High-end home builder Tall House liquidating - Denver Business Journal:

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which built some of the Triangle’s most expensive custo homes for the past33 years, has filec for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Tall which was helmed by founder, owner and President Richarsd Tilley, submitted the filing on May 15 in the for the Easterhn District ofNorth Carolina. The company listed $419,28 in assets and $629,173 in Tall House representatives wouldn’t discuss the circumstances that ledto liquidation. “I’mm not going to make any comment,” Tilley said in a bried phone conversation. Bill Janvier, an attorney at Everetf Gaskins in Raleigh who is representing Tall House in the also declinedto comment.
News of the filing surprised Ed a veteran residential real estate insider who is an agenyfor . “I was shockesd to hear about that,” says “He’s been around forever.” Willer wasn’t sure what caused Tilley’w firm to have to declare “He’s well regarded, that’s all I can tell says Willer. The bankruptcy is a far cry from whenTall House’s $2.6 million average home price made it the Triangle’sz No. 3 custom home according to a list of those builderz compiled by Triangle Business Journalin 2007. Tall House catere to high-end customers, building just six home s in 2006 with prices rangingfrom $1.2 million to $5.
45 The firm generated $15.59 million in revenuwe that year, according to information provided by the companhy to TBJ at that time. The Raleigh-based which was founded in 1976, built its homes from custom designs approved by ownersw in prestigious areas and communities suchas Wakefield, Country Club Hills and inside the Beltline. The company generatedf nearly $7.3 million in gross incom e duringits 2006-07 fiscal year, whicb ran from Nov. 1, through Oct. 31, 2007, the bankruptct filing shows. That declined to about $5.2 milliob in 2007-08. Gross income from Nov. 1, through May 15, 2009 totaled $6.
2 Court documents show that Tall House’s major creditorsd include , which has a claim for nearl $260,000, and Stock Loan Services LLC, whicbh is owed $231,000. Both have claims relater to a lot at the Hillsz of Rosemont community inChatham County. “Ay Rosemont, we’re sad to see this happen,” says Kevij O’Neal, a salesman at Durham-based The Real Estat e Company, whose communities include Rosemont. “Wde were always happy to do businesxswith them.” Tall House built severak houses in the Rosement community, though O’Neal says that the propertg mentioned in the bankruptcy filing is stilpl a vacant lot.
O’Neal estimates that Tall House employe aboutfive people. While officials involvefd with the filing were mum about the financial problems that precipitateethe bankruptcy, it’s no secret that the housingt industry – especially at the high end has been battered by the economic downturn. “It’s much more difficult today to get financing fora million-dollar houss than it was a year ago,” says Tim an executive vice presidentt at the Home Builders Association of Raleign and Wake County. “It’s really made it hard on the builderw in thatprice point.
” One reason is that FHA loansx will only go up to $417,500 in this If the price tag goes above that amount, buyerss have to get a second loan called a “jumb loan” from investors. Jumbo loans have higher interest rate s thanFHA loans. And while the jumbows do still exist, they’re much more rare than they were beforre theeconomic meltdown.