You do not need a realtor when buying new construction — no law requires one — but the agent working the model home is employed by or hired by the builder, and no one else at the table is looking at the deal from your side. An independent buyer’s agent reviews a proprietary builder contract, tracks when your deposit becomes non-refundable, coordinates independent inspections, and compares the builder’s preferred lender against the open market. Since the 2024 NAR settlement, how that agent gets paid has changed, so the decision is worth making before you ever walk into a sales center.
The Person in the Model Home Works for the Builder
The agent staffing the sales office is either a corporate employee of the building company or a listing agent the builder has hired. Their professional obligation runs to the builder: protect margins, keep the project on schedule, move inventory. They know the community, the floor plans, and the design options cold. What they cannot do is tell you whether the price is competitive against comparable homes in the broader market, or suggest contract terms that would favor you over the builder.
That matters because builder purchase agreements are drafted by the builder’s legal team and look nothing like the standard resale forms most buyers have seen. They are long, and they are written to move risk — market shifts, material cost increases, construction delays — off the builder and onto you.
What Your Own Realtor Actually Does
Reads the Builder’s Contract with Your Interests in Mind
A few provisions in a builder contract do most of the damage when they go unread.
Escalation clauses let the builder raise the price if materials like lumber or steel get more expensive during construction. Your agent can identify whether the increase is capped and whether you can cancel if costs blow past a threshold.
Earnest money in new construction is typically 5% to 10% of the purchase price and becomes non-refundable at specific construction milestones. If the builder requires design upgrades — countertops, flooring, cabinetry — you may put down a percentage of those costs as well. A realtor tracks the milestones so you know precisely when your money is no longer coming back.
Change orders are any modification after signing. Even minor swaps trigger administrative fees plus material and labor charges, and on a custom home change orders can add 5% to 10% or more to the total. Your agent reads the change order clause for markup rates and the cutoff date after which the builder simply will not accept changes.
Builder contracts include detailed deadlines for mortgage approval, design selections, and milestones, often with “time is of the essence” language that lets the builder impose penalties or cancel if you miss one. Your agent calendars each date.
Force majeure clauses let the builder extend the completion date without penalty for material shortages, labor disruptions, weather, and similar events. The clause may grant the builder more time while denying you any compensation for extended temporary housing or a lost rate lock. A realtor looks for a cap on delays, a cancellation right if the delay runs long, and any recourse for your out-of-pocket costs.
Compares the Builder’s Preferred Lender Against the Market
Many builders own or are affiliated with a mortgage company and offer closing cost credits, rate reductions, or design center upgrades if you finance through them. Under RESPA, a builder with an affiliated lender must disclose the relationship in writing and provide an estimate of the lender’s charges at or before referral, and cannot require you to use that lender as a condition of the sale. A mandatory arrangement violates RESPA’s prohibition on kickbacks and referral fees. 1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 USC 2607 – Prohibition Against Kickbacks and Unearned Fees
In practice the incentive is framed as optional while going elsewhere is made financially painful. A “$10,000 toward closing costs” credit can quietly offset a higher rate or weaker loan terms. Your realtor helps you line up the affiliated lender’s rate and fees against independent quotes so you can see whether you are actually saving money.
Coordinates Independent Inspections
The builder runs its own quality checks on behalf of the builder. You need someone looking at the house on behalf of you.
The pre-drywall inspection is the biggest one. After framing, plumbing, electrical, and insulation are in but before drywall closes everything up, a licensed inspector checks for improperly installed insulation, kinked ductwork, missing air sealing, and framing defects. 2Energy Star. Technical Bulletin: Pre-Drywall Inspection Is Always Required This is your only chance to see what will soon be behind the walls. Your agent takes the findings to the builder’s project manager so corrections happen before construction continues.
Closer to completion comes the blue tape walkthrough. You and your agent go through every room marking cosmetic defects with colored tape — scratches on cabinets, uneven paint, misaligned doors, chipped tile — and document them on a punch list the builder is obligated to address before closing. Your agent returns for a follow-up visit to confirm the repairs were actually done.
Before you can legally move in, the local building authority must issue a certificate of occupancy confirming compliance with building, electrical, plumbing, fire safety, and zoning codes. Your agent verifies the certificate is in hand before closing, because closing without one creates problems with your lender and your ability to occupy the property.
Explains the Warranty and Any Arbitration Clause
New homes usually come with a tiered warranty covering workmanship for a year, major systems for two, and major structural defects for around ten. Coverage varies by builder, and the definition of “major structural defect” can differ meaningfully from one warranty to the next. 3Federal Trade Commission. Warranties for New Homes – Section: What’s Covered and For How Long
Many builder contracts and third-party warranty programs also include a mandatory binding arbitration clause. Sign it, and future disputes — including construction defect claims — go to a private arbitrator instead of a court. Courts across the country have generally upheld these clauses. An exception applies to homes financed through FHA or VA loans, where federal regulations limit enforceability. Arbitration is faster and cheaper than litigation but limits your right to appeal and can restrict recoverable damages. Your agent or a real estate attorney can tell you whether the clause is negotiable before you sign.
Flags Closing Costs That Do Not Come Up in a Resale
Beyond the usual origination fees, appraisal, title insurance, and prepaids, new construction adds items resale buyers never see: municipal impact and development fees for roads, schools, water systems, and parks; a one-time HOA working capital contribution in planned communities; utility connection fees; and a supplemental property tax bill after the land is reassessed at its improved value. A realtor familiar with new construction locally can walk you through these before you sign so nothing lands as a surprise at closing.
How Buyer Agents Get Paid Now
Builders have historically included buyer agent compensation in their marketing budgets, commonly offering around 3% of the base price to an agent who brought a qualified buyer. That amount was built into the builder’s projections before construction, and the home price was generally the same whether you used an agent or not.
Effective August 17, 2024, new MLS rules prohibit offers of buyer agent compensation on MLS listings, and MLS participants working with a buyer must sign a written buyer representation agreement before touring a home. That agreement has to state the amount or rate of compensation and include an expiration date. 4National Association of Realtors. Summary of 2024 MLS Changes
For new construction, that means your agent’s compensation needs to be addressed in writing before your first visit to a model home. Many builders still offer buyer agent commissions as a business practice, though the structure may differ from the pre-settlement norm, and some buyers now negotiate agent compensation as part of the purchase offer. If you show up without an agent, the builder typically keeps the budgeted commission as additional profit rather than lowering the price. 5Realtor.com. The Benefits of Hiring a Buyer’s Agent When Buying a New-Construction Home
Register Your Agent Before You Tour
Builders enforce strict registration policies that decide whether they will recognize and compensate your agent. Most require the agent to be introduced during your very first interaction with the sales office. That usually means the agent physically accompanies you on the initial visit or registers you through the builder’s online portal before any tours.
Registration forms typically capture the agent’s name, brokerage, and license number to create a formal record linking the agent to you. Some builders allow a short window, often 24 to 48 hours, for online registration after a first visit, but the safe move is having your agent present from the start. Tour the model home alone, and the builder can later refuse to pay a commission or acknowledge the agent’s involvement at all.
When a dispute arises over which agent, if any, earned a commission, the concept of “procuring cause” governs — whether the agent’s unbroken efforts brought about the sale. If the builder’s registration requirement was not met and no written agreement covered the agent, a commission claim becomes very hard to sustain, no matter how much work the agent did behind the scenes.
Sort out representation before you go shopping. Sign the written agreement with your agent, have them register you with the builder on day one, and you keep independent representation through a transaction where the other side wrote all the paperwork.