You shouldn’t even think about visiting a new homes project and signing in by yourself– at least if you want to be represented later by a real estate agent.

It’s just one of many things that make buying a new home different– and sometimes trickier than purchasing an existing one.

Once you sign in,  it’s possible that the developer won’t pay a commission to an outside agent. Different home projects have different policies on the matter.  But I’ve had clients sign in without me and sometimes it’s been very difficult for me to represent them afterwards.  It’s frustrating, because I can’t guide them through things like negotiating the price, upgrades and credits back for closing costs.

My new home buyers also benefit from my careful review of every page of the developer’s purchase contract and disclosure documents. Builder contracts are naturally one-sided, and designed to take away many of the rights a buyer has in ordinary resale contracts. Some of the differences are contingency timelines, which are often quite short. There are also extensive liability protections built into the contract to keep you from pursuing damage in the event of a disagreement.

I go in and out of new home developments all the time to stay on top of what’s available and  where.  Agents in Paragon’s New Homes Group also meets monthly to review all new homes projects, and swap insider information on different buildings. As a result we know how much different developers are shaving off their prices, how fast different buildings are selling and which ones have a large number of units coming back on the market because of buyers who have been unable to obtain financing.

When I work with a buyer interested in new homes, my experience helps them quickly assess the different projects how one stacks up against another. We usually get a lot accomplished in an initial meeting at my office, where we can review the marketing collateral for each development and discuss neighborhood, amenities, price, and size. After that first meeting we generally zero in on three or four new homes projects to visit on an initial outing.

Please visit some of the New Homes I’ve sold in the Featured Listings section of my website. I will be adding two additional sales the Arterra and Soma Grand soon.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 19th, 2008 at 7:58 pm and is filed under New Construction. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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