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Strategies & Market Trends : The Residential Real Estate Crash Index -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: patron_anejo_por_favor who wrote (152826)	9/30/2008 8:05:28 PM
From: MulhollandDrive	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 306849

culling the 'heard'....painful but necessary....but why should the taxpayer pay for this? azcentral.com Bill Heard files for Chapter 11 by Jane Larson - Sept. 30, 2008 12:00 AM The Arizona Republic Bill Heard Enterprises Inc. has filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in bankruptcy court, blaming in part the high costs of big, new dealerships like the one it abruptly closed in Scottsdale this month. The Columbus, Ga.-based chain of auto dealerships filed late Sunday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the northern district of Alabama. The filing covered the parent company, all 14 of its Chevrolet dealerships in seven states and 10 other subsidiaries. Bill Heard said in the filing that it is "currently negotiating" sales for some of its dealerships and "actively marketing" the rest. It did not name the locations. Bill Heard said in its bankruptcy filing that its dealerships started losing significant amounts of money in mid-2007 as consumer demand for trucks and sport-utility vehicles fell and credit tightened. Losses this year ballooned to between $2 million and $5 million a month, it said. The chain shut its remaining 13 dealerships Sept. 24. Nearly 150 Scottsdale employees and 2,700 nationwide lost their jobs. Bill Heard said in the filing that it owes creditors some $269 million, with the majority of it to three lenders that financed its inventory of cars and trucks nationwide. That inventory debt, called "floor-plan lending," totals $229 million and is owed to JPMorgan Chase Bank, which financed vehicles for the Scottsdale dealership; BMW Financial Services, which funded three dealerships in Florida, Georgia and Texas; and General Motors Acceptance Corp., which loaned to Bill Heard's other 10 dealerships. The chain said it owes another $40 million in unpaid wages, employee medical claims and other unsecured debt. It owes hundreds of thousands of dollars in estimated sales taxes to seven states, including $193,051 to the Arizona Department of Revenue.