Altieri Homes - Maryland-based home builder

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2008-08-15

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From the Baltimore Business Journal comes word that Maryland-based home builder Altieri Enterprises d/b/a Altieri Homes (website: altierihomes.com) has been cutting staff and building debt:

Facing nearly $2 million in debts to creditors across Maryland and liens on several of its homes across the mid-Atlantic region, Altieri Homes of Columbia is struggling to stay afloat, company President Daren Altieri said. By taking the right steps, he said the company will avoid filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Deep into a nationwide housing slump, which still has a firm grip on Greater Baltimore, the company has been forced to slash its staff from 105 to seven employees, eliminate several communities from its pipeline and turn over much of its construction and marketing work to outside firms. Even with those efforts, Altieri said, the company does not expect to reach firm financial footing for at least another year or more.

Multiple vendors have filed claims against Altieri. A Maryland Judiciary case search (go here and search for Altieri Enterprises) turns up numerous active cases by apparent vendors.

Another article details the woes of various Altieri homebuyers. One example:

Residents in Brook Meadow, a 36-unit townhouse development along Mulberry Drive, are seeing liens placed on their homes by subcontractors who claim Altieri never paid them for their work.

"We had to cut our losses," said Sandra Armstrong, who signed a contract in January 2007 for a home in Foxwood Estates that was supposed to be finished in August.

A tipster with close information on the company has provided us with some additional speculation regarding the source of Altieri's woes:

Too much land which leads to too much interest carry.

At this point the owners still show up at the office but are close to being evicted for not paying rent. The doors are locked and the blinds are drawn. Communication with them is impossible.

... Too much debt, too many judgements / creditors, NO cash.

We are keeping an eye on Altieri. According to Manta.com Altieri was founded in 1991 and had estimated sales of $86 million in recent history. If you have any information regarding their ongoing operations, please let us know! Also, be sure to check out the forum discussion on Altieri Homes.

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Comments:

Justin at 22:04 2008-08-04 said:

The Baltimore Business Journal has reported that Altieri Homes is having trouble:

Facing nearly $2 million in debts to creditors across Maryland and liens on several of its homes across the mid-Atlantic region, Altieri Homes of Columbia is struggling to stay afloat, company President Daren Altieri said. By taking the right steps, he said the company will avoid filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Deep into a nationwide housing slump, which still has a firm grip on Greater Baltimore, the company has been forced to slash its staff from 105 to seven employees, eliminate several communities from its pipeline and turn over much of its construction and marketing work to outside firms. Even with those efforts, Altieri said, the company does not expect to reach firm financial footing for at least another year or more.

http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/stories/2008/08/04/story2.html

If anyone has heard anything about this case, please let us know - Permalink

Pooge at 09:36 2008-08-05 said:

Here are a couple of more articles on the problems that they are having:

http://www.pennlive.com/news/patriotnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1217295611298020.xml&coll=1 http://www.pennlive.com/patriotnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1216866387223700.xml&coll=1 Permalink

SlickJulie at 10:21 2008-08-05 said:

Here's two more articles....the first has this statement in it....

"Calls to the company’s four Pennsylvania sales managers listed on the Altieri Web site and all extensions at the company’s main office were met with busy signals, operator messages that the numbers were disconnected, or voicemail systems. No calls were returned." http://www.cumberlink.com/articles/2008/07/30/news/local/doc4890831353553855266718.txt

Another blurb.... http://www.whptv.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=0ed736c2-fa71-4dc1-b439-8d0905b0aaa9 Permalink

Pooge at 12:50 2008-08-09 said:

The Pennsylvania Attorney General's office is now looking into Altieri.

http://www.whptv.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=e89ed46a-abd0-4293-8c98-70e2f16ab23d When I tried to go to the company website, I got the message that it is temporarily unavailable. Permalink

Pooge at 12:22 2008-09-12 said:

A municipality is now going after Alteri's bond to get the streets, etc. finished in a development:

http://www.cumberlink.com/articles/2008/09/11/news/local/doc48c92c378c5eb369369435.txt Permalink

Aristotle at 04:05 2008-09-13 said:

Pooge: I'm happy to hear you found an instance where some municipality is going after a developer's subdivision improvement bonds when the developer defaults on its obligations to build improvements required as a condition of tract approval.

So many municipalities are too lazy to do that. When I read about homeowners complaining that things like street improvements are incomplete, I want to bang my head on the wall in frustration. That sort of situation proves my generalization that most municipal employees are morally if not legally corrupt in their pandering to developers.

Just my pet peeve. It's been a long day. Permalink

BillyA at 08:51 2008-09-14 said:

Corrupt or incompetent? Permalink

Pooge at 16:17 2008-09-25 said:

Imagine, the homeowners (or hopefully soon to be) thought they needed a source of water:

http://www.cumberlink.com/articles/2008/09/25/news/local/doc48db8ca0a6a54663618024.txt :roll: Permalink

Pooge at 13:44 2008-10-09 said:

And the saga continues...

http://www.cumberlink.com/articles/2008/10/09/news/local/doc48ee2005b3bc3465740579.txt Permalink

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Important: Ailing Builders haven't shut down, but they've suffered significant valuation declines, temporarily halted redemptions, or faced other major business hurdles. Builders on watch may not even have unusual declines relative to peers, but may be posted if it is felt there may be risk of developing a more serious condition in the near future.