North Dallas is building at a pace that's hard to overstate. Prosper, Celina, Melissa, Aubrey, Little Elm, Frisco — communities appearing where there was farmland a few years ago.
New construction is a genuinely good option. Nobody else's wear and tear, everything under warranty, and you pick the finishes. But the financial structure is different from buying a resale in ways that catch even experienced buyers, and most of the surprises are knowable in advance.
The builder's incentive is real money — read what it's attached to
Builders compete on incentives, and the numbers can be substantial: closing cost credits, rate buydowns, design center allowances, sometimes all three.
Almost always, the largest incentives require using the builder's affiliated lender. That is legal and completely normal. It is also worth doing arithmetic on rather than accepting at face value.
The question isn't "is the incentive real." It usually is. The question is whether the incentive exceeds what the loan costs relative to the alternative — over the period you'll actually hold the loan. A buydown that expires in two years is worth something quite different to someone staying ten years than to someone staying three.
Get both offers in writing and compare them on total cost, not on the headline. Any lender who's confident in their pricing will encourage you to do exactly that. I certainly will.
Your first tax bill is not your tax bill
This is the biggest and most predictable surprise in new construction, so it gets its own section.
Property is assessed as of January 1. If your house wasn't standing then, that year's assessment is often based on land value alone. Your first bill is therefore small, and any escrow estimate built from it is too low.
The following year the completed home hits the tax roll. The bill jumps. Your escrow account is short, and you get a bill for the shortfall and a higher monthly payment going forward.
Nothing went wrong. But budgeting around year one is how people end up genuinely squeezed in year two. Ask what the payment looks like fully assessed — that's the number to plan around.
Worth knowing too: the 10% homestead appraisal cap doesn't protect you immediately. Your exemption has to have been in place on January 1 of the prior year. New-construction buyers are usually exposed to the full jump before the cap ever helps.
MUDs and PIDs come with the territory
Master-planned communities need infrastructure, and someone financed it. Usually you, through one of two mechanisms.
A MUD is a utility district with its own tax rate covering water, sewer and drainage. Residents elect the board, and the rate often declines as the original bonds amortize.
A PID is a separate assessment on your tax bill funding enhancements — landscaping, trails, entry features. It commonly runs twenty to thirty years and it's city-controlled. Texas requires clear PID disclosure, and if a seller fails to provide it you have a statutory right to terminate.
Neither is a reason not to buy. You're buying the amenities they paid for. But they belong in your payment math from day one, and "the model home didn't mention it" is not a defense that gets you your money back.
Build timelines move, and your rate lock doesn't care
Construction runs late. Not always, but often enough to plan for. Standard homes commonly slip 30 to 90 days; custom builds can slip considerably more.
That's a financing problem, because a rate lock has an expiration date. Ask your lender early about extended locks and float-down options — one protects you if the market moves against you during the build, the other lets you benefit if it moves in your favor. These need to be arranged at the start, not discovered in month seven.
The things people forget to budget
- Landscaping. Frequently minimal, sometimes nonexistent. Back yards in particular.
- Window coverings. Rarely included, and a house full of bare windows costs more to fix than you'd guess.
- Fencing and gutters — check the spec sheet rather than the model home, which is upgraded.
- The design center. Budget before you go in. It is engineered to be exciting and the numbers add up quickly.
Still get an inspection
New does not mean flawless. Independent inspections on brand-new homes routinely find real issues, and the time to find them is while the builder is still obligated to fix them. Get one before closing, and use the warranty period deliberately rather than letting it lapse.
The short version
New construction in North Dallas is often a good buy. Just price it fully: the assessed tax bill rather than the first one, MUD and PID included, the builder's incentive compared honestly against an outside offer, and a rate strategy that survives the build running late.
Considering a specific community? Send me the address and the builder's incentive sheet. I'll show you what the payment looks like once everything is on it — and whether their lender is actually the better deal.