got a true, licensed realtor, one who was very helpful with the few questions I had for him... but really, he didn't do much except sign the papers when needed. What he did do, however, was rebate 5/6ths of the 3% commission he got to me (2.5%). If you're getting, say, a $400K home... bam, there's $10,000 in your pocket.

That approach isn't for everyone, but if you're interested, let me know via Direct Message. To my knowledge, he's the only person who gives back 2.5%, but he's based in Houston. There are others based in San Antonio who rebate 1.5% if you'd prefer somebody local.

[42JetSet]

Originally we weren't going to use a Realtor for building, but actually wound up using one (long story, I won't bore you). Rebates are awesome, but not applicable to our situation. Where it has made a difference for us is building from a distance. Our guy is making sure we get add'l regular updates, tons of photos, plus he's handling all the paperwork, walk-throughs, etc.. Must admit I was a bit reticent at first to retain him, because we built a house six years ago with no agent and it was just fine. But doing it via distance, wow, I didn't know how very, very useful this guy would be. Our builder is awesome and they actually encouraged us to have "eyes on the street" as it were to act as our proxy.

Ultimately, if you're going to be at the site regularly and have a comfortable, professional relationship with your builder (including excellent communication) you CAN do it with no agent. But from any kind of distance or with busy life schedules that preclude you from being really 'hands-on', find someone to have your back.

Just remember -- building is just like having a baby! Initial excitement, long period of boredom where not much happens (you may even feel a little sick!), the frame comes up and it's like those first kicks, WOW you're excited; then more waiting, more anticipation (a few Braxton Hicks when the paint, cabinets and appliances go in!), and those last few weeks are just torture (excitement, fear, excitement, let's-go-let's-go-let's-go), and then signing the papers -- KA*BOOM -- there it is, keys in hand and a mortgage to raise it: the baby you've created! It's an awesome feeling! Have fun!!!!

[kevcrawford]

Let me precursor this by saying I am a Realtor, so take this as you will. There are people that will disagree with me and that's the beauty of a public forum.

When buying or building a new home, there's no down side to having one. Most builders have a separate account for Realtor commissions, so they don't add it into the price of your house. There are some that will tell you that you can get it cheaper without having a Realtor, but that's not true.

I'm currently helping three clients build in the $300K, $400K and $1 Million range. On all three I've sat with them and the builder to help negotiate items that I think should be included based on past deals I've seen from them, had them re-bid items that I think were too high, and pointed out parts of the contract that I deemed unfair to the buyer and had them changed. Building with a client is actually much more time consuming than buying a new home. On my million dollar build, I'll be working for well over a year to see the deal through to my client's satisfaction. There are some agents that might accept a deal like someone mentioned above, and that's their prerogative. If their client doesn't want any assistance at all, then they might want to strike a deal like that. However, a good Realtor can save you much more in construction costs and headaches if they work with you and walk you through the process. Personally, I have a hard time doing deals like that because once you're on a contract, you're involved in any legal issues that come up down the road. If I'm on a contract, I'm going to work that deal to make sure that everything goes smoothly. If a Realtor puts their name on a contract just to get a small commission and walks away, and then something goes wrong between the builder and buyer and a lawsuit comes into play, the Realtor is a party to that lawsuit. Not worth the small amount of money. A good agent is worth every penny.

The on-site sales person is going to be helpful, but keep in mind that they're an employee of the builder, so they're looking out for the builders' interests.

If you're thinking of building, get a referral from someone who's done it before with a Realtor that helped them out and did a good job. Interview multiple ones to see who has the most to bring to the table.

[Rebelsbabe]

Originally Posted by 42JetSet

Originally we weren't going to use a Realtor for building, but actually wound up using one (long story, I won't bore you). Rebates are awesome, but not applicable to our situation. Where it has made a difference for us is building from a distance. Our guy is making sure we get add'l regular updates, tons of photos, plus he's handling all the paperwork, walk-throughs, etc.. Must admit I was a bit reticent at first to retain him, because we built a house six years ago with no agent and it was just fine. But doing it via distance, wow, I didn't know how very, very useful this guy would be. Our builder is awesome and they actually encouraged us to have "eyes on the street" as it were to act as our proxy.

Ultimately, if you're going to be at the site regularly and have a comfortable, professional relationship with your builder (including excellent communication) you CAN do it with no agent. But from any kind of distance or with busy life schedules that preclude you from being really 'hands-on', find someone to have your back.

Just remember -- building is just like having a baby! Initial excitement, long period of boredom where not much happens (you may even feel a little sick!), the frame comes up and it's like those first kicks, WOW you're excited; then more waiting, more anticipation (a few Braxton Hicks when the paint, cabinets and appliances go in!), and those last few weeks are just torture (excitement, fear, excitement, let's-go-let's-go-let's-go), and then signing the papers -- KA*BOOM -- there it is, keys in hand and a mortgage to raise it: the baby you've created! It's an awesome feeling! Have fun!!!!

ROFL!!!!! love the analogy!

[Rebelsbabe]

thank you!

[songinthewind7]

Talk to the county commissioner and make sure where you're building is an appropriate place to build. A realtor cannot help you with this (apparently)
Make absolutely sure you're following the laws of septic, flood plain and any other details the CC can give you.
I'm going through some crap now and it's out of the realtors hands. The county has to deal with it.

[Rebelsbabe]

Originally Posted by songinthewind7

Talk to the county commissioner and make sure where you're building is an appropriate place to build. A realtor cannot help you with this (apparently)
Make absolutely sure you're following the laws of septic, flood plain and any other details the CC can give you.
I'm going through some crap now and it's out of the realtors hands. The county has to deal with it.

apporiate place to build? how can people build in places that arent ok?

[kevcrawford]

Out of curiosity, what issues are you having? Realtors can help you with that, but it involves us talking to the county commissioner for you. Some of us will do that. Some won't. Truth be told, the builder should have had surveys, engineering reports, etc done before they break ground and are usually the responsible party for that, but anyone can work on pulling the info on that.

[songinthewind7]

Originally Posted by Rebelsbabe

apporiate place to build? how can people build in places that arent ok?

I'm trying to get that question answered in Fredericksburg where we have a house, trying to sell it and the county commissioner and whoever else has hidden this fact for years but now that we're trying to sell, they say that part of the house was built in the flood plain. I'm confused about it too.
Just warning others to have the land checked out beforehand.