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New Construction
5 Questions to Ask Before Touring a Model Home
By Tola Adebiyi · Published [Date] · [X] min read
A model home is a sales tool. It's staged to make you feel something — the light is right, the furniture is scaled down so the rooms read bigger, and there's nothing on a single countertop. None of that is dishonest, it's just marketing. The problem is that emotion is a terrible negotiating position. So walk in with questions instead of reactions. These are the five I ask on every new-construction tour.
1. What's actually included in the base price?
The model home you're walking through is almost never the base home. It's loaded — upgraded flooring, a wall of built-ins, the extended island, the lighting package, the landscaping, sometimes even a structural option that changes the footprint.
So ask plainly: what in this house is standard, and what was added? Then ask for the price of each addition. You'll usually find that the house you fell in love with is $60,000–$100,000 above the number on the sign. That's not a reason to walk away — it's a reason to know which upgrades you actually care about before you're sitting in the design center.
2. What are the current incentives, and how long do they last?
Builder incentives are not fixed. They move with sales targets — end of month, end of quarter, end of the fiscal year, or when a specific phase has too much standing inventory. The same community can offer a rate buy-down in March and a five-figure closing cost credit in April.
This is the part that's genuinely hard to do alone, because you'd have to track it across every builder, every week. It's the work I already do — so when an incentive window opens in a community you like, you hear about it while it's still open.
"The base price on the sign is rarely the price you'll actually pay — in either direction."
3. What's the lot premium, and is it negotiable?
Corner lots, cul-de-sac lots, greenbelt backs, oversized lots, water views — these carry premiums, and the premium isn't always volunteered upfront. Ask for it as a line item.
Here's the useful part: lot premiums sometimes have more room to move than the base price does. Builders protect base price because it sets the comp for every future sale in the neighborhood. A lot premium is a softer number. It's worth asking.
4. Who's the lender, and do I have to use them?
Most builders have a preferred lender, and most of the best incentives are tied to using them. That's not automatically bad — a buy-down funded by the builder through their lender can beat a better headline rate elsewhere.
But you should know your options before you commit. Get a real quote from the builder's lender and at least one outside lender, and compare total cost over the years you actually plan to stay, not just the rate.
5. What's the estimated completion timeline, and what happens if it slips?
Ask for the target completion month, and then ask the follow-up most people skip: what happens if it runs long? What happens to my rate lock? Who pays for the extension? What are my options if my lease ends or my current home closes before the build is done?
Delays happen on almost every build. They're only a crisis when nobody planned for them.
None of these questions put a builder on the defensive. Good sales agents expect them and respect them. They're just easier — and they get straighter answers — when somebody asks them for a living.