Susan,

I first became aware of Cape Coral lehigh in the mid 80s as it was the poster child for MASSIVE subdivision development WITHOUT enough infrastructure to allow a full build out.. IE at full build out there would be no way to navigate the road system.  That all said anytime you have hundreds of thousands of vacant lots these will get traded around between buyers investors etc good economy they go up bad they crash.. so I can see why folks flocked there not knowing what i know of these massive projects ( not all of course but LeHigh for sure).

Then you get FOMO going and to me this is squarely on the builders and the buyers.  I build about 25 new homes a year in one subdivision and I know how hard that is to do and keep up with my first class local subs. But you take Scattered lots FLA sub base which I am familiar with and a builders that take on HUNDREDS of new build contracts and there is simply no way they can perform and of course out of area buyers simply dont know what they dont know. The gentlemen from CAMAS did the right thing just sell the lot and move on. Buyers need to take some responsibility in this and for sure the Builder in my mind knew they could never do what they are contracting to do.. these are the bad guys in this scenario in my mind..   There is no question building your own home can give you some equity up front but it comes with builder risk as we see.. I pre sell most all my homes.. I own the lots my buyers dont buy the lot.. I have the construction loan in my name not theirs and 10k non refundable gets you a 700 to 1 mil dollar fantastic home and you close once you have your home inspection and punch done and CO.  Of course they are paying full market for it there is no instant appreciation although I will say most of my homes that sold 3 years ago I am selling the same floor plan today for 100 to 250k higher than 3 years ago per plan.