Brown Family Homes Shuts its Doors (Tucson: sales, credit, lender)

[LBear]

Yep, it's true. Brown Family Construction has shut-down siting that it cannot financially operate in these economic times. All those half-built homes will sit vacant for a LONG TIME. Talk about property depreciation. They have ceased all building and the homes that are half-built will not be finished. All home warranties are no longer in effect.

Neil Klein went bankrupt this year, also.

Breaking News: Brown Family Communities Shuts Down - Economic Conditions - Builder Magazine

It survived the mid-80's housing crunch but it cannot survive this one. . "It's going to be very tough," Brown, 76, said during the September interview. "I said a while back that this isn't going to be as bad as 1985, but I was wrong when you see the entire economy sliding downhill."

Folks, this is BAD, I really, really, really believe we are headed for something disastrous to the likes of the Great Depression but much more grave. I hope I am wrong but all the signs point that way.

Brown is GONE

[esselcue]

Life will continue. Who is Brown Family Homes?

[LBear]

Originally Posted by esselcue

Life will continue. Who is Brown Family Homes?

Unless you are the "life" that was buying a Brown Home, own a Brown Home, or were in some way employed with Brown Homes.

Click the TWO links I provided.

[esselcue]

True enough regarding Brown Homes...but I was really sort of responding to the doom & gloom part of your post.

[Gretchen B]

Brown Family Homes is an Arizona-based builder who developed Pronghorn Ranch. It is really sad news that they have been forced to close their doors. As I understand it, they were one of the few Arizona developers/builders who were solvent. This sounds like it was a direct result of the credit freeze. If I'm reading the article in the Courier correctly, it appears that Brown's lender pulled the plug on Brown's financing and called in the notes.

This is just crazy! No builder can continue to operate without a line of credit. As Brown stated in the article, his sales were actually UP in September with 17 new contracts in Pronhorn Ranch. Talk about kicking somebody in the teeth. There was no warning or anything.

[LBear]

Originally Posted by Gretchen B

This is just crazy! No builder can continue to operate without a line of credit. As Brown stated in the article, his sales were actually UP in September with 17 new contracts in Pronghorn Ranch. Talk about kicking somebody in the teeth. There was no warning or anything.

I hope the people get their money back on their homes that are half-built. Their money might be tied-up for years in the courts.

[Finger Laker]

definitely bad news - i always respected the approach of brown homes and feel they built pretty nice communities

the cities/banks should just take a pre-emptive move and level any partially built homes for scrap

[Gretchen B]

Originally Posted by LBear

I hope the people get their money back on their homes that are half-built. Their money might be tied-up for years in the courts.

Brown did not declare bankruptcy (although this may be the catalyst that necessitates that). If you read the full story as it appeared in the print version of the Courier, you'll see that Brown has refunded all customer deposits out of his own funds. I have to applaud the guy for doing the right thing!

[esselcue]

Ah-ha! Pronghorn Ranch...now I know who Brown is. Yes, that is a very big project and the consequences will be devastating for many.

[Ponderosa]

It's too bad to see these local guys get run out. It's a reflection of what's happening in other areas - mom and pops gone and replaced by chains. When I was in college I framed houses for Marved in Tucson. Marved was local and run by Saul Tobin who was well respected and contributed to his community. Marved sold to US Home and the other locals, now including Dave Brown, are gone as well. Now it's Lennar, Toll Bros., Pulte and the other publicly traded builders who have other people's money to help them bridge the troubled times.