stock

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http://www.dojispace.com/stock-picks/pulte-homes-stock-price-PHM.aspx

44+ in 2006.
6.2 at close yesterday.

some say it's the economy.
some say it's the housing sector.
some say it's Pulte buying Centex.
Pulte says it's "goodwill impairment". (reference below)
I say that it's "goodwill impairment" also--poor product and poor treatment of customers.


reference: http://www.realestatechannel.com/us-markets/residential-real-estate-1/real-estate-news-home-builder-stocks-pultegroup-inc-richard-dugas-centex-corp-stephen-east-ticonderoga-securities-new-home-construction-pulte-homes-3475.php

"Pulte has now written down $1.15 billion, or 83%, of the original $1.395 billion goodwill recorded, according to Credit Suisse."
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Pulte just doesn’t get it

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No company can survive producing a shoddy product. No company can survive without their customers’ good will. You’d think that Pulte would get it, ESPECIALLY with the MORE THAN $1 BILLION that Pulte has recently written off in goodwill impairment (http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/company-news-story.aspx?storyid=201011031306dowjonesdjonline000581&title=4th-update-as-pultegroups-3q-loss-widens-co-slashes-costs). Provide a good product and take care of your customers--the keys to success. ANY company knows that--except for Pulte Homes--Pulte just doesn't get it.

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floor

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I just finished installing (myself) Pergo, laminated "wood" flooring in 750 sq. ft. of the main living area of our house. The Pergo flooring is a good product. The problem is that the concrete floor under it isn't. It isn't level--by a LOT, GREATLY exceeding Pergo tolerances.

What choice does a homeowner have with a concrete floor that is poured WAY out of level? not much. You live with the undulations, the bouncing up and down, and the hollow sound coming from flooring that doesn't touch the concrete floor below. Besides the annoyance, you hope that seams and cracks don't open up in the "wood" flooring because of the WAY out-of-level concrete slab. And, you hope that the other shoddy construction that you've discovered in your house doesn't end up costing you more $ and frustration.

Such is the way that it is with a "master builder" Pulte house.
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mortgage

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National Mortgage News reports:

Pulte May be on the Hook for $323MM in Buybacks

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

A pool of $11 billion in mortgages with recourse to the nation's largest homebuilder may not have met investor guidelines and analysts project PulteGroup may be on the hook for as much as $323 million in buybacks from secondary market investors.

http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/dailybriefing/2010_217/pulte-may-be-on-1022061-1.html
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"water intrusion"

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In a November 3, 2010 conference call, Nishu Sood, Financial Analyst for Deutsche Bank AG, asked Richard Dugas, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Pulte Group, Inc., the following question:

“I just wanted to follow up on the construction, the warranty charges. I would expect on an ongoing basis in any given quarter you’re going to have a number of claims, this is an ongoing part of the business because of the complexity of the construction process, but a charge of this size kind of implies that there was something systematic, maybe among a product line or in a region or something. I was just wondering if you could be a little more specific in terms of describing the patterns or the (inaudible) of the claims that emerged here. Just on an operating basis, so we can have a better sense of what drove such a large charge in one quarter.”

Dugas responded:

“...We did not see any specific region of the country that jumped out at us. What was unusual here was the number of claims we received in a particular quarter that was completely unforeseen. Most of them related to water intrusion issues…”

http://seekingalpha.com/article/234565-pulte-homes-ceo-discusses-q3-2010-earnings-call-transcript?part=qanda

Good question, Mr. Sood! Too bad that you didn’t get a straight answer. Dugas, however, did admit that his company, which touts itself as “Master Builder”, has WIDESPREAD problems with water intrusion (bad stucco) in their houses.

Some “Master Builder”!

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