New Home Buyer ? Who’s Representing You?
If you are thinking of buying a New Home, make sure someone with new construction experience is watching your back. By Utah Law, that is not the onsite Real Estate Agent. They may be helpful, they are probably nice, and I bet they are honest, but they have a job to do, and that job is NOT to look out for your interest. Get an agent.
I wrote about this a couple of months ago, but two things happened this week that made me think it could be important to remind everyone. Just in case
The first thing was I attended my mandatory continuing education class on Agency Wednesday and I was reminded of the fiduciary duties and obligations an Agent has to the Client. ( home-buyer, or home-seller ? ) I was convinced once again that contract law is complicated. Buying and selling Real Estate is about contracts, Therefore it can be complicated. Utah Real Estate law was created to protect the individual, but even then there are times and circumstances that require the help of a professional.
The second “heads up” happened in our Tooele office. A client had their home listed with our office with the understanding that when it went under contract, we would begin looking for another home for them in Salt Lake. Unexpectedly the husband died. The wife said to continue selling the home, but she thought now she would be better suited to a Condominium. Two weeks later we were informed that our buyer had visited a Condo project, and selected a unit. Fortunately she had told the salesperson she had an agent, and although she had already negotiated the deal, she wanted us to accompany her to sign the contract.
Good thing she did. While we couldn’t fix everything, we were able to protect her enough that in the event her circumstances changed or after a period of time she realized that maybe she needed to rethink her situation she would not loose her earnest money or be forced to buy something she really didn’t want.
The first thing we did, was insist that a Real Estate Purchase Contract ( REPC ) authorized by the State of Utah was used rather than the Builders agreement that was created by the Builders attorney. We also reduced the Earnest Money, and made provisions to place it in our trust account, and added enough contingency verbiage to make sure our client was protected against almost anything.
I’m sure you know what happened, as time went by our client realized that under emotional pressure she had made a mistake. That Condo was not what she really needed or wanted. Could the transaction be reversed and could she get her deposit back? The answer was yes. Our Tooele people had well represented their client.
If you are thinking of buying a New Home, hire an agent that has experience with New Construction and working with builders. It cost you nothing, but you’ve got someone watching your back. For more information about why you should consider an Agent when purchasing a new home go to New home Construction.
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