Q: I’m thinking about buying a new construction home.  Should I just go to the builder myself or do people use Realtors to buy new homes?

A:  STOP, WAIT, DON’T START THE CAR!  It’s absolutely in your best interest to hire a buyer’s agent experienced in New Construction homes BEFORE you start visiting the models.  Here’s why.  In order to represent you, the buyer’s agent must register you at the new home model.  If you visit the model on your own without your agent and register yourself, the builders generally will not allow the Realtor to negotiate on your behalf later.  So make sure to make an appointment with your buyer’s agent and they can show you all of the new construction in your area!  Ask Jennifer Graswick, buyer’s agent on our team who used to represent a builder for years, what it is like to now represent new construction buyers: 734-845-8888.

Reasons to hire a Realtor to buy new construction:

• We Save You Money!  Are you getting what you are entitled to – both in quality and value? An experienced agent knows what you should receive and what “extras” might be available.
• Pre-construction – Realtors have relationships with builders that can be quite beneficial to the buyer. The REALTOR® is also in a position to inform you when new pre-construction opportunities arise before they are even made public.
• Dispute Resolution – in the event of a dispute with the builder over cost, build time, work orders, etc. you need the backing a strong Realtor and large real estate company such as Keller Williams. A builder is much more likely to yield when dealing with a top producing Realtor from a leading company who is bringing them a lot of business.
• Our SERVICES are free to YOU – The builder pays us a commission once the sale is complete.  Since the purchase price of the property is the same with or without a Realtor, it makes sense to have a REALTOR® on your side to help you navigate the complicated home buying process.  We can help you locate your brand new dream home!
• We know where the new homes are and can help you find the right one for you!

To give you an example, we recently worked with clients named Jane and Bob.  They’d looked at dozens of resale homes, short sales, foreclosures.  None of them quite measured up or was what they were looking for, so we decided to look at the new construction homes in the area.  We took them to visit several builders and in the end, we found two new construction homes they liked a lot.  We were able to negotiate on their behalf with 2 builders and got both of them to compete for our buyer’s business and lowered their pricing.  In the end, the home they chose was originally listed at a $214,900 price for a 4 bedroom 3 bath 3 car garage home.  The negotiated price with the builder?  $203,000.  Yep – saved them $11,900.  Not only that – we got the builder to agree to switch out the black appliances for stainless steel, put up a PVC white fence in the back yard, add crown moldings to the kitchen cabinets, add a water softener and a garage door opener to the 3rd garage door, and paint the front door (it was a funny shade of purple!)  Last but not least, we negotiated the builder to pay all the buyer’s closing costs AND buy down their interest rate to 4.25%.

As a Realtor, we know the Ann Arbor Area recent sales and can play good cop/bad cop with the builder and negotiate the price with the upgrades you want.  This may be more true with builder homes that have already been built and are sitting in inventory.

If you are thinking about buying Ann Arbor Area new construction, call 734-274-9544 and we’ll start sending you info on what new homes are available in Washtenaw County.  We are your Ann Arbor Real Estate Experts and are here to help.