More economic woes

If ye socks find yourselves down in North Naples, Florida, take a drive down Whippoorwill Lane to see tangible evidence of the state of the homebuilding industry around this little corner of heaven.

There you will find "Marbella Lakes."

Or, what should have been "Marbella Lakes."

Engle Homes got as far as installing sewer connections, fire hydrants, and lamp posts. They even put up a gate house and started building a few model homes.

But, the site has now been abandoned, and the "model homes" consist of a few stark grey cinder block walls unfit for habitation.

Engle decided mid-stream it made more economic sense to allow their bank to foreclose on the site, I guess.

They also decided to hand out a bunch of pink slips up in my little corner of heaven.

So, there are a lot of jittery folks around here these days.

Then, I got news from Texas along the same lines.

When might we expect some good economic news for a change?!

TOUSA files Chapter 11

Yesterday, TOUSA (the parent company of Engle Homes, among other builders) would have defaulted on about $550 million in debt, because they couldn't make an interest payment.

Instead, they have filed for bankruptcy protection. And, to their credit (pun intended), they were able to get bond holders to agree to accept stock in a re-organized company that somehow managed to get a $150 million loan from CitiGroup.

CEO Antonio Mon tried to downplay all this by stating, "Our business in fundamentally sound."

I don't know how he can make such a claim. The company still owes a total of $2.24 billion, and posted a loss of $619.7 million during the third quarter of 2007. (Fourth quarter numbers, I suspect, will be equally dismal.)

Unless there is a massive turn-around in the market, which I am afraid appears unlikely in the near term, the $150 million dollar life line is not going to be adequate.

This is bad news, not just for TOUSA employees and debt holders, but to folks like me who work in the broader housing market.

Time for some belt-tightening.

I hate it.

Finding the good in a bad situation

I heard today that a good friend had been let go from a job held for fifteen years.

That had to be a kick in the stomach.

But, such are the economic times, especially in the homebuilding industry down here in the Sunshine State.

An optimist by nature, I tried to help find something positive in the situation. But, the best I could come up with is, "At least you'll be getting a severance package."

Some of the folks still on the payroll of the company in question will not even get that, if talk on the street is true.

The word is they will be filing bankruptcy in just a matter of days, and no more severance packages will be handed out to any of the folks they let go after the filing date.

So, maybe someone in the HR department over there was actually looking out for my friend by scheduling the termination on the Friday before Christmas . . .

Still doesn't seem "right," though, does it?!

Ah, well, at least this whole situation highlights what I've been preaching for quite some time now: Count your blessings, because some people don't have as many as you!

And, most of the greatest blessings don't stem from the place that prints your paycheck . . .

Bass Tournament

I attended our company's first ever bass tournament today, down at East Lake Fishcamp in Kissimmee.

I hadn't been down to that neck of the woods in a long, long time. So, I was really surprised by how much growth there has been out there. I guess the sprawl is everywhere!

Anyway, they had some really nice facilities, including some air-conditioned cabins. But, the big attraction (for me, anyway!) was the full-service BBQ restaurant they have onsite. They catered our little post-tournament lunch, and I can tell you the baked beans were some of the best I've ever had.

So, who won the tourney, you ask? Well, it was some guy named Randal. I think he works for Engle Homes, but not real sure about that. I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention during the awards ceremony as I was much more interested in a drumstick at the time.

Needless to say, a good time was had by all.

Same time, same place next year? Guess Randy will have to let us know if he's up to that challenge later . . .