Homebuilders Levitt & Sons Halts Construction On 2 Dozen+ Residential Projects In SE States

[hatrack]

Troubled home builder Levitt and Sons has halted construction at all of its home projects across the Southeast, including one retirement community in Murrells Inlet, a spokesman for its parent company said.

Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Levitt and Sons, the company that built the famed Levittown project on Long Island 60 years ago, ordered builders to stop working Thursday - the same day the parent company, the Levitt Corp., announced it would write off huge losses from its home-building subsidiary.

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Levitt and Sons has more than two dozen projects in South Carolina, Tennessee, Florida and Georgia, according to its Web site. On Thursday, the Levitt Corp. said it would put pretax losses on the books of up to $170 million from Levitt and Sons, writing off investments and loans.

Levitt and Sons missed a $2.6 million interest payment Wednesday, according to a company statement. The Levitt Corp. had loaned $84 million to Levitt and Sons, but is "unwilling" to loan any more money because of "deteriorating homebuilding markets," the Thursday statement said.

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http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/news/local/story/219551.html

[Quantess]

1. The mortgage crisis is still young

and still has a lot of damage to do, in the coming months.
Traditionally spring is when the real estate market picks up. We'll see how this spring turns out...

[LakeSamish706]

2. Wouldn't one think that these builders would have been smart enough...

to see this coming? Damn, it didn't take rocket science to figure out what the current Administration was trying to do all along... Destroy the economy and middle class in America.

[Quantess]

4. But that would mean less work.

I see what you are saying, but hope (and denial) springs eternal for people who want to keep working and bringing home a paycheck.

[Blackhatjack]

3. I guess they didn't get the word that the 'housing crisis' is overblown, nothing to worry about.

[Quantess]

6. Serious or sarcastic?

[Blackhatjack]

7. Sarcasm implied.

:sarcasm:

[Bennyboy]

5. My relatives have property in Murrels Inlet....

Used to have beach house but it went out with Hugo.
They rebuilt across the road from the beach.

[Rosemary2205]

8. Don't they specialize in very large homes?

The market is still pretty good for houses 1500 sq ft or less. Why people jump into these 3000+ sq ft houses I will never know.

Sue me, but if all this "crashing markets" means people will be forced to be happy with less house (less environmental impact) - short term is sucks big time I know - but long term it can only be a good thing.

[Quantess]

9. The reason why so many McMansions being built, I have heard,

is that developers want to get the maximum return for the land. Larger homes fetch a higher selling price than small homes.

[Rosemary2205]

10. understandable - but

how much return on the land is Levitt and Sons getting now? I honestly will be surprised if long term the middle class in America can keep the mcMansions as single family houses. Won't surprise me one bit if they do like those old Victorian McMansions - carve them all up into multi-families.

[piedmont]

11. Good. It's getting too crowded down here. nt