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More major home builders, including some with significant Central Florida operations, reported weaker preliminary sales Tuesday. But analysts at one Wall Street firm upgraded builder stocks on grounds that the worst of the slump may be over.
D.R. Horton, one of the nation's largest home builders, said orders fell 25 percent in its fiscal fourth quarter. But the company, based in Fort Worth, Texas, was one of several builders on Tuesday that earned a stock upgrade by JP Morgan Securities.
Horton and Standard Pacific Corp., which builds homes in four Western states, had their stock raised to "overweight" from "neutral," and Toll Brothers, the nation's largest luxury builder, had its stock raised to "neutral" from "underweight."
Both D.R. Horton and Toll Brothers build throughout Central Florida.
The Koc Group, a strong force driving the Turkish economy, opened a new factory on Friday in Russia, the group's first facility planned and built abroad. The new white goods production plant was built in the city of Vladimir, 110 kilometers east of Moscow. Rahmi Koc, honorary chairman of the Koc Group, delivered a speech at the factory's opening ceremony. "We spent €90 million to build this facility. Although this amount does not seem big, the step we took is really great," Koc said. Koc said that Russia was chosen for investment by the Koc Group because of the great potential in the appliances industry in the country. "The stability in the Russia's economy and our faith in this country encouraged us to make such an important investment here," he said. Arcelik's new Beko LLC refrigerator and washing machine factory was built on 545,000 square meters by Kaya Construction Co.
FROM OLD-TIMERS who have been inducted to young athletes still competing who may be future members, the new Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame is a huge hit. Just opened in its new digs at the Halifax Metro Centre, the Hall of Fame is a glamorous facility, displaying equipment, uniforms, pictures and complete lists of Nova Scotias sport heroes and builders in sparkling showcases and lockers. Visitors can watch film and video highlights in a sport theatre and access detailed information on inductees through a series of computers. While relishing the new location for the first time, current track star, Canadian record holder and national team member Adrienne Power of East Jeddore points out "there are interactive things for kids to do. Theyll love the place when they first see it and want to come back when they are older with a real appreciation for whats here." The interactive area referred to by Adrienne will be a major attraction for the video-game set and for adults, too.
WINNETKA, Ill. — On a recent Saturday morning Cami Beghou, 13, pushed the right side of the tall, white bookcase that is built into one of the powder-pink walls in her bedroom. The bookcase, holding rows of books, a stuffed dachshund and a volleyball, silently swung outward, revealing a tiny, well-lighted room. Containing a desk, a chair and a laptop computer, it serves as her study area. Cami, an eighth grader, considers the hidden room the best thing about her family’s five-month-old French colonial-style house in this Chicago suburb. "When I heard that I could have a secret room, it sounded like so much fun," she said, noting that the room initially conjured images of secret passages from Scooby-Doo cartoons. "My parents told me, ‘You could just put curtains over the doorway,’ but that wasn’t nearly as cool." Since March, when the Beghous moved into the house, Cami estimates that she has had 30 friends over.
FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) - Home builder Brookfield Homes Corp. on Thursday said net new orders for the September quarter rose 6 percent, driven by selling in Southern California. Net new orders totaled 261 units, up from 246 units a year ago. .
DiVosta scored highest in customer satisfaction among home builders in Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties, according to a J.D. Power and Associates survey. Minto Builders and G.L. Homes ranked second and third. The study, released Wednesday, ranked home builders who sold at least 150 homes last year in 34 of the largest markets in the country. Despite the good scores of some builders, buyers in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast — which made up one market in the survey — experienced an average of 15 problems with their new homes, one more problem than the national average. The most frequent problems faced by local home buyers involved landscaping, the quality of kitchen cabinets, and cracks in sidewalks, driveways and foundations.
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