Monday, March 2, 2009

Regretfully, CP Morgan closes

The news we received last week that CP Morgan closed its operations nationwide, is certainly discouraging. They entered our market in 2002 with a blaze and built several neighborhoods on the south side of Lafayette and one north of West Lafayette.

It is never pleasant to learn of any colleague in your profession suffering. The same is true in this instance. We are equally concerned for those who own houses constructed by Morgan. Chuck Morgan indicates that the third party new home warranty companies they contracted with are fully positioned to take on CP Morgan's remaining warranty issues. For those who purchase new construction, this is a good example of the value provided by a third party home warranty. Lafayette is blessed with an abundance of financially solid and very capable home builders, but these situations happen periodically, even to the best managed builders. The third party home warranty company protects the home owner when the builder is no longer in business. For those of you who own CP Morgan constructed homes, it would be a good idea to locate the warranty literature that was provided to you by CP Morgan at your closing.

One of the challenges of marketing a recently constructed home in a subdivision that is not fully built out, is the seller is competing with the same floor plan built new by the same builder (with the benefits of a full warranty). In this instance, CP Morgan will not be competing with their existing cutomers' homes that are listed for sale.

One might ask what happens to the remaining lots. This is not the first time the developer/builder of a subdivision goes out of business before all the lots are sold. It always sorts itself out. I can think of at least three other situations like this where another developer stepped in and responsibly finished the work of the first developer.

Cheers and best wishes for a good week.

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