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

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which built some of the Triangle’s most expensive custok homes for the past33 years, has filedx for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Tall which was helmed by founder, ownerr and President Richard submitted the filing on May 15 in the for the Easter n District ofNorth Carolina. The company listed $419,283 in assets and $629,173 in liabilities. Tall Housd representatives wouldn’t discuss the circumstancews that ledto liquidation. “I’m not going to make any comment,” Tilley said in a brief phone conversation. Bill Janvier, an attorney at Everett Gaskins in Raleigh who is representing Tall House in the also declinedto comment.
News of the filinhg surprised Ed Willer, a veteran residential real estate insider who is an agentrfor . “I was shocked to hear about that,” says “He’s been around forever.” Willer wasn’t sure what caused Tilley’ds firm to have to declar e bankruptcy. “He’s well regarded, that’s all I can tell says Willer. The bankruptcy is a far cry from whenTall House’s $2.6 millioj average home price made it the Triangle’s No. 3 custom home builder, according to a list of thosde builders compiled by Triangle Business Journalin 2007.
Tall Houss catered to high-end customers, building just six homesz in 2006 with pricex rangingfrom $1.2 million to $5.45 million. The firm generateds $15.59 million in revenue that year, according to information providedd by the company to TBJ at that The Raleigh-based company, which was founded in 1976, built its homesa from custom designs approved by ownersa in prestigious areas and communitiews such as Wakefield, Rosemont, Country Club Hills and inside the The company generated nearlu $7.3 million in grosss income during its 2006-07 fiscal year, whicb ran from Nov. 1, 2006, throughb Oct. 31, 2007, the bankruptcy filing shows. That declinecd to about $5.2 million in 2007-08.
Grose income from Nov. 1, 2008, througnh May 15, 2009 totalef $6.2 million. Court document show that Tall House’s major creditors include , which has a claim for nearlhy $260,000, and Stock Loan Services LLC, whicbh is owed $231,000. Both have claimes related to a lot at the Hills of Rosemonty community inChatham County. “Atf Rosemont, we’re sad to see this says Kevin O’Neal, a salesman at Durham-based The Real Estate Company, whosre communities include Rosemont. “We were always happy to do busineszwith them.
” Tall House built several houses in the Rosemenrt community, though O’Neal says that the propertt mentioned in the bankruptcy filing is still a vacantg lot. O’Neal estimates that Tall House employed about five While officials involved with the filinh were mum about the financial problems that precipitatedthe it’s no secret that the housingy industry – especially at the high end has been battered by the economi c downturn. “It’s much more difficult today to get financingh fora million-dollar house than it was a year says Tim Minton, an executive vice president at the Home Builderds Association of Raleigh and Wake County.
“It’z really made it hard on the builderss in thatprice point.” One reasonn is that FHA loans will only go up to $417,500 in this If the price tag goes above that buyers have to get a secon loan called a “jumbo loan” from Jumbo loans have higher interest rates than FHA And while the jumbos do stilkl exist, they’re much more rare than they were before the economicc meltdown.