The real estate industry is witnessing a growing divide between the skills needed to sell resale homes and those required for new construction. While the two may look similar on a listing page, the sales process is fundamentally different, and most agent training programs focus only on resale, leaving agents unprepared for the unique challenges of new construction.
Bill Gaul, CEO of Builders Update and chair of the RESO Data Dictionary New Construction Subcommittee, explains that a single new construction community can offer a variety of floor plans at different stages of completion. "You go to a community, and there are twenty homes for sale, maybe three model A's, six model B's, eight model C's," he says. This contrasts sharply with resale, where an agent typically shows buyers multiple homes until one fits. Treating new construction like a resale, by showing options in ascending order and gauging reactions, is working against the format.
The key difference lies in the approach. Gaul argues that the stronger approach for new construction is to reverse the resale habit. Instead of saving the best option for last, a new construction specialist should identify the closest match to the buyer's needs and present it early. This requires significant homework before the buyer even appears. Agents should visit every builder in their market, learning price points, construction quality, community demographics, and selling points. They must also separate what a buyer needs from what they say they want. "Understand what they need, not only what they want, then deliver the product that best matches their needs first," Gaul advises. Homes shown after the best fit tend to meet fewer of a buyer's criteria, which can lead to buyer fatigue rather than a decision.
Another critical element is the on-site sales counselor, a party that does not exist in resale. The on-site counselor knows the builder's product in detail, and the agent's role is not to compete with that expertise but to bring the buyer to the right community and provide the trust that the buyer does not yet have with the on-site team. At its best, the agent, buyer, and on-site counselor work as allies toward the right home, sometimes one that has not been built yet.
To address the training gap, Builders Update has developed a training course specifically for new construction. The course consists of six self-paced modules, each about thirty minutes long. The first module is free; the remaining five cost $149, or $129 for agents affiliated with participating MLS organizations. Agents who complete the course receive a certificate designating them as a new home specialist. Gaul also mentions that a more advanced tier is planned for agents who have closed a set number of new construction sales.
The platform reserves its detailed listing information for licensed agents, part of what Gaul describes as an agent-centric model. "We consider our information privileged, and we only make it available to licensed real estate agents," he says. As new construction grows as a share of available inventory in many markets, the case for training agents to handle it only gets stronger. This training is not just a nice-to-have; it's becoming essential for agents to effectively serve their clients in a market where new construction is increasingly prevalent.
