Not prodding you to buy but no reason for a builder to sell either. At leaset not to a retail person.
Who are public builders selling too. Smart ones are selling an interest to investment banks and carrying the loss back against their taxable gains over the last 5 years. They can structure the deals so that they still control the property and now have regained some margin in future sales.
If you ahve the cash and want a good price on a house start finding REO’s in the area, forget about the custom BS and make an offer at the price you think it is worth. Would be far more successful and productive wiht this approach as opposed to complaining about builders salespeople not kissing your ass when you clearly state that you are not going to buy their product at that price.
Don’t go to a Porche dealership and expect them to sell you a Porche at a Honda price simply because they are not selling a lot of cars.