Current homeowners, it seems, were sitting on the sidelines before making any decision to sell, waiting out a recently announced major expansion they believed could double or triple their investments when completed.

Construction had already begun on a new 18-hole championship golf course, designed by Tom Fazio, one of the country's leading golf course architects. The initial element in the $80 million expansion of the upscale community, it was slated to open Jan. 1.

Today, upset homeowners have exchanged their "waiting it out" mode for "wait and see," and the lone home on the market was reduced from $350,000 to $300,000 overnight.

Expansion plans have apparently hit a major snag with the abrupt termination of The Wiles Group, a national developer of luxury golf communities and manager of the project for the last four months.

Reasons for the removal of the firm by the developer have not been divulged.

Gregory Perlman, principal of GH Capital of Sherman Oaks, the primary interest in Borrego Investors that acquired Rams Hill last September, offered assurances that plans were going ahead on the expansion.

"The project is moving forward full steam," he said last week. "We are going to be a first-class course and property."

Agreements are being finalized with large custom home builders, he added. "We can announce the first builder relationships in 30 to 45 days."

Perlman also indicated that a more diverse package of home options than earlier announced is being looked at, with prices that will be within the reach of more potential buyers. He estimated the properties will be priced from $500,000 to $2 million, and could include town homes as well as detached houses planned earlier.

"It's rare in golf communities to see prices under $700,000," he said. "The median price of homes in communities with fitness centers and a Fazio golf course is a million to a million three."

Improvements under way at the resort had been taking place under direction of The Wiles Group.

"Currently both parties are in discussion and seeking a resolution," said Tom Gable, chief executive officer of Gable-Cook-Schmid Public Relations, the public relations agency for Borrego Investors.

But the Rams Hill population – a mere handful of residents during the summer – indicated they've perceived no activity since The Wiles Group departed, according to Rita Andersen, local broker for the sole house for sale in the community.

"Nobody knows what's going on. Nobody's talking," Andersen said. "Everything's ripped up," she added, referring to construction on the new golf course.

"I'm sure the phone lines are buzzing throughout the country," said Andersen, referring to full-time residents' alerting Rams Hill seasonal dwellers.

This latest development isn't the first major glitch for the 3,200-acre development.

Opened in 1981, Rams Hill Country Club & Golf Resort – a mix of permanent and part-time residents and one-to three-bedroom seasonal rentals – has endured a series of unsettling episodes.

In 1988, the DiGiorgio Corp., developers of the resort, sold to a Texas-based firm for $9.5 million. Following a chronology of downturns in the market, the troubled property filed for bankruptcy in September 1994. Subsequently, the property sold in 1995 with plans for an aggressive expansion project that failed to materialize, resulting in a second bankruptcy in 2002.

The Douglas Wilson Cos., a San Diego-based developer and real estate and business consulting firm, was appointed by the Superior Court of California as receiver to operate Rams Hill in October 2002. As receiver and subsequent manager of the property, the company was responsible for all resort operations including membership, maintenance, financing, staffing and the resolution of outstanding legal, tax and entitlement issues affecting the property, said Scott Thorn, associate director of the company.

"We were put in place to preserve the value of the resort during litigation and resolve a number of legal, tax and entitlement issues impacting the property, so that it could be sold as a stable and viable business opportunity," Thorn said. "We were involved until September 2004 when GH Capital of Sherman Oaks acquired Rams Hill."

Amid a greatly expanded second-home market and the overall real estate boom taking place throughout Southern California, the expansion plans were unveiled in April.

When completed, the development was to include two championship golf courses, a new golf clubhouse and a sports clubhouse. Also planned were new sales offices, landscaping, sites designed for outdoor and naturalist activities, new streets and refinishing of existing streets. In addition to these improvements, the plan calls for construction of 600 to 800 new homes – costs of which were not included in the $80 million renovation. The houses were to be built over the next seven years.

Currently, 157 home sites are ready to sell to housing developers, and construction on the $800,000 to $2 million homes was scheduled to begin this fall. Development of a second championship golf course was slated to start in another 18 to 24 months.

Groundbreaking for a new 33,000-square-foot clubhouse to replace the current facility, which is about half that size, was scheduled for May 2006. It is to include men's and women's grills, as well as an upscale restaurant. Kevin Tucky, an executive chef formerly with Mirage Resorts in Las Vegas, is already on board.

Construction on a 10,000-square-foot sports clubhouse with spa treatment rooms, hair and nail service, fitness facilities and tennis courts is planned for spring 2007 with completion in 2009.

Work began on the first 18-hole golf course this spring. It is a redesigned combination of the back nine holes of the community's original golf course – itself a championship venue designed by Ted Robinson – and nine holes that have been fallow for several years. The new course will cost between $12 million and $16 million.

Course architect Fazio has created award-winning golf courses for 40 years. Famous courses designed by Fazio's Golf Course Designers include Pelican Hill in Newport Beach, Bighorn at Palm Desert and recent renovations at Augusta National, home of the Masters.

Elements of the course include creeks, ponds and lakes set amid the surrounding desert. The design is intended to replicate Palm Canyon, a landmark oasis and favorite hiking trail in the 650,000-acre Anza-Borrego Desert State Park that surrounds Rams Hill.

An example of the transformation is the original 14th hole – its fairway a delight to golfers, photographers and residents for 23 years. It has become the fifth hole of the new golf course.

Throughout the new course, deep crevasses in the sand indicate where lakes and ponds will be, winding trenches offer promise of gurgling creeks, hills rise where waterfalls will rush and decades-old trees have been transplanted.

But late last week, the golf course – as well as the Rams Hill community – was reminiscent of an unfinished jig-saw puzzle.