A little late to the party, but my opinion is that it’s someplace in the middle. I’ve been watching 4S Ranch for about a year now, and they have definitely slowed down construction. In my opinion, it’s simply an issue of inventory control. Given the choice between empty lots and empty homes, I think some builders are choosing empty lots.

I agree with Bugs that at some point, the best thing to do is get these suckers built, sold, and get out of Dodge unless the builder believes things are going to turn around (which I don’t think they really do).

Now with John Laing and these Silhouette homes specifcally, I can tell you that they have, for all practical purposes, stopped construction. The 10 or so completed homes you see were started a year ago and finished, I don’t know, maybe 6 months ago. They can absolutely build more and faster, but they’re not. Unless they’ve put up sticks in the last 3 weeks, the foundations you see have been there for almost a year.

They seem intent on finishing Rosemary Lane first and that is going pretty slowly as well although it is *almost* finished.

John Laing seems to be the slowest in 4S Ranch right now and while I agree that they seem as good (or better) than anything available right now, they’re just not selling. They dropped their prices significantly (twice) in the last year, but it’s been a while since the last reduction occurred (maybe 5 months?). I can get you exact dates and reductions if you’re interested.

I think you’re right on the money with a lower offer. They had one on the MLS since late last year that just went off (I assume it sold) and that was at $714,000. It never hurts to ask.

One other footnote is that John Laing was purchased about a year ago by Emaar Properties, a Dubai-based developer. I believe they have a gazillion dollars and certainly that could affect JLH’s dynamics just a little differently than other builders. Of course, a lot of their money is in real estate, so perhaps it’s only a matter of time before they only have a bazillion dollars…