MrHyperPants

As a first time home buyers, my OH and I are looking at buying a brand new townhouse in BC.

Has anyone bought brand new construction i.e condo, townhouse, house?

If so did you use a realtor or did you just deal with the developer yourself (the developers sale agents)?

I know we should research the developers history, their previous work etc etc, and have our own reality lawyer, plus a few other things on the to do list when buying a house.

But is it worth getting a realtor envolved in the buying process? I know there help is free, but It's not like the realtor can beat down the price of the house for us, as I'm sure the next person inline for a place will gladly pay what the developer is asking for in the VIP sales.

I'm aware the realtor can inform you of info about the area, but I'm sure with some research we could find a lot of that info out ourselves. My OH was born and raised near the area we are looking at, her parents live 10min drive away and have been in the same place for 30 years. So it's not like we are complete n00b's to the area, except for me.

Anyone's experience, views is much appreciated.

Thanks.

JonboyE

This should be fun...

You have most of your bases covered. The value to you to involve a realtor at this stage is help you formulate your offer and see through the deal. You do not want to try and do this yourself for your first purchase. There is a lot of small print in the contract the developer will ask you to sign. You can ask a lawyer to assist but then you will pay lawyer's rate for it. Generally a lawyer just administrates the contract you have made with the developer.

You can get from an offer to an exchanged contract in just minutes if you have prearranged financing so there is not much chance to rectify a mistake. The developer's sales team have little incentive to see that you are protected and have a lot of incentive to see that you pay as much as you can.

Also, the realtor might know of some concessions the developer has offered to other buyers. They might know if asking for building inspection will make your offer unattractive (an inspection is still worth a few hundred dollars on a new build). Unless you think you can negotiate something off the price if the developer does not have to pay your realtor's commission I don't see a downside for you.

Now for the posts telling you all realtors are money grabbing scumbags ...

scilly

I would always get a realtor who is working for me rather than using the seller's realtor.

The seller's realtor has a split loyalty ...... and it could be a toss up as to who that loyalty belongs to!

dbd33

This makes no sense. The realtor is being paid by the vendor and so isn't working for the purchaser at all.

If you can find a lawyer who deals with fsbo or commercial property deals locally who will act for you that seems a sound approach. The lawyer truly acts for you. That said, most lawyers dealing in property are just rubber stamping and protecting themselves with title insurance so, unless you have reason to trust a specific lawyer, you may as well use an estate agent. At least the agent will have a nice car to ferry you about.

Pizzawheel

Do they have M3's here too?

Mine rode a scooter....

scilly

I'm speaking from personal experience, and also advice provided in articles that I have read over the last several years.


We sold some property 3 years ago.

Our agent also worked for the purchaser, who desperately wanted the 20 acres we were selling.

The agent negotiated a deal with the purchaser that was excellent for us, but I do not believe was so good for him.

He also took the percentage that goes to the selling agent and to the buyer's agent ............... so the agent made more money on the deal

I saw the forms, and the money paid out by the buyer!



Of course, the other sound piece of advice is to get the lawyer involved early ............ when you are writing the contract, not merely to review it after it has been submitted and accepted!

dbd33

Did the purchaser have a contract with the agent? Did the purchaser negotiate the commission with the agent? Did the agent stand to benefit from a decrease in the sale price?

scilly

Yes, the purchaser had a contract with the agent

Yes, the purchaser negotiated the commission with the agent.

The purchaser negotiated an increase in the price with the agent, so we got quite a bit more than the asking price.

The agent thus benefited from the increased sale price.

I will add that we passed the contract we were offered past both our financial manager and a legal person ............ both agree it was a good deal.

For us ........ and for the purchaser, if he wanted it so badly.

dbd33

Well, that's a remarkable arrangement. It's not usual for someone buying something to engage a third party to offer more than the asking price for an item nor is it usual for someone buying something to have a say in how much the seller will pay the third party.

Still, the important point is that the agent benefited from an increase in the sale price. Since this benefits the seller, at the expense of the purchaser, it is not the case that the agent was working for the purchaser.

An agent nominally representing a purchaser is invariably in some sort of conflict of interest, in the case of new property it's an outrageous one as the agent is likely to have an ongoing relationship with the developer and none with the purchaser.

scilly

I think we have been talking at cross purposes .......... we're saying exactly the same thing!!

Did you misunderstand me, or did I misunderstand you??

I initially posted ...........

I took it that you were saying that what I posted made no sense.

HGerchikov

He was saying that. It is dbd33's view that as the commission for both the agent for the buyer and the seller is paid by the seller that the buyers agent cannot possibly be acting in the best interests of the buyer. If you search previous threads you will find this view expressed many times. I have argued with him many times, not going to do it again because it gets boring after a while. To the OP, check before you hire an agent that the builder pays commission, not all of them do, and if they don't you will have to pay the agent out of your own pocket in addition to what you pay for the house.

dbd33

Exactly.

scilly

BUT that is what I mean by saying

I would always get a realtor who is working for me rather than using the seller's realtor.

The seller's realtor has a split loyalty ...... and it could be a toss up as to who that loyalty belongs to!

What's the difference???I was talking to a buyer, and saying that I would not get the same realtor as the seller!!

I certainly think that we as the seller got a better deal out of the sale of our property. I would never have thought that we would be offered more than the asking price. Our realtor apparently thought nothing of doing that! But apparently the buyer was eager.


Just for the record .......... this property was NOT in Vancouver, it was way up country

MrHyperPants

I should of stated in my first post, that the developer allows you 7 days to get contract checked by a lawyer. (starts from the day you put sit down with the sales reps and agree to buy the a townhouse) Im not sure if there is penalties involved if you decide not to go though with the purchase before the 7 days is up.

MrHyperPants

The townhouses I'm looking at won't be completed till Fall 2017. I would be looking at buy a place when the VIP sales are released. I personally can't see the developer dropping the price lower than the VIP prices with a realtor involved, when they have to also pay the realtor commission.

When I asked about getting a realtor involved, I was told I could, but they would have to wait for the release of the vip sales like everyone else has to. Once contacted we can then go book in with the sales reps to discuss which townhouses we are interested in.