Buying New? Don't Dive in Alone.

Stop right there!

Don't even think about visiting a model home by yourself and signing in -- at least not if you want to be represented later by a real estate agent.

It's just one of many things that make buying a newly built home different -- and sometimes trickier -- than purchasing an existing one, even at a time when builders are slashing prices to reduce inventory.

Once you sign that list, many builders won't pay a commission to the agent, figuring they have already lured you in. So if you still want an agent to guide you in such things as negotiating price and extras, you would have to pay the commission yourself.

"If you don't bring an agent in the beginning, they won't honor that agent after that," said Jennifer Walker, a real estate agent with McEnearney Associates in Alexandria. "I think there's things that an agent is able to guide a buyer through that they would not know on their own."

To make the most of a new-home purchase, shoppers need to come armed with knowledge.

That might mean reading up on a builder. Is he solvent? Are his homes sound? Does he back his product?

Or it could mean hiring a real estate agent for guidance or a lawyer to review the contract and to add consumer-friendly clauses.

Remember, agents and lawyers say: Just because builders have salespeople at the model homes, offer ready-to-sign contracts and can arrange a mortgage, that doesn't necessarily mean they're looking out for your best interests.

"Everyone working on the site is working for the builder," said Robyn Burdett, an agent with Re/Max Allegiance in Fairfax. "There's not one single person there who's working for the buyer."

Then again, there's the other side.

First off, said Bruce Labovitz, chief financial officer of Comstock Homebuilding of Reston, not every builder automatically blocks an agent after someone signs in at the model home.