WCI Communities Files for Chapter 11

[Joel Zuckerman]

Ha!

I didn't check out the RE offerings on the other side of the proverbial tracks!

[Sam Maryland]

I may be mistaken, but WCI is somewhat different from the typical developer in that a lot of their product consisted of high rise towers.  

I was passing through Hammock Dunes, some 50 miles south of Jacksonville and just a few miles from I-95, a few weeks back.  It was too cold to play, so the principals took me to lunch, and then showed me some incredible condo properties as built by WCI.  Walking through the front door of a 6th floor, 5,000 square foot, 4 BR luxury condo, ALL you could see was ocean outh the facing windows, wall-to-wall.  Very, very impressive view.  They told me that WCI would entertain any reasonable offer of about 1.5 million on a residence that, a year ago, would have easily been worth twice as much.  For those who still have enough money and are wanting a showpiece home, a place like this is, in relative terms, a real bargain.

Did they make any assurances about future financing/maintenance costs the owner will have to absord in order to keep the facility in good order going forward?

Aircraft carriers are prob a bargain right now, the ongoing gas bill is a questionmark...

[Joel Zuckerman]

As I was there in a journalist's role (IE--voyeur) and not an honest-to-goodness RE prospect, that discussion never happened.  The visit to the condo was more for the "wow" factor than anything else.

I recall them saying the condo and HOA fees were in the neighborhood of around 20--24k per year, which included all relevant insurance on the place...a key element, considering it's location about 100 yards or so from the beach.