From the Atlanta Journal and Constitution:

Every so often, William Saunders snatches up a golf club and steps behind his Smyrna townhouse to whackballs down a line of neighboring lots.

He never hits another home and never hears complaints from neighbors. But that’s an easy accomplishment. Most of Saunders’ neighborhood is a ghost town, another fallout of metro Atlanta’s housing market horrors.

One of just two residents in what was to be a 105-home development, the 54-year-old information technology manager strolls down lonely streets past silt fences, weedy lots, nearly 20 vacant homes and a sign cheerily announcing that a pool and cabana are “Coming Soon!”

But his community lifestyle isn’t without upsides. Three he mentions: Attractive housing. Lots of peace and quiet. And a female friend who has sunbathed topless on his back deck.
“Actually,” he said, “it’s not a bad place to live.”

In communities scattered around metro Atlanta, homeowners are learning how to cope as refugees of a housing slowdown that has stalled — and sometimes killed — developments in mid-hammer swing. Resigned to the possibility that it may be years before their developments warm up again, some homeowners have taken on new roles.

and:

The steep fall in housing sales nationwide has led many potential home buyers to believe they can squeeze heavy price concessions from builders. But once shoppers become homeowners in a young and struggling development, some of the power shifts. Homeowner associations — which oversee dues and covenant enforcement — often remain in the control of developers until most of the subdivision’s houses are occupied. Developers also usually retain control over when amenities are built.

It can be a long wait.

When “coming soon” means “coming eventually. maybe. we hope.” - Developments have been cut back throughout the Atlanta area: subdivisions have been halted midstream, and a number of intown condo projects have been scaled back, converted to apartments, or put on various stages of hiatus (including the high-end John Wieland One Museum Place).

For those living in partially-developed projects, it is a horror story with no happy ending anytime soon.