Board Room chatter:  "We can't sell to retail buyers, so let's market to the less-than-savvy investors."  Lennar Homes looks like they maybe hit a wall. Now they're marketing new homes directly to investors.

Builders have overbuilt in what were recently hot markets. Sunbelt and parts of West Coast--you know the map. Best to wait until the crash-and-burn fires have been extinguished for this scenario to work for investors.

This cycle keeps repeating: One huge issue is the amount of lead-time from land purchase, to zoning, to approval, to building permit, to completion.

So any small error in anticipating the future demand, lead time, interest rates, or overall economy, will result in brand new homes that don't move. And unfinished shells that sit abandoned. New mantra: price, Price, PRICE.

New houses selling for less than the same house just a few years older. Builders are lowering prices (and offering interest buydowns and other perks) for the same house-type, in the same development, significantly BELOW what sold just 2 or 3 years earlier. That means current comps will kill the chances for an earlier buyer/owner to sell/unload.

This is not all doom-and-gloom--there always will be great opportunities in your local market. It's simply harder now to locate them.

What are you seeing in your area?