Bankrupt Home Builders Revamping Businesses
Home builders that managed to emerge from bankruptcy with little debt while holding onto valuable land have a good shot at future success because they can price homes low enough to appeal to buyers and still make a profit.

David Fry, CEO of WCI Communities Inc., a privately owned builder, says the economic climate has caused his company to revamp the way it does business. It cut its workforce, reduced the number of floorplans and paid dramatically less for property.

“We will be much leaner going forward,” he says.

This kind of competition is particularly tough on publicly traded home builders that avoided bankruptcy but need to sell homes in weak markets. "It's just a lot easier to steal market share if all the private guys are on the sidelines," said Michael Widner, a home-building analyst with Stifel Nicolaus.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, Dawn Wotapka (10/14/2010)