Straight from the “what were they thinking?” files:
The Arizona Republic reports that “Boxes containing loan applications, Social Security numbers and bank account information for residents of a Gilbert neighborhood were discovered in a ransacked model home abandoned by a bankrupt developer”.
That builder would be Randall Martin Homes. The subdivision is Higley Park in Gilbert near Higley and Ray roads.
Randall Martin walked away from the subdivision in February, leaving 172 lots to be foreclosed. The HOA, faced with unpaid assessments, is hurting for cash. Empty lots are choked with weeds and trash. John Wake penned a great piece about Randall Martin’s “walk out” back in February.
Sadly, this isn’t the only subdivision facing these problems. Yet other new subdivisions are continuing to be built out. Buyers interested in purchasing a new home would be well advised to understand the financial position of their builder.
What amazes me the most in this story is that the builder apparently just walked away, leaving behind boxes full of peoples personal information. Bankruptcy doesn’t forgive responsibility. Maybe, just maybe, Randall Martin Homes “who gives a crap about our clients” attitude is as much to blame for their failure as the real estate market conditions.
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{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
WOW! That is just plain stupidity on the builders part. If the wrong person got a hold of those boxes, the builder could be facing some serious lawsuits. I feel sorry for the homeowners in these subdivisions.
I always guard all my little pieces of paper. A few bits of data and you can be cooked!
**Cal´s last blog post..This Month in Real Estate: SPECIAL REPORT – What Happened?
It is very important for buyers to understand if their builder is in trouble. A couple years ago a guy in our office represented a buyer on a 1.2M new home, the buyer gave $120k for deposit directly to the builder, builder went bankrupt about 20% of the way through construction. As far as I understand the buyer’s earnest money is gone and 3 years later the house still sits uncompleted. Kind of a waste of $120,000 if you ask me.
This kind of irresponsibility should result in jail time.
Unfortunately this is not the first time it has happened and it won’t be the last time either.
WHAT!! That’s truly unbelievable and incredibly irresponsible. I think they have a few communities still open in the valley – do you know if they do?
The community right next to that (New Orleans Homes walked away from) has two great parks…if anyone has some unfriendly dogs and needs a park to visit.
I can’t say that I’m surprised. When things get financially tough and companies go under, it’s “last one out the door turn off the lights”. The people in charge are usually off looking for their next gig, and leave the “dirty work” to the “clean up committee”, a job no one volunteers for.
We had a similar development go under in a town north of here. Half-built homes just standing and rotting, minimal security, vandalism, etc. A shame.
**Davis Real Estate Blog´s last blog post..October Home Sales for Davis and Woodland
I live nearby so I see this community every day as well have seen Randall Martin’s work in the Higley road area. I recall going in to their sales office and the Realtor there talking about the company. My biggest question was how they expected to justify the small lots and it looked pretty clear to me that they designed the community in Chandler based on the expectation that whatever they built would get snatched up. I see homes that have about a 10 foot deep backyard that line up to Queen Creek Road! Who is willing to buy these unless the price is very low? If Randall Martin had built out of a notion of quality (larger lots and other touches), they might have fared better.
**David Lorti´s last blog post..Home Sellers Have to Focus on the “Complete Package” to Sell
I am just shocked someone could be so reckless! Imagine if that information fell into the wrong hands; I wonder if perhaps he should serve some jail time if it was found out anyone’s identity was stolen due to his lack of respect/intelligence/ethics towards his clients? I take such care to make sure all of my client’s and site visitor’s information is guarded and safe; I just can’t believe it when I hear of someone being so irresponsible.
**Linda Craft-Raleigh NC Real Estate Expert´s last blog post..Open House Cruise Winner Announced
In addition to being amazingly irresponsible, that was just plain stupid. It is amazing that they didn’t even think of this as a CYA thing. Can you say shredder?
That’s amazing. If someone steals the identity of one of those folks, the builder will be the first to head to jail. And he would deserve it… What a shmock!
We had the same thing happen here in Minneapolis, but a real estate broker was caught emptying old files in a dumpster in the parking lot! We are always sure to send old files through a professional shredding service.
**Nate´s last blog post..Foreclosure sales in Eden Prairie in October
They could not even take the time to have a bone fire in one of those weed filled empty lots and distroy all of that personal info? Crazy!
**James Boyer´s last blog post..Home Sales Report Morris Township New Jersey
Amazing the lack of responsibility others have; he should be ashamed and held accountable.
**Lenda Goulding-Cary Area Real Estate Expert´s last blog post..Tax-Free Appliance Weekend Coming Up
How terribly sad and heartless. But, on the upside, he is out of business, so he can now longer misplace people’s identity and private information. Serves him right for having such a horrible lack of ethics.
**Listwise-Triangle Real Estate´s last blog post..Moving to Raleigh or Durham, NC?
While the chance of someone actually finding and using the private info for bad is very small, this still stresses the importance of being careful where you share your information.
The Arizona Department of Real Estate has a list of builders that are in trouble or could be in trouble soon. It would be wise for consumers to make sure they do a little due diligence before spilling their financial guts.
**Insurance Renegade´s last blog post..My Favorite Veteran
It really is a shame the builders have been going belly up and leaving HOA’s high and dry. The fact that this builder also “walked away from” boxes full of peoples personal information is absolutely criminal.
**John´s last blog post..Baltimore Real Estate
This isn’t that surprising. I had posted a video about a bankrupt lender earlier this year that threw out confidential information into a public trash container without shredding it. It’s too bad the builder didn’t have the moral standards to go the right thing in a difficult time.
That’s just stupid, He should go to jail! Why wouldn’t he go buy a paper cutter for $100 and get rid of all the information?