SC is my home state. What city are you building in? No, you do not need a realtor for any reason. There is 'always' negotiating when building a house.

Thank you Robin! We are planning on building in Summerville.

We have built a couple of homes with the process you describe. In our experience, builders HATE to budge on the price but will "throw in" upgrades or other options such as finishing the basement. For instance, in our current home, we paid full list price and the builder included switching an electric stove for a gas stove (which required adding a gas line for the stove), a fan to remove humidity from our shower, finishing additional space in the basement and additional trees and landscaping.

We just moved from the Goose Creek area. We had friends who built in a subdivision and used a realtor. My friends were told that the realtor could negotiate a better deal. My husband felt that was a bad decision because the realtor gets a cut. If you negotiate yourself, there is no cut going to the realtor.