SARASOTA -- After struggling home builder Jade Homes suddenly closed its doors last month, buyers of about 75 homes found themselves in difficult straits.
Ali Alshalkmi is a Tampa businessman who bought 10 homes at a total cost of about $3 million for himself and members of his extended family. He deposited $200,000 with Jade last year.
Three of the homes were never begun and seven others are in varying stages of partial construction.
After the Herald-Tribune broke the story earlier this month, Alshalkmi said he tried to resolve the matter "in a friendly way," by contacting Andrew and Jason Coles, who are brothers and the president and marketing director, respectively, of Jade Homes.
"I must have left 200 messages," said Alshalkmi, before retaining Mike Mardis, a Tampa litigator with the firm of Siver, Barlow & Watson.
"They never returned the call."
Mardis sent Jade Homes a letter last week asking them to "state in writing what their intentions were."
Jade's attorney is David S. Maglich of the Sarasota law firm Ferguson, Skipper, Shaw, Keyser, Baron & Tirabassi. He is a specialist in business and construction law.
Maglich confirmed that he represents Jade in "various court-related cases" and said that he "believes that they will pull through this slowdown."
For homeowners and their lawyers having difficulties contacting Jade's management, Maglich said he would "pass the messages along."
Jade previously said it is looking for other sources of capital or another builder to partner with to complete the unfinished houses.
Andrew Coles said "things are looking promising."
He said that the company is in talks with two or three local builders and that he hopes to soon choose one to "assist" in finishing the homes.
"We'll be notifying the homeowners as soon as there is a decision," he said.
Andrew Coles has said that he hopes to avoid bankruptcy, but has not ruled it out.
One-sided assignability
Jade can readily assign the contract to another builder, but the buyers can not, Mardis said.
"It's a one-sided assignability clause that makes it difficult for owners to get another builder in to finish the home," he said.
Mardis also noted that contractors have begun to file commercial liens, which further complicates the homeowners' situation since they usually stand "second in line" to trade liens.
Shawn Stumpf, his wife, Kristy, and their two small children expected to soon move into their new Jade home in North Port. They sold their former house last year to make the $50,000 deposit on a $326,000 Jade house at 1733 Kadashow Drive.
The Stumpfs are now living with Shawn Stumpf's mother.
The day after the story broke, the plumbing contractor returned to the house and "cut out all the fixtures he could" from the nearly complete installation, said Stumpf, a Verizon repairman.
Stumpf also has retained Mardis as his lawyer, as have "many other families" facing similar problems caused by the unannounced closure, he said.
He has been served with multiple liens from subcontractors for work that he said he already has paid Jade for.
"They were taking my money and spending it elsewhere," Stumpf said.
After Jade closed its doors and stopped returning calls, Stumpf's bank informed him that Jade had attempted to draw down $5,200 toward some "unspecified" expenses.
Michael L. Michetti, a Naples-based lawyer with the firm of Morrison & Caudill, represents three branches of the Naples-based Torres-Navarro clan, who bought three houses near each other in North Port.
The working-class Hispanic family sold their property in Naples and were ready to move into their Jade home, Michetti said.
Fur flies at Bobcat Trail
Jade Homes had bought troubled Yorktowne Homes a couple of years ago and continued building the Bobcat Trail development in North Port under that name.
Now, Bobcat Trail homeowners find themselves in an unknown situation, particularly because they own the lot but not the unfinished home sitting on it.
Bobcat resident Mike Milak has begun to organize residents and suggests that other owners of Jade-built homes meet "to collectively look at their experiences," and presumably plot legal, communal and community strategy.
Milak says "a lot of folks have and will be hurt and that's unfortunate since I'm in that bucket."
Jade went through subcontractors rapidly, Milak said. He has documented three different roof tile contractors in a short period.
Milak said he sent 17 e-mails to Andrew Coles about various problems, but never got a response.
Jade's contractors received a form letter this month from Andrew Coles asking for time and informing them that Jade Homes is "undertaking a major restructuring, and negotiating to either re-finance or merge with other established builders."
The letter ended with, "P.S. Please note that will be NO checks on the 10th & 25th or any other day until this is resolved."
The contractors responded by filing a flurry of commercial liens.
Power Air Conditioning, WRC Carlson Roofing, Forest Products Supply, Kimbal Lumber and Servpro of Venice and Port Charlotte have all filed liens against Jade in recent days.
Odeimist Torres, who is 61/2 months pregnant with her second child, has been living in a rented home because her North Port home is unfinished. Materials, including dry wall, have been removed, she said.
Her parents and her brother, Jose Navarro, also bought nearby homes that are basically complete but need a certificate of occupancy for the owners to move in.
Torres said she called Jade Homes at least six times to get an appointment for the certificate inspection, so her parents and brother could move in.
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