Builders are they Realtor’s Ally?
Home builders, you’re on notice, yeah. Are you really realtors, Ally? So let’s kind of talk about that. This is luxury real estate broker Shana Acquisto. I’m Mike Acquisto. I bring this topic up myself directly. All right. So we’ll talk about this one right now. Yes. What they’re doing, number one, is they’re cutting commissions, not all builders. Not every single one.
But we’re we’re going to be aware of this. Yes, I’m watching. We’re keeping track. We’re noticing what’s going on in different times. We’re noticing what you’re doing to your clients, right. To the actual buyers. We’re noticing who’s canceling contracts when it benefits them. We notice who does the right things when others aren’t looking. And we know what’s kind of happening.
And you know what? The tides will turn at some point. I guess they will.
And yes, the markets one way you see builders, you know, hey, bonus, given all these bonuses and all these incentives. But then when it’s in their favor, it’s like we don’t need you. So, you know, I’ve been looking at who are the builders that are supportive of realtors even in today’s market. All right. I like there’s a list of them. And I have started to to take note of them. I have about ten of them that are on the list, and I have about the same amount on that. Who is not cooperating with agents?
And, you know, it will it will matter at some point. And something that I’m going to start doing is promoting the builders and showing our appreciation to them for supporting us. So if you had a great experience with I’m just using this as an example. Hylan Homes. Right. Yesterday, I had a great experience with Pulte Homes. They were super nice to us and they were happy to allow me to be there with the client.
So, you know, I’m going to go on social media and I’m going to tag them in and let them know that I appreciate them. And I suggest everyone do that because it matters. You know, this is a tough market and we all need to work together. And the ones who don’t. It’s not it’s not fair, it’s not. Mm hmm. And why would we help them? You know, and I think it’s important. On another note is to we’re unfortunately going to have to discuss this with our clients.
So a couple of things we’re saying. So and this is very typical. But just for you, who for the ones who are not aware of this, when you go in and do a contract with the builder, you have a base price and then the additional nonstandard items get added to that.
So typically the builders will pay commissions on the base price, not the additional. OK, so you need to be aware of that when you’re signing a contract to know what your base price is. The other thing is if a builder tells you something there or on the phone or, you know, somehow verbally that, hey, this is what you get, you’re getting you’re going to get this extra bonus, I’m going to pay you on this, it needs to be in writing or it didn’t happen.
So if you don’t have it part of your contract, you know, and you come to us help, I they told me I would get this. Then, you know, it’s really difficult to to go back and argue that at that point. So you need to be aware when you’re signing a contract what to expect and look at all these things for your your client, too, because there’s a lot of of additions that they’re adding in there that are in the builder’s favor, not the buyers. And you don’t want to run into a problem.
Ok, so we’re going to have a separate topic on this whole thing, right? We’ll break that down. Omkar is going to make a note for me and put it on topics for next week that we’re going to talk about builders and their contracts. Yeah. And what we need to do.
So but going back to commissions and builders, cutting our commissions, I think you’re going to have to have this conversation with your client. So if you go in and suddenly they’re paying you one percent, you know, you have to maybe have that discussion up front when the buyer signs the buyer rep agreement that, hey, I’m sorry, commissions are cut.
And this is not just builders, but this is also in resell and have that discussion with your client and maybe they need to make up that difference in some way, shape or form. You can do it by increasing the price and covering it. There’s multiple ways to do it. But just know, you know, that’s the thing that we may need to start considering. And that could probably be a whole other topic on its own, too.
Yeah. So we have to be careful about commissions and discussions related to that. So we’re not setting a dollar amount or we’re not setting a percentage. We are saying that they’re modifying them and you need to be aware of that. OK, and with their changing and evolving rules, then they make for themselves that benefit that builder specifically. We all want to be aware of it.
We want to make sure that when it’s first reported that we collect that information and get it back to us so we know we need to be aware. So let’s, number one, whenever any of those things happen and you hear of anybody changing the rules and they’re benefiting them, then I would like you to send an email to Shana and copy Stacey on it. Yes. So Stacey has a record of what’s going on and who’s doing what. We’re keeping the list so we know who’s been naughty and who’s been nice.
And, you know, we all go. Forward with the intention of caring for our client, so the fact that it’s not about the commission, we’re going wherever there’s a there’s a home that meets the criteria. Right. And these things are happening at the end or during the process that we’re like, wait, we didn’t even ask about our commission because, I mean, we we know we’re going to get paid were there, but it kind of hits you like.
Yeah, it definitely does. Now, you can have that discussion right off the bat. If you know this is going on, it doesn’t have to be a client discussion. It can be un build build or discussion. And you can discuss it just the same way that they want to pay you on a smaller amount. The base, not the improvements you can ask. Right. Asking is always free and it can happen. Right.
So there’s no reason that you’re not paid the full amount. If they’re doing like a couple thousand dollars worth of upgrades, maybe bring it up, maybe don’t. But if they’re doing a substantial amount. Yes. In are you helping in the process? Are you there? Are you picking out upgrades with them or are you just slacking and not doing anything? It’s a lot more stuff for you to look after. Is the agent to inspect it, to go back and look and to walk through and all of those things.
And builders defense. You know, I’ve heard from some of our title company friends that agents typically never go on a new construction. They they never see this agent sells tons of new construction. I’ve never seen in my closing. And that’s not right. You guys and I kind of see why a builder might say, you know what, they’re not here through this whole process. But that’s not really, you know,
So are we. So that’s an important item, too. Are you doing the right thing? Are you mailing in a builder contract and just not being present? If so, don’t participate. Don’t tell me anything about how the builders not doing the right thing because you’re not doing it to start with. Right, right. But if you are, then I want to hear from you. I want you to message Seana. I want you to message Stacy. But it first starts with you doing the right thing as an agent yourself, right? Yeah. So, yeah, very good.
Go on and on about this one.
Yes, we could. Well, ladies and gentlemen, that’s kind of the intro to this. Or see, there’s going to be many more topics over it. I see that the comments are lighting up. People are saying, I’ve had good experiences, I’ve had bad experiences. Whatever these happen to be, you continue to chat those in. We want to hear about good things as well as bad things.
We want to hear that you’re putting in the effort that your client, whatever that is. Right. It’s a two way street, but we are so supportive of us, then we need to be supportive of those builders and give them a shout out on social media, you know, swing by and, you know, just say hello to one of your favorite, you know, reps at the builder model. Yeah.
And if you want if you’re like right by here, you can actually stop by, swing by, bring me doughnuts. I’ll eat the donut and then call the builder and say thanks. I’ll say thanks for having doing a great job and I’ll eat the donut myself. Are we done. And I’ll save them the calories out. It’s not a problem.
