Newhall Land (Lennar) announced over the weekend that they have filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which really comes as no surprise. Does this mean that all of their current and proposed Santa Clarita new home projects, including West Creek and West Hills in Valencia, RiverVillage and Newhall Ranch will be permanently mothballed? Likely not. The Chapter 11 filing creates the means for Newhall Land to restructure its debt so they can move forward. LandSource, the parent of Newhall Land, has apparently secured a new line of credit from Barclay's Bank for $135 million. We've been watching Lennar's struggles in the Santa Clarita real estate market as they halted the sales of the Mosaic and Patina projects in Valencia's West Hills as well as the Artisan and Claridad projects in Valencia's West Creek in November of 2007. They opted to consolidate their efforts into the Artenati and Patina developments at West Creek, the Castillo development at West Hills, and the RiverVillage project instead of continuing with the projects that had lower sales at that time. Lennar sold a 62% share in the Newhall Ranch development at the beginning of 2007 to MacFarlane Partners, with California Public Employees' Retirement System (CALPers) as one of its biggest investors. Lennar retained a minority interest in the Newhall Ranch project as well as the rights to collect management fees. Lennar also posted its first quarterly loss in 10 years at the same time, largely due to property value write-downs. Buyers have been benefitting from the price reductions and buyer incentives that Lennar has been offering in recent months, including interest rates "fixed for life" in their current promotions at 5.25% on standing inventory. On the back end, buyers have been enjoying builder-paid closing costs as well as prepaid HOA dues and other incentives. With these incentives as well as the the interest rate buy-downs, many buyers are finding that they need little out-of-pocket funds to buy a new home, so Lennar's strategy is clearly working. They are definitely selling homes in the West Creek, West Hills and RiverVillage developments, and their standing inventory in the Santa Clarita area is close to zero. Reminder: If you are considering buying a new home from Lennar, be sure to have a qualified Realtor accompany you on your first visit to the sales office. There are often unpublished incentives that will only be available if you ask for them. Don't have a Realtor? Contact Santa Clarita Realtor Linda Slocum at 661.670.0349 or send her an email. | 
