If they aRe having such a hard time selling, I'd probably want to avoid the area.

If the builders can't sell the new houses in the area, what do you think would happen if you bought the house and in a few years you needed to sell?

If all the builders are under water, there is a reason and the reason is that buyers are not willing to buy there. It could be for any number of reasons but unless you get the house for pennies on the dollar, and could afford to lose your equity in it if you had to sell, I'd keep looking.

Agree with the above. There is some hidden reason. Maybe unstable land? Something you can't see.

If the builder is "underwater," maybe he didn't finish important things like electrical, plumbing, etc. I bought a home in a premium development on a golf course and the builder went belly up. OMG! He cut a lot of corners. We all sued, but never recooped the damages. He of course, is back in business under a different moniker...

Slow internet these days is a huge detriment. Septic is not. Most rural communities have that. We do. We got around the slow internet with DSL, and it's not perfect but acceptable. Some of our neighbors didn't get grandfathered in with DSL and they have Hughes Net which they all say "sucks."

If you buy there, and get in "cheap," expect to sell "cheap," and expect it to take a long time!

Like everyone else, I'd look elsewhere.

No. Red flags everywhere.

Will you ever want to sell?

As for the slower Internet. Bad mojo. We were lead to believe we had fiber, but we don't. We have slow Dsl. It's bad. I pay another 200 a month for over-the-air LTE.

Before you even get to wanting to sell, if you have a problem with the home, you will never be able to get the builder to fix anything or collect on a judgment if you sue and win. And a vacant home can have some issues after a matter of months. Expect to replace DW seal, working parts of all toilets and more (I have in two homes that were each vacant about 6 months). Any appliances will likely be out of warranty and ones sitting unused are more likely to have problems that those being used normally. Not big stuff, but if you aren't discouraged yet, make sure you get an extremely good inspection. The builder might not fix anything, but it might save you from getting a mortgage on a debt trap. If no one has been in the house, things like leaks in the structure, rodents or other problems will have gone unchecked -- leaks in pipes won't be discovered until the lines are pressurized -- same with other utilities.

ust a little longer drive to go places but more bang for the buck.

If they aren't selling you're not really getting bang for your buck.

Should I be worried

Very worried.

There is a development about 15-20 minutes (about 10 miles) from where we are downtown. It's out east (we're in SW FL in a small city by the Gulf) and this development out east has 1-3 acre lots with a golf course, club house, etc.

Houses in the development range in size from 3000 square feet -5000 square feet + and start at 1 million to build. However, after 8 years more than 1/2 the lots are still available to build on. And you can have your choice of some of the top custom builders in the area.

The problem is if someone had built in the past 8 years and now needs to sell. The seller won't get back what they paid to have the house built. If the seller is lucky they'll sell for 2/3 the price they paid to build it. So a new buyer looking in 2016 for a house in that golf community can build a totally new custom home starting at 1 million. Or the buyer can buy a house that is "used" for about 2/3 of what it cost to build. The advantage to the buyer is they get into this 1 million dollar community for less than it cost to build new.

Now if this golf community were so desirable that the majority of the houses were already sold, and maybe there were one or 2 not as desirable lots left to build on, what do you think would happen to the older houses in the development? The prices would be rising, even though the houses are older.

However you may ask, is it because housing prices are falling or not rising in our part of SW FL? No housing prices are rising very quickly closer into the city!

Why? Because closer to the city is more desirable and there's a lot less empty land to build on, so people are willing to buy new or old. Whether old or new, the prices are rising quickly.

Additionally a home out in the golf community may take 6 months - over a year to sell. Compare that to houses closer to the city that stay on the market less than 3 months.

Now am I saying you should move closer to a city? No, not if you prefer land, but my point is be very sure you're in a "desirable" area. One that will at least hold its value and not depreciate because people don't want it. Who knows why they don't want the houses that are under water in your area? Could be they are too far from amenities, or it could be they prefer sewers or it could be they absolutely do not want DSL or it could be reasons you haven't discerned.

But, be afraid. Be very afraid.

Remember the 3 most important things to consider when buying real estate.

1. Location

2. Location

3. Location

Everyone is on the same page with agreeing it's very suspect to be on the market that long. If I decide to pursue it, I may lose out in the long run if on the good graces of everything there are no problems during a home inspection.

I spoke with some neighbors yesterday. They seemed really nice and are retired. They said they liked the area and it even tho it was slow, it was still growing. It was a family friendly area. Saw kids running around and people being friendly. I did want to see the house and will later today. I am very curious with special thanks to lascatx at pointing out the little things I may over look. Based on the fact about things not working and needing to be replaced, Is a DW seal the dishwasher seal?

I just want the experience at seeing these things while I'm not in a hurry. I have to sell my house first before I can look for another so I am in a different mindset and not in a rush to jump into something. I've had water damage in my house after a tornado and I have had leaks in skylights. We did notice on a door on the back some red dirt had blew inside the house, just a little bit, and dead spiders. But I am curious to see if it's cleaned up.

The neighbors can be the nicest folks in the world but that doesn't make the area desirable from a resale point of view. Again if things are not selling and more than one of the builder's houses are under water, there is a reason for it and the reason is the location is not desirable.

To recap on it all. The house must have major structural issues. After I viewed it last week, I saw a lot of OBVIOUS cover ups. I've repaired cracks after my foundation was corrected but I'm not expert by all means, just have a small experience with caulking and dry wall repair. Plus my house needed some TLC before it went on the market. However, this house was so stupidly obvious, it was dumb. An example is, there was a door with door trim. There was about an inch between the trim and the perpendicular wall next to it. Someone filled it in with caulking and painted it so now it looks flush with the trim. I think the house was a house used for people to live in while their house was being built because there was obvious signs of wear throughout like carpet fibers pulled. By the way, despite all of that, they still didn't clean up the dirt or dead bugs including some really large dead ones. Yup, there's a reason it's been on the market so long...Thanks all.