Toni D’Angelo-Lott, who proudly wears her bright yellow “I love ugly houses” button everywhere she goes, constantly tells people that it’s more about crunching numbers, supervising contractors and managing people than it is about picking out a nice exterior paint color.

“There are TV shows and a lot of seminars that tell you it’s easy. It’s not,” said D’Angelo-Lott, owner of the HomeVestors franchise in San Antonio.

She should know. She learned the business at a young age from her father, Ken D’Angelo, who had real estate businesses in Dallas and Houston in the 1970s and 1980s.

Last year’s fickle real estate investors continue to leave a sour aftertaste in San Antonio’s new-home market.Builders started 27 percent fewer homes in the second quarter compared to the same period in 2006. And more than 3,100 vacant new homes were on the market at the end of June. That’s 1,132 more homes than last summer.

A new report released today from Metrostudy, a housing research firm, shows that San Antonio builders continue to sell off excess inventory in an effort to shake the aftereffects of 2006.

Did raindrops keep falling on your house hunt?San Antonio’s soggy summer has put a damper on the local real estate market, leaving builders well behind on their construction schedules thanks to the uncooperative elements.

San Antonio has had so many days of rain this spring and summer that if you’re waiting for your new house or for landscaping work such as pools or patios to be completed, well, try to remember that patience is a virtue.

“We’re running 60 to 80 days behind,” said Becky Oliver, executive vice president of the Greater San Antonio Builders Association. “I’ve gotten phone calls from consumers about delivery issues. I tell them that there’s not much the builder can do about it. Everybody is behind.”