Bankruptcy

Atlanta Business Chronicle - Robert Harris Homes Expected To FIle Bankruptcy Soon; Other Builders Facing Problems

By Scott Riddle

The Atlanta Business Chronicle has an article in the latest edition entitled "Home builder Expected to Liquidate." 

Robert Harris Homes Inc. in Woodstock, which ranked as metro Atlanta’s 19th-largest home builder according to Atlanta Business Chronicle’s 2007-2008 Book of Lists, closed its doors in July and is making “an orderly wind-down to a liquidation,” said attorney L. Matt Wilson, who is representing the company. He expects the firm will file for bankruptcy by the end of the year, or possibly early in 2009 for tax reasons, he said. “There will probably be a couple of [bankruptcy] filings, one for the company and some or all of its subsidiaries.” The company has about $80 million in debt and about $60 million in property, which was once worth double that, Wilson said...

Several other builders are having similar problems, according to the article -

During the same time period, Hedgewood Properties Inc. in Cumming had 326 liens filed against it, while Homeland Legacy Inc. in Norcross had 293 filed against it and some of its affiliates...

Homeland Legacy, which is metro Atlanta’s 24th-largest home builder according to the Chronicle’s Aug. 15 top home builders list, did not return several calls for comment. Quantum Homes Inc., which filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation Sept. 4, had 189 liens filed against it and its various affiliates, a lien search shows. ..

But some builders are probably in worse financial trouble than lien filings would show, said Michael Davis, partner in the construction law division of Chamberlain, Hrdlicka, White, Williams & Martin P.C. in Atlanta.  As entire subdivisions go into foreclosure, he said, liens are virtually wiped out as banks take the majority of the assets.  Bankruptcies by home builders are also curtailing lien filings, Davis said.

Full post as published by Georgia Bankruptcy Blog on October 01, 2008 (boomark / email).