Many people do not realize the benefit of having a "good" Buyers' Agent when purchasing a home in Charlotte. First is the cost; Charlotte Buyer Agents are free for the buyer. You get free representation, whether purchasing a new home or a resale, and you have a local person working for you. This is always helpful but especially if you are relocating to Charlotte.
The first question/concern is that nothing is free. Right? How does the buyers agent work for free? We do not (yes, I work as a listing agent and a buyers agent in Charlotte). When a Charlotte home is listed for sale, the seller is paying for the marketing program. The seller agrees to pay a given percent of the sale price "if" and "only if" the home is sold. I stress this because it is silly/foolish to pay for anyone to list a home and pay them up front. Commission is paid on performance. If you do not perform, you do not get paid. If someone wants paid before he/she performs, you have just purchased a story and a lesson.
The marketing fee that the seller pays is the commission. The commission is split 4 ways between the listing agent, the listing firm, the selling agent and the selling firm. This is already agreed when the home is listed for sale. This is not really a concern for the buyer but many people would likely to know how the buyer agent gets paid so that they can actually trust that they get no "surprises" at closing.
New construction is the same way. Commission is already calculated into the cost of the home. The builders their marketing costs and build their costs into the home. Will the builder give you a special deal if you do not have a buyers agent? No. They just make a little more profit. This is already built in to their home prices and they will not lower a price for you. Why not? If the builder reduces any cost to you then the next home will reflect a lower value for their next sale. They would be depreciating your home as soon as you buy it. That would be foolish for you, the previous buyer and the next buyer. The builder would loses the most because that is how he makes a living. He now devalued all of his remaining homes.
Would builders prefer you visit their homes with no buyer agent representation. Yes! The builder pay a lot of money to train/condition their sales staff to give you all of he right answers to your questions. Will the builder agent disclose potential problems (builder stability, sewage plants near by, school report cards, school redistricting plans or a shooting range near by)? Only if it benefits the builder.
Always have buyer representation. It is a free "assurance policy" and you have a person on your side. It just makes good "cents".