Real Estate Mythbusters– How You Lose $$$ Buying New Construction Directly From Builder

One of the common issues I deal with as the owner of JustNewListings.com Realty is inquiries from buyers who want to deal directly with the builder and bypass any contact with buyer agents. This is based on pure ignorance or false assumptions on several issues, but for now I’ll address one of them. When you float into a sales office on your own to consider a new construction real estate purchase in Great Falls VA are you setting yourself up to get a lower price with no agent involved? You have to think about it from the builder’s side to get the big picture.

Of course a basic issue to consider is whether you have experience on assessing market values, investigating comps in the MLS and tax records, getting feedback on agents who have negotiated with this builder in the past or any experience in negotiating new construction at all period? Most of you have none. Also the answer to this question is quite important: are you going to help the builder sell any more homes i.e. bring him more buyers? Almost assuredly the answer is a decided no.

If you’re the builder and you walk in there and you have an agent with you, especially if the agent is sort of at the top of the game closing dozens and dozens of transactions a year, or you Google the address and you come to this agent’s website so they’re constantly getting people inquiring about the builders properties.

You have to look at it from the builders side who makes the negotiating decisions while his sales staff just relays the builders decisions. A buyer with a very productive agent next to him up front is leveraged for a lower price from the beginning. Unrepresented buyers or under represented buyers will always be coming into to view the property who will pay the price the builder is looking for if the previous unrepresented buyer wouldn’t. The builder just has to be patient and he’ll get the $$$ from a buyer soon enough to purchase real estate in Great Falls.

But if you go in there with the right agent next to you, there’s a huge financial interest here of the builder if that agent has a good experience and good experience is defined as the buyer’s agent believes that his buyer got a better deal than the floaters did. Then the other people came and then bought without an excellent agent.

So with a good experience for the agent he is is likely to bring more buyers to the sales office to consider the current or future homes to be built. He can pump himself up to the buyer about how good a deal he got for his previous buyer as the builder agreed to a lower price for him previously thinking of the long term profits he could get from future deals with this agent. For example it is common for agents to close several to many deals with one builder. With a producing agent next to you when you negotiate on new construction real estate, you are a different category to the builder for negotiating prices than you are on your own. With the agent next to you, the builder can win the long term business relationship with that agent and his potential buyers for his homes for sale.

By himself the buyer is a floater and limited in his leverage for negotiating period. No doubt some people are too proud to face this reality but it’s their money to lose….And often they do depending on how impressed they are with themselves. I’ve seen it over and over. A less important variable is that he commission is already under contract with the listing agent (sales office), so whether there is a buyer agent or not the builder isn’t necessarily experiencing lower costs. But certainly not anywhere near enough of lower costs to outweigh being represented by the right agent.

In summary, you have more much more leverage negotiating real estate listings in Arlington Virginia with myself next to you than by yourself. With me the builder has a long term financial interest in making me satisfied as a buyer agent with my client’s experience and lower price. This reality is that much more intense when dealing with more influential agents who are showing up for the builder’s address searches in google. My team looks forward to saving you $$$ while not selling you anything. You have to sell yourself a home, but from there we protect your financial interests.

Want to find out more about real estate in Great Falls Virginia, then visit Jay Seville’s site on how to view Virginia MLS listings for your needs.