Use a qualified Realtor to buy that NEW condo!

It's easy to buy a new condominium home. Drop by a show suite, choose a floor plan, write a deposit cheque and sign the purchase agreement. Voila!

But when people buy that way, a few questions remain unanswered. For example:

*Did you obtain the best-possible price?
*Was there a comparable new or near-new condo on the resale market, perhaps at a lower price?
*Is this particular builder creating the quality of buildings and the type of social setting that you want to live in?
*Was your offer to purchase made with the conditions you need to protect you in case a problem arises?
*Did you truly understand the stack of condominium documents you were handed, and which you were likely too intimidated to really read before the 10-day deadline passed?

These doubts; and some big mistakes; could largely be eliminated if new condo home shoppers would realize that most builders welcome professional Realtor representation for their customers. In fact, most builders allocate a portion of their marketing budget to pay a modest commission to Realtors for their service to buyers. In other words, it costs the buyer nothing more to have a condominium-specialist Realtor at their elbow when making that offer to purchase!

Let's review the benefits that buyers reap when they walk into a show home accompanied by a Realtor.

First and foremost, the buyers will have a licensed Realtor whose professional duty is to work in the interest of the buyer. Remember, sales staff can be entirely courteous and professional, but their duty is to work for the builder who employs them, not for the buyers. Don't blame them, that's their job. But it's the Realtor's job to work for and protect you. Not only that, but the Realtor carries an errors and omissions insurance policy that, in difficult circumstances, provides a deep pocket to help solve a problem. It might be the same problem you would have faced alone, but this way you have that additional protection.

Realtors also have access to a vast databank of absolutely current market information. We use the comprehensive Multiple Listing Service ("MLS"), not the very limited MLS available on the internet. Buyers sometimes are shopping at a new-home show suite in a project's Phase Two, when across the driveway there are resale suites available at a discount for a variety of reasons in Phase One. Some of those are estate sales. In some cases a suite was substantially upgraded and expensive window coverings were installed, all just in time for the situation of the new owners to change, and they have to sell. Sure you may still choose to buy new. But a good Realtor will ensure that you buy new with no regrets, and with no doubts that perhaps there was a better deal across the driveway if only you'd looked.

Sheer market familiarity on the part of your Realtor can be invaluable, as well. Some of us see more condos in a month than most condo shoppers will see in their lifetimes. We buy 'em, we sell 'em, we market value 'em, and we read condominium documents over breakfast. Some of us own several condos as investments, and are members of, or even chair, our own condominium corporation Board of Directors. In many cases condo-specialist Realtors know the various builders and the types of projects they build. I'm not boasting, but stating facts that could serve to protect and reassure many future condominium buyers.

And what about those "condominium documents"? Did you really want to interpret those all by yourself? Sure your lawyer could read them for you, but most lawyers don't deal much with condominium issues, which tend to be as much governmental as legal. And at, say $200 per hour, how much legal analysis can a buyer afford? A legal review is always well advised, but equally necessary is an overview of what the documents mean in a practical sense, and a summary of what kind of condominium community you're buying into.

Condominium offers a great lifestyle that I and other condo-specialist Realtors personally enjoy along with a fast-growing portion of the home-owning public. Shopping for your condo home can be exciting and fulfilling. It can also be less stressful if you have professional market guidance and a full-time condominium-specialist Realtor's insights into the vast range of condominium homes being built new and available on the resale market. Don't shop alone.