Glad you have an attorney. The seller’s agent is probably also getting a commission on the buyers side and was prepared to earn less had you had an agent. You can be sure that you are paying for it all in the price of the home.
I might consider adding a penalty clause covering builder delays. 5 months for five houses seem overly optimistic. One thing about local attorneys is that they will do more business with your builder than with you. May not mean much in a state that doesn’t require them. We wanted to sue our builder many years ago in another area of SC and a local attorney told me no attorney in our town would sue him and advised me to go out of town. Turns out that all knew he was a crook but also knew he had his money in wife & children’s trust accounts.
The paralegal did not seem to know this builder. Another attorney’s paralegal that I called a few days ago never even heard of the community and they are located in the same town!
I think In states where attorneys are not required for real estate transactions you will find many attorneys who have not been involved with any builders, though some have, of course.
As for the realtor- sure- she doesn’t have to split the commission with a buyers agent.
I am not impressed with buyers agents anyway. Let’s face it, though they technically represent you, they still have a vested interest in getting the deal done so they can get their share of the commission. So they cannot be totally objective either. That is why I think an attorney is the best bet.
Oh- and there is a section in the purchase agreement where the seller has to write on a completion date so it will be interesting to see what is written in.
