I remember in the 90’s bust there was a development caled “Discovery Hills” in San Marcos. Built by McMillan I think. They just abandoned it, homes sat half finished, streets left unfinished, some bare slabs with pipes sticking out. There were some finished homes which people had bought, and were living in. They tried to sue the builder, but the builder went BK.
I think you’re actually talking about Paloma in San Marcos, which was built by Baldwin before they went bankrupt. There were about 20 homes that sat for at least a year, and probably much longer, with just slabs and framing. The Paloma residents referred to them as the ‘stick’ houses.
After a few years, KB Homes bought those and several hundred vacant lots around them, renamed the community “Santa Fe Hills”, worked with the city to renegotiate the Mello-Roos to a *much* lower monthly payment (just for their section of the MR district mind you – they wanted to stick existing Paloma residents with the older, higher rate until they protested and became a part of the renegotiated lower interest rate bond), and finished building the development in typical KB style: huge square boxes with no style allowing them to buy big ads emphasizing monstrous square footage at low prices.
The renegotiated Mello Roos part is why it is probably not wise to pay off your Mello Roos early.
