What chispa said. Do not go into it without having a lawyer look it over.

Do they serve any point if I kept her on?

If you are an experienced home buyer, then I don't see any point to having a realtor for new construction, specially if you know the area and found the builder yourself. You will be paying for her commission ...

I did buy a new construction home many years ago in Silverdale, WA. I found this home while using a Realtor. The Realtor was paid a fee by the Builder, not (directly) by me.

I never saw nor heard from the Realtor after I decided to buy the house. She was not involved in the process as far as interacting with me at all!

I've purchased homes directly from the owner. We went to a title company to close, No realtor.

In this case will the builder own the land? Will you? Will the builder be relying on you to pay for materials as they need more supplies? Do you pay up front?

A lawyer will be less expensive than a realtor (because yes, your builder will charge you more if he has to pay a commission). Make sure you get one that's familiar with construction contracts so they've got the specialist experience to make sure you're protected.

You need an experienced REAL ESTATE attorney, not just any attorney, in order to protect your interests. No, a Realtor would not help as he is not qualified to interpret legal language and draft protective provisions for you. Ironically, an attorney will be cheaper.

I used an agent to buy from a builder because they gave us half of the builder's referral fee. It can be quite a lot up to 2-3%! I would recommend doing it if you can get the kickback from the agent.

Is that ethical of the Realtor? (Not questioning legality.)

Plus why not negotiate with builder yourself to remove the agent fee?

I'm leaning toward the CAZA group reply. I am a county appraiser and have read literally thousands of deeds. I would strongly urge you to, as a minimum, use a title company and get insurance on your title. We have one neighborhood in our county where the developer never actually finished buying the land, so title reverted to the previous owner. A title company can write the deed. The realtor is usually most often needed to find and match buyers and sellers. In this case you've been found. When I see major errors in a deed, it's almost a guarantee there was no Realtor and no title company. There are two properties in our county where the purchaser thinks he owns it, but the deed describes other property nearby. Both those were self written and one was by a bank that never really foreclosed on the correct property. Title companies don't make that kind of mistake, although the out of town title companies are more frequently in error.

Using a title company and title insurance would avoid this mistake, not an agent.