How builders can build a better home buying strategy
By Ben Caballero
[This column was first published by Modern Home Builders.]
August 25, 2021 — A remarkable 88% of all buyers today purchase their home through a real estate agent, a steady increase since 2001. While builders use multiple sales channels to sell their homes, successful builders have learned that building good relationships with real estate agents is key to long-term success.
While nine in ten buyers work with real estate agents to buy a home, unfortunately for builders, agents and their buyers, unnecessary friction can occur due to the differences between the way new homes and existing homes are sold.
The four most common areas where differences are most pronounced are sales contracts, closing date, and which title company and lender are used.
SALES CONTRACTS: Builders are corporations and operate under different conditions. They are often accountable to company directors, shareholders, legal departments, lenders, and land developers as well as the municipalities where they build. Individual sellers are not. As a result, builders must use different sales contracts.
CLOSING DATES: Variables outside the control of a builder, including weather, municipal inspections, material deliveries, labor dependability, and vandalism can all cause delays. Builders cannot provide a fixed closing date because of these and other variables…more.
