Pulte Homes Founder William J. Pulte Announces Plans to Retire

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, MI.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Pulte Homes (NYSE: PHM) announced today that William J. Pulte (top right photo) (77), company founder will retire from the Company and its Board of Directors effective March 31, 2010.

Mr. Pulte’s position on the Board of Directors will not be replaced, reducing the Board size to 11 members.

“With 2010 marking six decades in business, with our merger with Centex complete and a great, proven leadership team in place, and, hopefully, with the worst of this housing cycle behind us, this feels like the right time to officially step away from the business.”

“I was 18 years old in 1950 when I started construction on my first house, making 2010 my 60th anniversary in the building business,” said Bill Pulte. “Many people have heard me say that I have never worked a day in my life because I so love what I do and the people I work with.

“With 2010 marking six decades in business, with our merger with Centex complete and a great, proven leadership team in place, and, hopefully, with the worst of this housing cycle behind us, this feels like the right time to officially step away from the business.

“One of the things that has thrilled me most over the last few years is working with the people who are now in place and running Pulte Homes. This is particularly true of Richard Dugas, (top left photo) who has become a great leader for this company. I plan to remain a large shareholder of Pulte Homes and have never been more confident in the leadership and future success of the company.”

Following his retirement, Mr. Pulte will assume the title of Founder and Chairman Emeritus and serve as a key advisor to the senior executive team and Board of Directors under a two-year consulting agreement with the Company.




Pulte Homes, Investors: Jim Zeumer, (248) 433-4502, email: jim.zeumer@pulte.com
Media: Caryn Klebba, (248) 433-4840, Email: caryn.klebba@pulte.com
(a) Web sites: www.pulteinc.com; http://www.pulte.com/;  http://www.centex.com/;  http://www.delwebb.com/;

Florida Roofing Consultant Servcor International Sues Bayer AG Subsidiary for More Than $50M

Servcor Alleges Drunken Executive Breached Agreements, Botched Massive Airport Contract

ST. PETERSBURG, FL, Feb. 15, 2010--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In a lawsuit that details the complexities of working with large multi-national corporations on government contracts, Florida roofing and construction industry consultant Servcor International recently sued a Bayer AG subsidiary for more than $50 million plus punitive damages.

Servcor alleges that Bayer breached its partnership agreement with Servcor when it shut Servcor out of a $15 million airport roofing contract.

 Bayer further violated its fiduciary duties to Servcor following a significant ethical breach by a Bayer executive who leaked confidential information to a roofing contractor customer and Servcor competitor. The suit alleges that the national sales manager disclosed the information while intoxicated at a business dinner.

The 32-count complaint names Bayer MaterialScience, LLC, a manufacturer of the components and materials used in spray-on polyurethane foam (SPF) roofs. Bayer MaterialScience is a subsidiary of Bayer AG, the German conglomerate best known in the United States for aspirin and other pharmaceutical products.

The suit also names Insulated Roofing Contractors, a Kentucky roofing company, and Mike Gomez Construction Consultants, Inc., a Miami general contractor.

The suit alleges breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, negligence, fraud and deceptive and unfair trade practices by Bayer, the existence of a conspiracy involving all defendants, and counts against IRC and/or Gomez for fraud, negligence and interference both with contractual and advantageous business relationships.

“We brought a significant contract to Bayer, only to have it taken from us following the inexplicable, drunken actions of a Bayer executive,” said David Looney, president of Servcor International. “The breach of duty and conspiratorial acts of the defendants harmed our company’s present and future sales as well as damaged the ultimate consumer.”

According to the complaint filed in Pinellas County, Fla. Circuit Court by Servcor attorney Daniel L. Moody of Tampa Bay area law firm Moody and Shea, P.A., Servcor was not only a distributor of Bayer’s roofing products but also Bayer’s business partner in many roofing related services while also providing business strategies to increase Bayer’s market share.

Servcor also built a strong relationship with the Miami-Dade Aviation Department which specified materials and services co-branded by Servcor and Bayer on a 10-acre roofing project at Miami International Airport, (top left photo)  saving the county over $10 million.

According to the complaint, the drunken disclosure of confidential information by Bayer’s sales manager set off a string of events wherein Bayer conspired to intentionally cause financial harm to Servcor and to put Servcor out of business.

Servcor International provides commercial roofing and waterproofing services to both consumers and product manufacturers. More information about Servcor is available at www.servcorintl.com or by calling (727) 894-3415. A copy of the lawsuit is available at http://servcorintl.com/media.pdf.

Contacts: For Servcor International, Daniel L. Moody, Esq., 727-596-3000, Fax: 727-596-3006, dmoody@moodyandshea.com

Foreclosures to Impact 20 Million Homeowners

 

DESTIN, FL, Feb. 15, 2010 --(PR.com)-- Foreclosures are likely to impact 20-million homeowners in the U.S. if government officials don’t take action to lessen the severity of the foreclosure crisis, according to Housing Predictor.

The real estate research firm was the first to forecast the foreclosure epidemic, triggering the worst economic turmoil since the Great Depression.

In a recent Housing Predictor dot com survey nearly 1 in 3 mortgage holders say they will walk away from their homes if housing prices continue to fall. The action would leave bankers on the hook for trillions of dollars in unpaid mortgages and send the U.S. economy into a worsening financial crisis, resulting in the highest number of renters in decades.

Consumers are saving more in light of the economic turmoil and home sales are improving in many especially hard hit areas of the country with the assistance of first time and move-up home buyers tax incentives.

Foreclosures compose the majority of home and condo sales nationally. Nearly 6-million additional Option Arm adjustable rate mortgages will reset through 2010 and more than three-quarters will not be able to be refinanced under present guidelines.

As a consequence, millions of more homes will go into the foreclosure process and provide a growing inventory of property at bargain prices. Housing Predictor forecasts housing markets in all 50 US states.

Contact:  Housing Predictor, Mike Colpitts, 850-622-1016, mailto:yourrealestatepro@hotmail.com,
http://www.housingpredictor.com/

National Retail Properties, Inc. Declares Dividend for Its Series C Preferred Stock

ORLANDO, FL,  Feb. 15, 2010 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Board of Directors of National Retail Properties, Inc. (NYSE: NNN), a real estate investment trust, declared a quarterly dividend on its Series C Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock of 46.09375 cents per depositary share payable March 15, 2010, to shareholders of record on February 26, 2010. The dividend represents an annualized rate of $1.84375 per depositary share.

National Retail Properties invests primarily in high-quality retail properties subject generally to long-term, net leases. As of December 31, 2009, the company owned 1,015 Investment Properties in 44 states with a gross leasable area of approximately 11.4 million square feet. For more information on the company, visit http://www.nnnreit.com/.

Contact: Kevin B. Habicht, Chief Financial Officer, +1-407-265-7348

Apartment Realty Advisors Distressed Assets Solutions Group Brokers Sale of Remaining Units in Madison Oaks Condominium Conversion, Palm Harbor, FL

PALM HARBOR, FL — Atlanta-headquartered Apartment Realty Advisors (ARA), the largest privately held, full-service investment advisory brokerage firm in the nation focusing exclusively on the multihousing industry, recently arranged the sale of the 199 remaining units at Madison Oaks in Palm Harbor, FL.

 ARA Tampa-based vice president, Patrick Dufour, (bottom right photo) ARA Orlando-based senior vice president, Kevin Judd, (top right photo) and ARA Boca Raton-based principal, Avery Klann, (middle left photo)  represented the seller, a financial institution. J

udd, Dufour and Klann are members of ARA’s National Distressed Assets Solutions Group which provides responsive, professional and knowledgeable brokerage solutions to servicers and lenders of distressed conventional multifamily, land, student and seniors housing assets.

“ARA generated a tremendous amount of interest in this property,” said Judd. “ARA’s unique marketing platform, proprietary and extensive database of prospects, and multitiered marketing strategy were implemented for this offering,” Judd added.

“We have seen a tremendous amount of capital return to the market in the past 90 days,” noted ARA Tampa Vice President, Patrick Dufour. “There is a general feeling in the market that the worst is behind us, and as a result, we have seen a significant increase in the number of qualified buyers for both distressed and stabilized multifamily properties.”

Although Madison Oaks was an REO fractured condominium project, the remaining 199 units were approximately 90% occupied at the time of sale. The remaining 199 units represent 80% of the total property, giving the purchaser control of the homeowner’s association. The buyer plans to continue to operate the property as rentals.

Individual units at Madison Oaks sold for an average price of $172,419 from 2007 to 2008. The remaining units at Madison Oaks were acquired by Rohman Development and RAS Management in partnership with a Private Equity Group for an undisclosed amount.

Madison Oaks represents a class B+ asset in an infill, high barrier-to-entry location in Palm Harbor, a northern suburb of Pinellas County within the Tampa Bay MSA.

The remaining 199 units out of 250 total units at Madison Oaks feature a large average unit size of 1,063 square feet including five different floor plans with one- or two-bedroom flats as well as 2-story townhomes.

Local Contact: Marti Zenor, Apartment Realty Advisors, (561) 988-8800, mzenor@arausa.com
National Contacts: Amy Holland or Lisa Robinson, Apartment Realty Advisors, (404) 495-7300
aholland@ARAusa.com, lrobinson@ARAusa.com

24% Of New Condos Unsold In Sunny Isles Beach, FL

BAL HARBOUR, FL--More than 24 percent of the 6,300 new condo units built or converted in the barrier island city of Sunny Isles Beach during the South Florida boom years remain in the hands of developers, according to a new report from CondoVultures.com.

Sunny Isles Beach, an oceanfront city east of Aventura in Northeast Miami-Dade County, is home to the second largest concentration of new condos to be built in South Florida during the go-go days of the last real estate boom.

Today, more than 1,500 units remain unsold and still in the hands of the developers, according to the report produced using the newly released Condo Vultures® Official Condo Buyers Guide To Sunny Isles Beach™.

"The Sunny Isles Beach market has experienced many of the same challenges that Greater Downtown Miami - where nearly 23,000 new units were constructed between 2003 and 2010 - is going through," said Peter Zalewski, (bottom right photo)  a principal with the Bal Harbour, Fla.-based real estate consultancy Condo Vultures® LLC.

 "Much like in Greater Downtown Miami, buyers are willing to purchase today in Sunny Isles Beach but only at the right price. In Greater Downtown Miami, the right price is moving toward $250 per square foot.

"In Sunny Isles Beach, the right price is working out to be about $350 per square foot for a unit in an oceanfront project."

Contact:  Peter Zalewski of Condo Vultures®, 800-750-0517,  email at peter@condovultures.com