It was Black Monday for employees of Warrenville-based Neumann Homes, who all lost their jobs when the company decided to seek bankruptcy protection. What does this say about the housing market, and the economy overall?
It says that the 20-year-long boom in the Chicago-area housing market may finally be coming to an end. Naperville rode the wave, seeing its population increase 50 percent during the 1990s from 85,000 in 1990 to nearly 130,000 in 2000.
Home construction fuels economic growth. First come rooftops, then storefronts. Then there are those unpleasant effects of growth, such as increased traffic, the need for more schools, etc.
In recent years we've witnessed the building of the next great outer ring around Chicago, and it's only fitting that a project that most exemplifies that growth -- the southern extension of the Interstate 355 Tollway -- should open just as the growth boom appears to conclude.
We haven't seen normal growth in the housing market around here, we've seen explosive growth. A slowdown was inevitable. What do you think? Will the housing market level off and move forward with modest growth? Bounce back to record numbers? Collapse completely?
We'd particularly like to hear from people who have direct connections to Neumann Homes, either as employees or customers. Tell us about your situation.
If she dies, she dies. When you choose to speculate, there are two possible results and only one of them is good. EVERYONE knew this boom could not continue forever.
I was part of Tadian Homes in Detroit when neumann homes acquired Tadian Homes. From the beginning there were many false promises to all of the employees within the company. Many of the people that were responsible for closings in 04 were fired within the first couple of weeks of January. I was told to fire an employee because he was making to much money. The idea was that upper mangement would pay us younger CHEAPER people to run sites at a fraction of the cost of what they were running at. The collapse of Neumann was a result of too many spec houses, mismanagement, and way to many false promises.
When I left the company just a few months after Neumann took over, I could not beleive how low employee morale was. I know the market slowed after I left but there was no way that the company would have ran the same with all of the tension amonst upper manegement and the employees in the field. When you open a site and presale units for 6 months in 02, and 03 of course your numbers are going to inflated. See Village of Cornerstone and Stonegate Pointe. Good luck to all of the former employees of Neumann, I wish nothing but the best for all of you.