Twin Cities New Construction Guidebook

The model home is beautiful. The sales agent is friendly. And every person at that table works for the builder - except you.

Buying new construction looks simple from the model home. Then come the lot premiums, the design center appointments, the builder-written purchase agreement, the construction timeline, and a set of decisions that can swing your final cost by tens of thousands of dollars. Most buyers walk in unrepresented and unprepared. This guide exists so you don't.

The Twin Cities New Construction Guide is a complete, full-color playbook for buying or building a brand-new home anywhere in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro - written by a local buyer's agent who specializes in exactly this.

Inside, you'll learn:

- How the Twin Cities new construction market works in 2026 - who's building, where, and at what price points
- Production, semi-custom, and custom builders: the real differences, and how to match one to your budget and timeline
- How to evaluate communities and lots - premiums, HOAs, school districts, and the questions to ask before you hand over a deposit
- Design center strategy: which upgrades are worth paying the builder for, and which to do later for less
- What's actually negotiable - builder incentives, closing-cost credits, rate buydowns, and how to ask for them
- Builder contracts decoded: earnest money, change orders, and the fine print that surprises buyers at closing
- Why brand-new homes still need inspections - and how phase inspections protect you during the build
- New-home warranties: what's covered, for how long, and how to document issues before deadlines pass
- Financing a build: extended rate locks, builder lenders versus your own, and timing the sale of your current home
>Who this book is for

Twin Cities buyers who want to walk into the sales office prepared, and real estate agents who want to represent new construction clients with confidence. If you're doing it yourself, this is every step of the process in one place. If you're working with an agent, it makes you the best-prepared buyer in the room.

About the author

Brandon Doyle leads the Doyle Real Estate Team and has built his practice around a single specialty: representing buyers on new construction across the Twin Cities metro. He tours and documents new model homes, communities, and builders for his YouTube channel, Twin Cities - New Construction. This 2026-27 edition reflects today's market - current builders, communities, pricing, and incentives.

176 pages. Full color. Updated for 2026-27