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My husband visited a new neighborhood at the end of March and picked up a neighborhood folder. A couple of weeks ago I went to the builders website and saw that the prices had dropped 20K. Now the neighborhood is no longer on the website as a current or past community. I went to the county site to see what was going with the houses. Well, I searched by the builders name and came to a listing for a Fictitious Business Name document. The actual document is not available on line. I google it and I found a site that would sell me report on the company. Is this common practice? Should I stay away from such a builder? Our last 2 homes have been by a nationwide builder.
Does the builder matter if we buy a resale? Thanks.
P.S. The builder website still has other neighborhoods.
Fictitious business names are common, and they are filed so that you the consumer can know who the company owners really are if need be.
For instance, without the practice of fictitious business names, Microsoft would have to be called Bill Gates' Company.... and there's not really a guy named K-Mart. Any time you start a business with a name other than your own legal name, you have to file a fictitious business name document.
It's all public information, but not all states/counties put it online for free. Try googling for the contractor licensing board in your county...that's usually available free online for consumers to check for complaints and proper license before hiring. Those sites usually have the owners of companies listed.
The builder you are concerned with may have decided to scrape the project or put it on hold until the housing situation gets better. It's not necessarily an indication of any wrongdoing on anyone's part. Like the other poster said, ask them.
Quote:
Does the builder matter if we buy a resale?
Yes, to the degree that it lets you know it was built by a builder with a good reputation for quality or one who has had many homeowner complaints.
Fictitious business names are common, and they are filed so that you the consumer can know who the company owners really are if need be.
For instance, without the practice of fictitious business names, Microsoft would have to be called Bill Gates' Company.... and there's not really a guy named K-Mart. Any time you start a business with a name other than your own legal name, you have to file a fictitious business name document.
No, that is not what is going on. I am sure than when you create a company it becomes an entity and its name is used on legal documents.
If I do a search in the grantor/grantee database for other builders names like Pulte I can find all the properties they have sold under the legal name of Pulte [SIZE=2]Home Corp. When I search for this other builder there are no properties listed. I guess you only learn the name of the company at closing. I wanted to know how many houses this builder had sold recently and what kind of prices. [/SIZE]
I am not going to call them because this whole thing has me not wanting to do business with them. I was just surprised it worked like that.
There are a lot of builders scrapping projects right now. Would that be a step before going under? I am really worry because we want to buy in the Stockton-Lodi area in CA. Which is the no. 2 city for forclosures How do we know if we are going to get burnt if we buy now?
Ok, I am not understanding you, then. You do have the company name but you can't find further info on the company, so you think there is a second company name, or that they've recently changed company names? (that happens)
Are you searching the database on the San Joaquin County gov site? That only lists grantors/grantees for that county. There's always the possibility that this builder's previous tracts were in another county. Just saying, don't jump to conclusions that something is amiss.
The website lists Heritage Park, The Cottages, Lodi Communities, and Westlake Communities as upcoming future projects. Is one of those the one you were looking for? They seem to have quite a few past projects.
ok, the other names they've gone by associated with recordings: Frontiers Community Builders and shortened variations such as Frontiers and Frontiers Comm Bldrs. Founding owners are Tom Doucette and George Gibson. I tracked the license through George Gibson, as nothing was coming up for FCB Homes, and it comes up as Frontier Land Companies. Put "Frontier Land" into the recorders searchbox and you get the onslaught of deeds you're looking for.
Hope some of this helps you. I haven't found any red flags. Good luck.
License Number:
629806 Extract Date: 05/17/2008 Business Information:
FRONTIER LAND COMPANIES
10100 TRINITY PARKWAY STE #420
STOCKTON, CA 95219
Business Phone Number: (209) 957-8112 Entity:
Corporation
Issue Date:
09/30/1991 Expire Date:
09/30/2009 License Status:
This license is current and active. All information below should be reviewed. Classifications:
ClassDescriptionB GENERAL BUILDING CONTRACTOR Bonding:
Contractor's BondThis license filed Contractor's Bond number 876058C in the amount of $12,500 with the bonding company DEVELOPERS SURETY AND INDEMNITY COMPANY. Effective Date: 01/01/2007 Contractor's Bonding History
Bond of Qualifying Individual 1.
The Responsible Managing Officer (RMO) GEORGE KENT GIBSON certified that he/she owns 10 percent or more of the voting stock/equity of the corporation. A bond of qualifying individual is not required. Effective Date: 07/11/1997 Workers' Compensation:
This license has workers compensation insurance with the STATE COMPENSATION INSURANCE FUND
Policy Number: 260-0007976 Effective Date: 10/01/2004 Expire Date: 12/01/2008 Workers' Compensation History
Personnel listed on this license (current or disassociated) are listed on other licenses.
Name Title Association Date Disassociation Date Class More Class NICHOLAS LEIBERT GUANTONE RMO 09/30/1991 02/25/1997 B
Contractor License #: 629806
Select the license name you would like to check for additional status details.
Contractor's NameLicensed with StatusNICHOLAS LEIBERT GUANTONE
What I've done in the past is found out the company officers then gone to the courthouse and asked for any litigation that the company and/or it's officers were named in. It's all public information. If I found a whole bunch of litigation I'd look through it to see what it's for and the outcome. Yes it can be some work but I'm trusting a whole lot of money to people I don't know. The other thing I tend to do is talk to at least a couple of their suppliers if you can find out who they are and see if they pay their bills on time and have suddenly stopped doing so or, if they haven't ever paid on time. This gives you some idea of who you're dealing with...
Any fictitious name statement has to have the "owners" names attached so that is the place to start.
If this situation really gives you the willies then where you're looking has plenty of inventory so you can look elsewhere...
Thank you very much for the info. How did you find it? How did you know to search for George Gibson?
The neighborhoods are called Legacy Place and Heirloom.
Location: Mokelumne Hill, CA & El Pescadero, BCS MX.
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Builders sometimes joint venture with other companies/individuals and to do so might require a fictitious business name.
My company is a California Corporation, yet I'm required to fill out a FBNS every 5 years anyway. The county clerk in the county they are doing business in should have the FBNS for you to look at.
I don't think you should worry at all about the FBNS, I'd worry about a builder that didn't have one
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Extract Date: 05/17/2008
