I defy you to find a newly built neighborhood in the formerly hot suburbs of Tampa that has minimal rentals, scant foreclosures and almost no For Sale signs.

I actually stumbled upon one today, Stonegate in Pasco County. Unless the builder was feeding me a big load of donkey droppings, I'd have to proclaim Stonegate a modest success.

A private builder based in Land O'Lakes, Southern Crafted Homes has been one of the few builders that hasn't slashed prices. A 3,000-square-foot house still sells for a circa-2005 price of $420,000.

Yet it hasn't bled buyers. It's sold about 70 homes so far this year, not too far off the peak of 90 sales in 2006. Its marketing has focused on building quality. It rejected the commodification of the housing market exemplied by investors, speculators and flippers.   

The cool-and-collected strategy seems to pay dividends. Less than a mile down the road on State Road 54, big-time national builder Lennar Homes is slashing home prices almost monthly to draw buyers to its Concorde Station subdivision.

Southern Crafted chief operating officer Jim Deitch calls Lennar's price chopping mania "an exit strategy." And Deitch has no plans to leave Land O'Lakes.

No doubt, the builder's been aided by the misfortune of others. Local competitors Tripp Trademark Homes, Smith Family Homes and Nohl Crest Homes have folded. A couple of other builders active in Pasco - McCar Homes comes to mind - are rumored to be leaving the market.

Deitch welcomed dozens of Realtors to his new model homes in Stonegate on Tuesday. As well he should. Southern Crafted held a sit down earlier this year with real estate agents and picked their brains about what features customers were demanding.

Deitch integrated those tips into the new models: Adding a fourth bedroom to a three-bedroom model, widening kitchens and bathrooms, doubling down on storage space and dispensing with the "shell game" of offering fancily equipped models that don't reflect what an average customer could afford.

I'm not here to kiss Southern Crafted's derriere. I haven't the foggiest idea if they advertise in my newspaper. But after listening to builders gripe about 85 percent sales plunges, it's refreshing to find a company with sea legs.