Sandra Pedicini | Sentinel Staff Writer
November 21, 2007
The financial collapse of one of America’s legendary home builders has left people throughout Central Florida stuck with unfinished houses, liens against their properties, unopened clubhouses and community pools, and warranties that could be worthless.
Many of the victims, scattered throughout the Southeastern United States, don’t know whether their houses will ever be finished.
“We’re just kind of in limbo here and waiting to hear,” said Vincent Santanelli, a resident of Cascades at Groveland who helped his elderly father-in-law with a $20,000 down payment on an unfinished house in the Lake County community. “We haven’t even heard a word from Levitt.”
In Central Florida alone, several hundred families purchased lots and homes in communities from St. Cloud to Winter Springs that remain unfinished.
Levitt and Sons hasn’t offered them much reassurance.
A company Web site says Levitt’s future is uncertain, the status of homeowners associations that it previously ran is “not yet clear” and it can no longer honor home warranties.
Homeowners seeking work under warranty would have to go directly to vendors who provided items such as flooring. With only 72 employees left out of about 500, Levitt and Sons “just does not have the resources to continue to serve as intermediary,” said Paul Singerman, lead bankruptcy counsel for the builder.
Levitt filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Nov. 9, citing excess housing supply, reduction in demand resulting from less credit availability and falling prices.
The company listed assets of less than $1 million and debts of more than $100 million.
Residents say they never expected this from the builder that pioneered the suburban planned community with Levittown on Long Island in 1949.
“They had a good reputation,” said Kerri Day, who, with husband Robert Walker, bought a $450,000 home in Turtle Creek in St. Cloud. Their home is finished, along with about 20 others in the community planned for more than 400 homes.
Though relatively small when compared to today’s home-building companies, “the Levitt name carries a lot of weight in the industry,” said Mike Larson, a real-estate analyst with Weiss Research in Jupiter. “It’s a sign of the times that even a company like that could get to this level of stress.”
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http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-levitt2107nov21,0,5926602.story
