Changing realtors after signing agreement

[Jennifer Bui]

I'm looking for a primary residence in the DFW market, and was using a recommended friend's friend realtor. He made me a portal, never met him, used him once when I did found a house I wanted to put an offer in (just decided based on listing and comps I found on BP). I have an uncle with a TX realtor license, and he had told me to use him if I was doing a new build so he'd cut me a check for the commission. 

When I did come across a new build I wanted, the builder informed me to not use my uncle (bc his firm is in Houston) and advised I used a local Dallas realtor. I asked him would it make a price differenceif I had a realtor or not, and he said no. 

Well, I made the rookie/dumb mistake of giving him my realtor's info bc as he said "to make things easier for me." I signed the purchase agreement, and I got an ear full from my uncle about it. I'm going to reach out and see if I can change the realtor on my agreement or not.

Has anyone ever been told this? Any experience with it? I'd rather lose my $1k earnest money, and get a different house than lose out on the roughly 3 percent of the purchase price my uncle would've given back to me. Hard $1k lesson to learn, but I'll take the hit. What do you guys think??

[Bruce Lynn]

If you are going to build a new house....use a local realtor who will help walk you thru it.   There are lots and lots and lots of issues that can happen with new construction and you don't just want a name on the contract, you want someone local in your corner fighting for you.   Many builders probably want someone local on the contract too that is really going to represent you, not just give you a kickback for the commission.  Depending on your financing, this might not even be allowed.

I've seen so many 1000s of issues on new construction that the builder did wrong.  They'll fix them if you call it out to them, but if you don't they just keep building.  I've seen builders sell so much BS to a client and if you've only build zero or 1 house, you buy the BS and keep on moving, when often that issue should be fixed and will be fixed if your realtor calls it out.

Often these issues are found when you resale the house and your buyer does a home inspection and then starts pointing out deficiencies.  Now who pays to get that fixed?  You do if you are past your warranty.  Often these are issues that appear 2-3-4-5 years into the build, so you are out of warrant and stuck with the repairs.   Just because it is new, doesn't mean it is right.

I'm sure your uncle is a great realtor and a nice guy, but ask him how many new homes he has built?  Ask about his experience?   Ask if he will come visit your job site every 2 weeks to check on the construction.   Check to see if he will come sit in the builders office with you when things go wrong and you need to fight to get things fixed.   Every realtor is different, but I firmly believe new construction is not just about putting a name on the contract and collecting a commission when it is done.  It's not uncommon for me to save clients $1000s in other ways....for example hiring a tough inspector to inspect the home during construction, bringing in a more competitive lender than going with builder financing, etc.

This does not address any agreement you may have with your current realtor.