Does anyone know how/why a homeowner would benefit from having a buyer's agent representation with a home builder for a new build? I was told that most home builders will pay a buyer's agent but not sure how that is helpful for the homeowner. curious

An agent familiar with the process can make sure you don't get taken advantage of and also negotiate the deal. Does it include landscape and sprinkler in price for example. I'm an agent in the DFW area and specialize in new construction. If I can help let me know.

It can also be helpful to the buyer if the buyers agent is willing to negotiate part of that 3% fee back to you.

If you have a home to sell, you may be able to negotiate a reduced listing commission if you use the same agent on the new construction. I do that a lot. If you are in the greater Houston area, let me know if I can help.

my realtor was able to negotiate quite a deal for us on a spec home that had not been completed.

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It can also be helpful to the buyer if the buyers agent is willing to negotiate part of that 3% fee back to you.

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Do you give part of your paycheck back to your company?

Is there as much work involved for a buyers agent when building a new home? Compared to the normal driving all over, showing lots of homes, writing multiple offers that goes into that normal 3% commission?

Asking because we are looking at moving back and I've seen several realtors in Houstin willing to give back 1.5% or more when buying new construction homes. So I assume they are willing to get paid less because it's less work.

The last new build I worked on was probably more work than I have ever had to do representing a buyer. In fact, we closed before Thanksgiving and it's still something I work on almost daily. My clients have sent me numerous referrals, gas cards and Starbucks gift cards.

Can I ask why it was more work? Just high maintenance clients? Or issues with the closing process or builder? Thanks for the reply. For most of us we only have a handful of dealings in real estate in our lives, so I understand it's a different perspective than for people who do this on a daily basis. But I do like reading and hearing about it.

At the beginning of the transaction the sellers were living across the country. Then they were living across the state.

Quite a few things were wrong - electrical things like placement, wrong fixtures, wrong landscaping, cracked/incorrect granite... I literally stopped at the house every single morning. We were on a big time crunch and I had to catch any mistake practically as it happened. The landscaper was putting in the wrong plants as I pulled up and asked him to remove them.

Yeah if I was building a house and expected the realtor to go check by on progress to make sure it went well because I was living away from the location the house was being built, I'd fully expect them to get a 3% commission (or more). That's well beyond anything is expect a realtor to do, and you went above and beyond. Hope that got you lots of referral business.

From what I am reading, it seems that a buyer's representation is helpful if the buyer lives a long distance from the new build and needs someone to check on progress? That makes sense. Just unsure how I would benefit when I live in the same town as the property to be built on that is not in a developed platted neighborhood. Appreciate all the responses and find the topic educational for a non real estate person.

aggiebg03+
You are moving back to BCS? I will have a large house to sell in the next 1- 1/2 years. Just saying.....

I know a great agent.

If you want to build a big new house and then sell it in 1-1/2 years, not sure I could turn down a great deal like that. Save me a ton of money over building it myself.

(But no, moving back to Houston.)

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It can also be helpful to the buyer if the buyers agent is willing to negotiate part of that 3% fee back to you.

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Do you give part of your paycheck back to your company?

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Realtors do not get paychecks for the most part. they get commissions. And that money is always negotiable.

As I have posted before each transaction is unique. And each has their own solutions.

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It can also be helpful to the buyer if the buyers agent is willing to negotiate part of that 3% fee back to you.

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Professions where you don't necessarily want to hire the cheapest available:

* Plumbers
* Attorneys
* Realtors













Oh, I forgot:

* Hookers

It pretty much applies to all proffessions, and I wouldn't even say the ones you listed are the top of the list [except the last one ]

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It can also be helpful to the buyer if the buyers agent is willing to negotiate part of that 3% fee back to you.

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Do you give part of your paycheck back to your company?

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My employer negotiates my salary paycheck (and/or commission check) with me before I do the job. Doesn't yours?

Edit: updated for semantics clarity

No I work on commission

Do you not understand that concept?

Who do you negotiate that commission percentage with?

I'm done

Steve, sorry I just noticed you had already answered above.

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And that money is always negotiable.

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I'm curious how many others share your view.

03 there are plenty of Realtors who will negotiate and plenty that wont. I know an agent here in Austin that will flat list your property for 595-695 (cant remember his current fee). Now you have to sell the home yourself but you can if you want

HomefinderCody advertises 500 cash back in his marketing on this site. It is real simple call several realtors and ask for a rebate. If the first one says no call another. Keep in mind sales price has a lot to do with it too.

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Steve, sorry I just noticed you had already answered above.

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And that money is always negotiable.

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I'm curious how many others share your view.

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Most do. They aren't all willing to negotiate, but they understand that all transactions are negotiable.

I would add the Realtors who sharefees with buyers also want the buyers to do a lot of upfront leg work. Say they find 10 homes it is up to them to scout them at least on the outside, do their homework on the community, and narrow it down to 2-3 for the agent to show them.

I was talking more to the OP's question about buyers agent for new build homes. In that case the buyer tends to know what they want, or are only looking at a few inventory homes. Seems like much less work for the agent (provided the buyer isn't across the country and expecting the realtor to do daily checks and catch errors as stated above in one case).

If the OP meant custom built, there was another thread recently discussing that, and the consensus seemed to be spend the money on an architect rather than an agent.

Just saw this on Facebook and can't tell by the way he wrote it that he didnt use a Realtor to represent him...

BEWARE if you buy a CastleRock home. We bought one of theirs by Mercury. A half a mill home and they did VERY poor quality work. Spent way too much money with all these major major problems. Just moved in a month ago and still fighting with them to get the things fixed/corrected/redone/done right from TWO months ago now. We need all new windows. They used Builders Choice and they're very drafty. False advertised on the builder website. They don't use who they say. Door and window frames are crooked. Our patio balconies in the front and back are not level. Feel like your leaning down. The mortar around the stone work is all cracked. Need to come again third time b/c they missed and didn't do right. Came at 6:30 on a rainy night to fix. I said you can't see what the heck you doing here. Still waiting for them to come back.
Ceilings are cracked, floor boards are squeaky not laid right, no weather striping on doors. Can't understand the workers b/c non speak English. Or barely. Very sad and disappointed!! They hire workers who don't care n do their job right. Blinds have to be special cut now b/c they didn't measure right. The list goes on and on and on. THEIR HOMES ARE NOT EFFICIENT!!! And they probably won't honor their guarantee warranty on it. Message me if you need to know more of our nightmare.
Need to find a professional cabinet handyman to put on the kitchen/bathroom hardware b/c the house didn't come with any. Suggestions?

Sounds like he needed to hire a home inspector prior to closing, and do a more thorough walk through as well.

That's exactly what I said and would have suggested. Have a home inspector working for you and not the builder

My cousin let me know about this thread so I signed up for TA to simply give my thoughts.

My answer to the op. I'm a Realtor in Austin and I specialize in new homes. The value I generate for my clients is that I usually spend 3-4 days a week specifically visiting builders and on site sales reps and pre-negotiating deals. Because of my relationship with the reps, quite a few will actually tell me their bottom line in addition to every credit or promotion I can get for a client before the client ever walks through the door. The fact that I can save my clients time and usually several thousand dollars more than what they can negotite makes up for my commission, plus some.

Also, no matter what they tell you, builders are not in the habit of rebating you a Realtor's commission if you are not represented. They would be in serious jeopardy of getting blackballed by Realtor's if they did.

Just my thoughts, have a great one.

If you are a novice, then some sort of agent might be beneficial.
If there's a fee, then it seems you might get more than just a negotiator out of the services.

Others report below same as my opinion = select a Residential Architect to plan your forever home THEN select a builder that has passed inspections (yours & structural pros aka architect/engineers) that is willing to work with your team.

Builders are required to include your agent's fees into his costs quoted you, else risk being banned by the agent's entire group/association.

We are new to the home building experience for sure but will be involved in the process. We have an architect already. I just didn't realize the impact a buyer's agent might make for a new home build.

I just don't see an advantage utilizing a buyer agent when your new build is close to your location, you work close by, and are able to direct the process from land purchase to new build. Either way money is spent

Your recommendation is what I assumed was the process before the buyer agent question arose. Thank you

most realtors aren't worth their fee.

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My cousin let me know about this thread so I signed up for TA to simply give my thoughts.

My answer to the op. I'm a Realtor in Austin and I specialize in new homes. The value I generate for my clients is that I usually spend 3-4 days a week specifically visiting builders and on site sales reps and pre-negotiating deals. Because of my relationship with the reps, quite a few will actually tell me their bottom line in addition to every credit or promotion I can get for a client before the client ever walks through the door. The fact that I can save my clients time and usually several thousand dollars more than what they can negotite makes up for my commission, plus some.

Also, no matter what they tell you, builders are not in the habit of rebating you a Realtor's commission if you are not represented. They would be in serious jeopardy of getting blackballed by Realtor's if they did.

Just my thoughts, have a great one.

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I think relationship definitely goes a long way but I believe in my negotiation skills more than the average bear. What would you charge to simply review the documents and that's it? I can do the rest myself, so I don't want to pay 9k for me to have found the house, negotiated the price, etc and pay full price. Let me know your thoughts