When a reader brought it to attention, I looked back at my blogs to see if that is what I was doing.My words may seem like that but the thought behind all my blogs is the same strong sentiment- deals have to be REAL DEALS !!!! Let me clarify myself for those who read my blog and if thereafter I seem to go off on a tangent, please excuse me as I am not a professional writer !

Centex:
La Sera and Sera Vista- When they started their price correction, the plan 1 at $838,000 on dirt lots was a great pricing but builder did not give any upgrades.They were giving standard features and buyers who did not care for upgrades but just wanted an affordable home got a great deal.Builder soon realised that the concept of selling dirt lots was getting an amazing response, they created a marketing hype around their homes and started bumping up prices immediately- now these same homes were not good deals anymore but consumers did not realise because they caught up in the whirlwind.

Fioli- When they had not even opened doors officially, they were trying to sell October release homes, again dirt lots.Their pricing started at $482,000 and were amazing prices.I later got to know from my buyers at this community that the builder was charging them for every small item, touting it as an upgrade. Despite this fact, these homes were amazing deals.In 7 days the word spread around and people starting flocking to the sales center and builder realised they had another golden goose on their hands.When they had the community innaugral, they sold July lots and people camped the night out( including my buyers) and prices were given out when buyers sat down with the sales rep.Now they had bumped up prices 20K !! Even then, they were in the correct price range. Then with every release, prices were being increased by 15-20K and people are still camping out. Now they are no longer good deals and buyers are not understanding !!

Lennar:
Escalante and Stafford Place- Sales were very slow for them when they started these communities early last year.They were at the 800K-900K+ mark and yet no buyers.They increased incentives and made some sales. At that time Centex was in the high 900's and over the million dollar mark at their communities. They even offered brokers upto 6% referral fee but it was slow sales. Towards the last quarter they gave deep discounts, but they were reaching their fiscal year end and the builder wanted to make numbers.At that time, prices & incentives were really good. Starting January 08, prices went up substantially and now they were no longer good deals.Buyers heard from their friends of the great prices they got last year and want the same prices this year but the builder will not consider it.

Brookfield:
Saville and Campton- They were making sales in the 800K price point when La Sera was above the Million dollar mark and these were the only affordable community.BUT, the builder did not adjust prices with market conditions.While Centex slashed prices to make sales, Brookfield was like a gargantuan moving at a slow pace, well behind market conditions.In my blog, I wrote that my hunch was that the builder will try to blow out this community in the summer, because Centex had changed course on their selling strategy.But after making this prediction and going to the sales center, it was a big surprise to me that they were still totally out of synch with the marketplace !! Hence my raving and ranting last night.

Hawthorne- Gorgeous homes but still over priced.Ideally they should be within the 1.1 Million dollar mark. High Lot premium is a load of B.S.

Santorini- The creme de la creme of the Windemere community, amazingly beautiful homes. Slightly bigger than Hawthorne and they should be within the 1.2 million dollar mark at the highest.At 1.4 million they are way too high because you can pay the same price at Old Ranch summit and get huge homes on almost 1/4 acre flat lots with views of the valley !!

I am still predicting that some communities( that are seeing reasonable sales) will tighten incentives because the big player, Centex, is almost finished. This will not be the best for buyers: builders slowing down inventory and incentives would mean push in resale market.This would be a great situation for sellers( and I guess this is where my contradiction came into play because I am a home owner in Windemere !!) but it would not be a good one for buyers.That is why I said that there are some good deals to be found in resales right now and ignoring them would not be a wise decision because their prices will start to creep up if there is low inventory in the market.

I hope I was able to clarify myself to some readers who may get confused with what I am ranting about !! When I spot a good deal, I will shout myself hoarse.