Today's new-home buyers face unprecedented opportunity and risk. Thanks to recent builder innovations and lower house payments, buyers have the opportunity of a lifetime to build the house of their dreams. Yet given recent history of unprecedented depreciation in home values, consumers venturing into the new-home market take a big chance.

In The New New Home, Boyce Thompson, the editorial director of Builder magazine for 17 years, demystifies the challenges and opportunities facing new homebuyers. In it, he lays out the new green,...