What to Know Before Touring a Model Home

While 3D home tours on Zillow are a great first step in understanding a new construction home’s layout, visiting in person allows you to experience details that can be hard to judge online. Touring a model home not only gives you a firsthand look at details like natural light, finishes, and how the space feels, it also helps you assess a builder’s quality, style, and the options and incentives they offer. This guide will help you prepare for your visit. 

What is a model home?

A model home is the builder’s brochure, come to life. It is a permanent showroom used to showcase a specific floor plan and the company’s highest level of craftsmanship, all set in the community they’re constructing. Model homes are designed to inspire buyers, help them visualize a future lifestyle, and convince them to buy a home from the builder. The rest of the houses in this home’s community will be modeled after this one, hence the name of a “model home.”

While model homes are often up for sale at some point, they’re often the last homes to be sold in their neighborhood because the builder wants to show off their work to the most shoppers. However, sometimes model homes are available as a lease-back, where you buy the home and the builder pays you rent to keep using it for walk-throughs until the community is finished.

Model homes vs. spec homes

While model homes are designed to showcase the builder’s best work, spec homes (short for “speculative homes") are built with a broader range of buyers in mind. These homes typically feature finishes and features intended to appeal to many shoppers and are constructed before a specific buyer has put in an offer.

After touring a model home, you can ask the sales representative if there are any “inventory” or “spec” homes you can walk through. These tours may give you a more realistic sense of what your finished home might look like, especially since model homes often include upgrades that are not standard.

Filtering for “New Construction” on Zillow can surface spec homes at various stages — from move-in ready to still under construction — along with information about the builder’s available floor plans, lots, and broader offerings. You can connect with the builder directly on Zillow for more information and browse available time slots for a tour. 

How to prepare for a model home tour

The key to a successful model home tour is to come with a plan. That could involve asking someone else to tag along and preparing questions to ask. Here are some suggestions:

Know your budget

While touring homes may be fun and educational, you could be wasting valuable time by looking outside of your budget. Figuring out how much house you can afford is easy with Zillow Home Loan’s BuyAbility℠ tool. Just input a couple of numbers, and you’ll get an estimate that fits your financial picture.

Bring a real estate agent

While you don’t need a real estate agent to buy a new construction home, the vast majority of buyers (80%) choose to use one when browsing new construction homes, as they can act as another set of eyes, help you compare different builders, and advise you on what to look out for. You can find a great local agent to work with on Zillow, and even filter for agents who specialize in new construction. 

If you do go with an agent, know that builders often require your agent to be present at your initial visit, or that they register with the builder before you start your new construction buying process. This way, your agent will have access to the builder’s non-public documents (like floor plan options) and they can receive a commission. 

Know your must-haves

Before you're dazzled by a professional chef's kitchen, ask yourself if you’d need it. Own a car in a place that gets hail? You may want a garage. Make a list of your non-negotiables, like a home office or a first-floor primary suite. This keeps you focused on what’s truly important to you in a home.

Inspect the craftsmanship

It’s easy to get swept away by the professional staging and high-end scents of a model home. However, remember that the model is the builder’s "best-case scenario." You need to look past the decor to see the actual quality of the build. Here’s some stuff to pay attention to:

• Check the trim and finish: Look at where the baseboards meet the floor, where the crown molding meets the ceiling, and around door frames. Are the gaps filled cleanly, or is there caulk-heavy, sloppy work?
• Door and window alignment: Open and close every door and window. Do windows lock well? Do doors stay in place, or do they drift open or drift shut? Misaligned doors can sometimes be a sign of early settling issues.
• The hollow check: Tap on the walls and cabinets. Do the materials feel sturdy? Check the brand of the windows and appliances — are they reputable names, or builder-grade basics you'll need to replace in a few years?
• Cabinetry quality: Open the kitchen drawers. Are they stapled together with plastic sliders, or are there higher-quality materials?
• Exterior grading: Walk around the outside. Does the ground slope away from the foundation? A general rule of thumb for proper drainage is that the ground should drop at least 6 inches within the first 10 feet away from the foundation.

Ask the right questions

Asking the right questions can help you understand things like what features are included in every home versus what’s an upgrade, what you can change about your home, and more. Start thinking about what questions you plan to ask a few days before the tour, giving yourself time to note anything that comes to mind. 

There will likely be a representative for the builder on site. They are the expert on the home, the builder, and the community that the home is in. Here are some things to ask them:

• Timeline: When will more lots be available for sale?
• Lot premiums: Are there extra costs for premium views or larger yards?
• Tax rates: What would the estimated property tax rate be in this neighborhood? Are there any special assessments?
• The warranty: How long does the builder cover the home, and what does the warranty cover?
• HOA and community plans: What are the monthly fees, what do they cover (ex. pest control, community amenities), and are there plans for future commercial centers nearby that might affect noise or traffic?
• Builder incentives: Does the company offer things like mortgage rate buy-downs if you use their preferred lender?

Prepare to take photos

After visiting three or four communities (assuming you’re touring more than one home), the details might start to blend together; your pictures and notes will help you remember which builder's style truly felt like home, which features you liked, and which ones you didn’t.

What to look for during a model home tour

When you step inside a model home, remember that the builder is your partner in this process. To learn the most from your visit, look past the staging, and have your questions at the ready.

• Look past the decor. Focus on the flow of the home and walk the layout as if you were carrying groceries from the garage or doing a load of laundry.
• Inspect the craftsmanship. Look at the finer details like paint consistency; the alignment of trim, molding and tiling; the quality of cabinetry joints; and the fit of the doors.
• Identify standard vs. upgrade. Builders often include expensive upgrades in their model homes, like gourmet kitchens with quartz islands and floor-to-ceiling fireplace stonework. Ask the builder’s representative for a standard features sheet so you can see what is included in the base price and what will cost you extra.
• Efficiency. The more energy efficient a home is, the more money you can save in the long term. New homes should include high-quality building materials like gaskets and foam to stop air from leaking outside, as well as high-quality, well-installed insulation to keep the home warm during the winter and cool during the summer. 
• Tech. Learning about options for smart home integrations can be useful too, like systems that allow you to monitor real-time electricity usage from your phone, and systems that automatically put your home into eco mode to save you energy. 

What to do after touring a model home

Once you’ve checked out a home, it’s time to reflect on what you’ve seen and learned. 

• Visit an actual lot: The model home is usually on a prime lot. If you discussed buying a home and even a specific lot with the representative, visit the specific lot where your home would be built. Check for sun exposure and if the home could be in a traffic-heavy part of the neighborhood.
• Review your media: Look over the photos you took and go over any positives and negatives that stand out to you.
• Analyze the financials: Use Zillow’s new construction buying guide to understand how construction deposits or builder loans differ from traditional resales.
• Consider all of your options: If you’ve already checked out the model and spec homes, but you want a different floor plan from the same builder, or you want a greater say in the home’s details (ex. window sizes, a completely different bathroom), you can ask the builder if they have any homes still under construction that you could still choose features for, or consider a to-be-built home from a custom home builder. 

A model home is the beginning of a conversation. It’s a tool for inspiration, but remember: the contract committing you to buy a home from the builder defines your reality. If you decide to buy a new construction home and you want to customize it from the base model, you’ll have more steps ahead, like visiting a design center to pick your finishes.

Remember: never feel pressured to sign anything on your first visit. Take the standard features list home, review it with your agent, and sleep on it. You’ve got this!