Register your agent on your first visit to the model home. Most builders require it up front, and after that visit it usually cannot be corrected.
Builder contracts are written by the builder's attorneys. Completion timelines, change-order costs, and warranty terms are all negotiable in ways buyers rarely realize.
Incentives are usually offered as closing-cost credits through the builder's preferred lender rather than price reductions, because recorded prices affect the whole community. Compare the incentive against a competing loan estimate.
Not every upgrade returns. Structural choices and lot premiums hold value; heavy design-center finishes often do not.
Get an independent inspection at framing and again before closing. New does not mean flawless, and both inspections are far cheaper than the repairs they find.
