This depends on if you are dealing with a sales rep, or directly with the builder. Realtor fees are 7%/3%, so if you are dealing directly with a builder (small builders do a lot of work in inner city) he does not pay anyone if no realtor is involved. If you bring a realtor with you, now he has to pay them $10K-$20K depending on the house value, hence its going to limit how much lower they can go. So in example, if he has a house listed for $650K, he knows he wont take less then $600K. So he can either give the $600K price to you, or if you use a realtor, he will sell to you for $615K, as he has to pay $15K to the realtor, so he is still only walking away with $600.
So if that truly is the case, they are being honest.
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