New Construction Real Estate Agent for DuPage Buyers: Someone on Your Side When the Builder Has a Sales Team
A builder's sales center is a pleasant place to spend a Saturday, and the people in it work for the builder. I work as a new construction real estate agent for the buyer. I read the contract with you, go through the design center choices with you, and stay in the process from the first model home visit to the final walkthrough, whether the house is finished, half built or not yet started.
The sales rep at the model home is friendly, and works for the builder.
Buying new is a different transaction from buying a resale. The builder writes the contract, sets the schedule and runs the process, and the person across the desk is there to sell the builder's houses. That is a normal arrangement, and a good sales rep is easy to deal with. It still means nobody in the room works only for you.
A real estate agent for new construction fills that seat. I represent the buyer, which means I read what the builder hands you with your interests in mind, and I ask the questions you would not think to ask at the sales center.
- The contract is the builder's. Deposits, timelines, substitutions and what happens if a closing date moves are written on the builder's terms, and they are not the terms of a resale contract. Have it read before you sign, by me for the real estate side and by your attorney for the legal side.
- Registration comes first. Many builders ask for your agent to be named on your first visit, and some will not add one afterward. Call me before you tour a model, not after.
- Upgrades are where the budget moves. The base price is where the number starts. Lot premiums, design center selections and options add up, and some of them hold value at resale while others do not.
- A new house still needs an inspection. A new house is built by many trades on a schedule. An independent inspection at the right stages, and again before closing, gives you a written list for the builder.
Six things to ask any real estate agent for new construction before you hire one.
Not summarize it, read it. You want an agent who can point to the deposit terms, the completion language and the clause about what happens if the date slips, and who tells you which parts to take to your attorney.
Registration, the first visit, what you tell the sales rep and what you keep to yourself. The order of things at a builder's sales center is easy to get wrong in the first ten minutes.
Ask which options tend to hold value and which are a matter of taste. An agent who says everything is worth it is not helping you spend the budget well.
The inspections along the way and the walkthrough before closing are where the buyer's side gets protected. Ask who attends them with you and what happens to the list afterward.
Builds slip. Weather, permits, materials and inspections all move closing dates. Ask how they plan around a rate lock, a lease that ends, or the sale of your current house when it depends on the new one closing.
Sometimes the right answer on a lot, a floor plan or a builder incentive is to wait. You want the agent who says so, and gives you the reason.
Thinking about buying a new build?
Tell me which community or builder you are looking at, roughly when you want to move in, and whether you have a house to sell first. I come back with the questions I would ask before you tour it.
What this will not be, said before you tour a model.
A buyer's agent does not make the builder's rules. The price list, the floor plans, the schedule and the contract belong to the builder. What I do is make sure you understand them before you sign and that someone has asked the questions.
Nearly every new house ends with a punch list of small items. The point of the process is to find them while the builder is still on the job, not after you have moved in.
I will not promise you a finish date. Builders set schedules and schedules move. I will help you plan around the date you are given and tell you early when it looks soft.
And I will not tell you a new build beats a resale. Sometimes it does, and sometimes a ten-year-old house on the right street is the better buy. If I think that is true for you, you will hear it before you sign anything.
From the first model home visit to the final walkthrough.
This is how I work with a buyer on a new build. If you have already visited a builder on your own, tell me where things stand and we start from there.
- Before the first visit. We talk through the community, the builder's process and what registration means for you, so the first conversation at the sales center happens with an agent already on your side.
- The contract and the options. I read the builder's contract with you, mark what to take to your attorney, and go through the base price, the lot premium and the design selections so you can see the whole number.
- Lender and appraisal. If the builder points you to a preferred lender, we compare that with your own options, and we look at what happens if the appraisal comes in below the contract price.
- Inspections during the build. Independent inspections at the stages that matter, including before the drywall goes up where the builder allows it, and again before closing, with a written list for the builder.
- The walkthrough and closing. A walkthrough that ends with a list of everything to be fixed, a plan for how and when it gets done, and a closing date lined up with your lender and your move.
I work for the buyer, start to finish.
I'm Maureen, but everyone calls me Moe. I have been selling real estate since 2019 and I work with the Ellyn & Main team at Keller Williams Premiere Properties, out of the office on North Addison Avenue in Elmhurst.
Most of my business arrives by referral, which is a polite way of saying I do not get to phone anything in. As a new construction real estate agent for buyers, I am there at the contract, at the inspections and at the walkthrough, and on the call when the schedule changes.
"If waiting six months makes you more money, I'll tell you to wait six months. I'd rather have your next three moves than one commission."
The ones that come up before you tour a builder.
Do you need a real estate agent for new construction?
You can buy without one, and the sales rep will be glad to help. What you give up is anyone on your side of the table. The rep works for the builder, the contract is the builder's and the schedule is the builder's. An agent for new construction reads the paperwork for you, stays on the options and the inspection list, and is there at the walkthrough.
Many builders also ask for your agent to be named on your first visit, so the time to decide is before you tour, not after.
What does a new construction buyers agent do?
Three things, mostly. Before you sign, I read the builder's contract with you and mark what your attorney should look at. During the build, I keep the options, the lender timeline and the inspections organized. At the end, I walk the house with you and write the list the builder has to finish.
None of it changes what the builder sells. It changes how well you understand what you are buying.
I already visited a model home on my own. Is it too late?
It depends on the builder. Some have rules about adding an agent after a first visit, and I would rather find out which rule applies before you go back than after. Call me, tell me the community and the builder, and I will tell you what to do next.
Do I need an inspection on a house that has never been lived in?
Yes. A new house is built by many trades on a schedule, and some items get missed. An independent inspector looks at the house the way a buyer would, and the report gives you a written list to hand the builder before closing. Where the builder allows it, an inspection before the drywall goes up shows you things nobody can see afterward.
What about a teardown or a lot in town?
In Elmhurst, new construction often sits on the same block as pre-war frame houses, so the block tells you a lot about whether a rebuild makes sense. The street read in how to tell if a house is a teardown is where I would start. Bring me the address and the builder you are talking to, and we go through it before you commit.
Can I buy new and sell my current house?
That is the most common knot. The builder's date and your sale have to meet, and a build date that moves can leave you with two houses or none. Many builders do not like a sale contingency, so we work out the order before you sign: list first, buy first, or line the dates up.
I walk through sell-first versus buy-first on the right-sizing page, and the same sequencing applies here.
Which towns do you work in?
Elmhurst, Glen Ellyn and Wheaton are where most of my work sits, plus the DuPage towns around them. Wheaton runs from older houses near downtown to newer subdivisions on the Danada side. My office is at 100 N Addison Ave in Elmhurst. If the community you are looking at is outside that, call me and I will tell you plainly whether I am the right person for it.
What happens on the first call?
Not much, on purpose. You tell me which community or builder you are looking at and roughly when you want to move in, and I tell you what to do before the first visit, or what to do next if you have already been. Nothing is signed, and you do not have to have decided anything.
Tell me what you are looking at.
The community or builder, roughly when you would want to move in, and whether you have a house to sell. I will come back with what I would do first.
Related situations
A new build often comes attached to another move. If one of these is also true, it is usually the better place to start.