Scenario: buyer says that they will be buying in 3 months. You say, perfect, let’s get you pre-approved so you’ll be ready by then. You believe the buyer until they call you 5 days later with the great news that they just bought new construction from a site agent! Aren’t you happy for them? 

But before you get really mad [photopress:mad_face.JPG,thumb,alignright]and start telling your clients they didn’t have representation, consider the following and you’ll see it’s not black and white. 

Most buyer’s agents hate new construction sites, especially those with site registration policies since they could lose their clients to the site agent. A few builders (notably an ex-agent on the Eastside, name will be supplied upon request!) will only pay the buyer agent 1% if the buyer goes to the site the first time without the agent (whether or not the buyer says they are working with said agent). But normally the site agent, if they are getting paid by the builder will be agent friendly and not give you a bad time and if you write it up, you’ll get paid.

The question is, can a site agent adequately represent a buyer?

The answer:  It Depends.  Here are the different models that I know about 

1. Builder can hire an in house team, where the agents work for the builder, sometimes on salary and are generally the listing agent and are privvy to all the deals that have been written.

This is the best scenario for the builder since the agent can not go elsewhere to earn money. The agent isn’t paid if the site doesn’t sell.  This agent is not able to represent a buyer. 

2. Builder can sub-contract to a marketing team, say “company A”, where the listing agent again can not pick up clients and take them off site under any circumstance. If there is a buyer for whom that product does not fit, then the listing agent is encouraged to refer that buyer to one of the team of agents who is associated with Company “A” but not a site agent. The site agent, the builder and “company A” each share in the referral portion of the commission if the referral agent sells the client. These agents are labeled buyers agents and are often on site to meet with buyers, but first the listing agent must be thoroughly convinced that their site is not a fit for this buyer. This can be a great source of buyer clients for the referral agent although there is a stiff referral fee Not as good for the builder, except for his 1/3 share of the referral fee since there’s not any incentive to sell the builder product especially if the client wants to come back to the site, the referral agent will not get the sale.  Can this work for the buyer? I’d say, maybe but there’s the big problem with going back to the original site to buy in which case the referral agent won’t get paid and may try to talk the buyer out of this.

3. Builder can sub-contract to a marketing team, say company “B”.  Here, the listing agent is not the agent that puts in time at the site. The listing agent represents the seller and hires a staff of agents out of company offices that are buyer’s agents. These agents may get a couple hundred per door, but they say they are buyer’s agents and in general are not privy to insider information.  These agents will likely have a sign, “buyer agent” on their desk and should advocate for their buyer in any discussions with the seller.  However, if this agent continues to work the seller for price considerations, etc, you can be pretty sure the builder will ask for the removal of that agent.  So, I still see a conflict of interest here.  If the agent consistently works on one builder’s site, then I’d wonder to whom loyalty is given.

4. Builder can sub-contract to a single listing agent.  In this case, the listing agent is probably too small to have much of a program in place for a team of site agents. They might casually bring other agents in to the site just to pick up buyers and to work when the listing agent doesn’t.  If the site is small, this is often the case. The listing agent in this case is often the agent that brought the builder the land. The buyer’s agent rarely know anything about inside information and are on site simply to help buyers. I call this Site fill in work:  This is a great avenue for prospecting for a buyer but I’ve never understood why a builder would want to have his site full of agents who earn an SOC either off or on site. At the first negative hint that a buyer might not like the builder product, the agent whips out the computer and starts showing buyer other properties. If I were the builder, I would be looking for 2 person listing teams to cover all shifts.  Does this work for the buyer? [photopress:j0400346.jpg,thumb,alignright]If the buyer meets the fill in buyers agent and connects, I believe this is a great situation for a buyer without an agent already, otherwise you’ll be working against the site agent for this client.  The site agent can represent the buyer possibly better than a non site agent because they know the plat and product better and presumably know new construction better. That agent owes no allegiance to the builder and can very well advocate for that buyer.  For instance,understanding how a builder addendum and limited warranty really affects a buyer isn’t something most agents are familiar with. Did you know that one very prominent builder requires the first buyer to hold the builder harmless if there is a sale before 4 years and the second buyer is part of a class action law suit? Would the average agent understand those 12 pages of builder addendum well enough to read this and have their buyer consider the repercussions? and to realize there is often an automatic removal of the financing contingency in 2 weeks?

So before buyers or other agents decide how bad it is for a buyer to choose to work with an agent they met on site, first you have to know the relationship of that agent to the seller and in some instances, I think the site agent makes a very strong buyer’s agent.  So best move is to tell your buyers ahead of time what will happen when they go to a new construction site without you and study those builder contracts.  I used to give out a blue “buyer passport” book that had a spot for my business cards and a place where the buyers could write down each site they visited. That way, you’ve gotten a step ahead of them and it makes a great opening for the “watch out for the site agent” speech.