Why you should use a real estate agent when buying new construction
A real life story from earlier today offers you one more reason that you shouldn't just run into a model home at a new home community in Charleston and write a contract to buy a new home with the sales counselor without having a real estate agent with you.
Your agent will protect your interests.
But you might be thinking, oh sure, all he (or she) wants is a real estate commission and of course, any real estate agent wants to earn a commission by helping someone buy a home but the operative word in this case is earn.
And today, as we were scheduled to close, I put my clients interests ahead of my commission by advising not to close until some repair issues were finally addressed.
You see, my client had a home inspection (also a good idea that very few new home buyers bother with when buying a new home) and a couple of items were found to be safety concerns. The builder agreed in writing to repair them but during the final walk through yesterday, casually mentioned, oh, by the way, we didn't repair those things because it was built to code and everything's fine. And while I didn't get into a confrontation with the builder because I don't know enough about construction to debate whether something is necessary or unnecessary to fix, it was addressed this morning when my client wouldn't close unless the promised repairs were made.
So we're waiting for the inspector and the builder to huddle and the final result should be that those repairs will be made and my client will close in a day or two and be very happy and enjoy peace of mind.
Now if you think you are experienced enough to not bother with an agent, that's fine but understand, the sales counselor works for the builder and can easily help you write a contract but they are not going to go to bat for you when and if you need them to. Best of all, the builder pays the commission to your agent, of course, they pay it out of the proceeds that you bring to closing with your check and your mortgage but they aren't going to discount the price of the house if you don't have an agent either.
UPDATE: We did successfully close on Thursday.