With market conditions as they are, home prices are all over the the place. Builders are working hard to find the right price.

Incentives vary so significantly from one community to the next that base prices mean next to nothing. Want to know why one community is selling three or four homes a month and the four surrounding communities are selling one a month? Look at incentives- the type and the value.

Are you a homebuilder that wants to shore up prices? Builder fewer inventory homes. You'll likely sell fewer homes but your margins will increase.

We're in the spring selling season and it's time to take sales while the sales are here to take!

Homebuilders have LOADS of inventory. As we reported to The Pulse subscriber base last week, builders have an average of 8 inventory homes per community; Chandler (13.8 per community) and Maricopa (9.4) had the most inventory homes in January.

Expect an inventory cutback in most communities in coming months. Most builders we talk with recognize current inventory is too high and pushing incentives higher than they otherwise would be.

A trend is underway... In early October, one builder was offering homebuyers a choice: purchase an inventory home with a rate buydown and closing cost credit or purchase the home at its "cash" price. The far lower cash price of the home had been discounted by the value of the incentives. More builders have jumped on board since, giving buyers a choice. The change in incentives, if widely adopted, will undoubtedly result in some unique discussions surrounding home values and affordability.