Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Karagjozi Heartbroken

From the Asbury Park Press

TRENTON — Zuhdi Karagjozi, the owner of Kara Homes Inc., said Monday he was "heartbroken" about his company's bankruptcy and asked for relief from his lenders to help the company complete its unfinished homes.

If he secures financing, he pledged to work around the clock to complete the 300 homes that are under sales contracts.

"I care about my home buyers, and I care about my company," Karagjozi said after a hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Buyers "knew that I put everything I had into it."

Full article...



21 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

He makes me sick with his lies. He is heartbroken in his mansion in Rumson while hundreds of people are homeless due to his unethical business practices. He is heartbroken because his ass will be in jail for fraud!!!

Tuesday, October 31, 2006 9:01:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I will spare this blog from another post detailing Zudi's incredible ego and his diabolically forked tongue. This "just a humble Albanian boy doing his best to grab himself a slice of the American dream" nonsense is no more than a PR gambit. It's really all he can resort to at this point. It's quite pathetic and I doubt it'll generate much sympathy from anyone who dealt with him before he discovered humility.

The building code thing was hilarious. I bet more than one former project manager fell off their barstool when they read that line. That is one sorry, feeble excuse, I mean come on. He has to be at his absolute wit's end if that was the best he could come up with. He couldn't even manage some corporate real estate mogul quote about markets and curves and etc.?

I am not totally in the dark re: how bankruptcy works but I am certainly not an expert, either. I noticed in the APP piece that Zudi claimed Kara had 227 million in liabilities against 350 million in assets. But the petition lists 296 million in liabilities. Why the discrepancy? Wouldn't any agreements that reduced the amount have been public knowledge? Or can it be simply chalked up to him just babbling?

Wednesday, November 01, 2006 1:11:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

In my experience, where you are talking about a Chapter 11 reorganization filing, assets are generally overstated and liabilities are generally understated. Why? Well generally the whole idea is to preserve the assets for the benefit of both the creditors and company owners. If as here, there were no equity then it would be easier for creditors to show there is no real reason to keep this thing as a going concern. Best then to shut it down and liquidate.

Truth be told, I'm thinking you probably have to lower the value of the assets by roughly 40% and then raise the liabilities by roughly 40% to get a true picture as to what exists. Why 40%? Well Zudi looks to me like a candidate for providing accurate information about 60% of the time........

Wednesday, November 01, 2006 6:27:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Game is over Zuhdi. You're all washed up.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006 7:20:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey Zudi here is a song for your to sing at your Weds meeting:



Lyrics to Blood, Sweat and Tears, Spinning Wheel

What goes up
must come down
spinning wheel
got to go around
talkin’ ’bout your troubles
it’s a cryin’ sin
Ride a painted pony
let the spinning wheel spin

You got no money
you got no home
spinning wheel
all al lone
talkin’ ’bout your troubles and you,
you never learn
Ride a painted pony
let the spinning wheel turn

Did you find
the directing sign
on the straight and narrow highway

Would you mind a reflecting sign
Just let it shine
within your mind
and show you, the colors
that are real

Someone’s waiting
just for you
spinning wheel,
spinning true
Drop all your troubles by the riverside
Catch a painted pony
on the spinning wheel ride

Someone’s waiting

Wednesday, November 01, 2006 9:15:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

RE: $227 million. It just seemed like a strange thing to say, I mean the actual figure is right there on the petition which everyone involved has seen.

The next few days will be interesting. Without that loan (or some other one) the company will be very limited in what they can actually do, no matter who's running it. It isn't as if they could just get some money & begin building houses tomorrow. Sites need to be physically brought back up to code, and they have to be staffed. The money for this does not exist & even if it did it leaves no margin for error and waste. Something has to give there very soon.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006 4:33:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh that wacky Zudi, always at least a few hours late and a few million short. He sure is right about one thing-his company used to build one hell of a nice home, back when he was still paying attention to things like quality, that is.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006 9:02:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Zudi should have never knocked down the Birch Hill & Tradewinds. He angered the Gods rock n roll and they have wreaked terrible vengeance upon him ever since. Word has it that the Birch Hill clubhouse is haunted by the spirit of an unemployed Kiss tribute band and work cannot continue there because the very superstitious Mexican laborers won't go near the place. Another unverified rumor claims that if you stand at just the right spot in the garage at the Tradewinds "model", you can faintly hear a portion of a Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes song, though I don't know which one as they all always sounded pretty much the same to me.

Whatever happened to you, Zud? It used to be about the houses, dude, it used to be about the houses! Now I don't believe in NOTHIN no more! You sold out, man, and that ain't cool!

Thursday, November 02, 2006 1:30:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Kara made Market Watch today. See:
http://tinyurl.com/ybhhq8

In an article titled "Merrill Lynch sees housing woes, writedowns in 2007," Merrill Lynch's Kenneth Zener observed:

"High leverage and low liquidity were a toxic mix that led to many bankruptcies.... So far, this deadly combination has been seen among some recent bankruptcies in the private market - such as Kara Homes and Turner-Dunn. However, he doesn't see the one-two punch among the public builders."

The Turner-Dunn bankruptcy, while about a third of the size of Kara's, has some similar characteristics. An article describing it that might interest some of you can be found at:
http://tinyurl.com/y9m78y

The Turner-Dunn "bankruptcy is the latest in a string of problems for the small builder, which pocketed thousands of dollars in earnest money from each home buyer and left homes unfinished for months in Casa Grande and Maricopa."

According to another article published a month after the bankruptcy filing, "The company's latest court filings in U.S. Bankruptcy Court reveal 152 people or families paid a combined total of about $650,000 in earnest money for new homes in Casa Grande and Maricopa.... But those earnest money payments for homes that were never completed are classified as unsecured non-priority claims." (see http://tinyurl.com/y3p2wh ).

Thursday, November 02, 2006 8:48:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

He should call his pal Stephanie for her advice. After all, look what her input brought to the company.

Friday, November 03, 2006 10:44:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh that is just not fair...Stephanie did her best to give away Zudi's money to the disgruntled homeowners and keep them quiet...isn't that right mr wainright?

Saturday, November 04, 2006 1:33:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

yes, Stephanie was an absolute godsend who really, really merited those "consultant" fees.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006 2:11:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Zudi
when was the last time you looked at yourself I guess the mirror broke
the end is near no one wants to play with you anymore why just pack it in and start over you still have a house a boat 3 kids who love you a wife who believes in your lies family maybe a couple of friends you are in to deep and no one wants to see you get out so pack it in and move on

Friday, November 10, 2006 12:10:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Kindly punctuate PLEASE! If you can't spell, use proper grammar and punctuation, do not contribute to this forum. Thank you.

Friday, November 10, 2006 5:22:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think he can! I think he can!

Friday, November 10, 2006 5:47:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Based on the poor spelling & grammar, my guess is this is the person responsible for maintaining the Kara website.

The "Heartbroke Kid" managed to make one more payroll today, by the skin of his teeth this time. What a business genius! Five weeks of paying people to, as his mom put it, sit on their behinds doing nothing. A plan destined for tremendous success, no doubt.

Friday, November 10, 2006 6:26:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Time to deal with the reality of the situation. On Monday the courts will either let the creditors comitties choice of CRO/CFO (Traxi LLC) take control and try to work things through to finish out the product that is started or Judge Kaplan will appoint a Trustee to begin the dismantalling of the train wreck. Either way king of all ego will be removed from his post at the helm of his company. The possibility of jail, the firing of his family and what ever else has smacked him in the face to this point is nothing compared to the pain that he will feel when control is removed from him. Untill this happens officially he actually is delusional engough to believe he is still in charge. I hope someone has a cmera phone on monday when the judge gets to say Zhudi your fired. Like the old Kara joke goes-Whats the difference between Zhudi and God? God doesn't have a Zhudi complex.

Friday, November 10, 2006 7:52:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Whats the difference between Zhudi and God? God doesn't have a Zhudi complex.

LOL! "Kara Homes, always very nice cause we had to build it twice!"

Friday, November 10, 2006 8:35:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anon 7:52

You have accurately identified the two alternatives in my humble opinion. Which one happens doesn't really matter in relation to the existing management retaining control. I also believe whether it is a trustee or Traxi only will impact the total administrative costs. One way or another the path is liquidation. My sense is that the Traxi approach is likely to get the Judge's approval but it will actually turn out to be a less successful result than simply converting the case over to Chapter 7 and appointing a trustee.

The reason is either way asset recovery will be about the same but the administrative costs will be higher with Traxi. If Traxi makes too slow of a deal in winding down the business, asset recovery could actually be less because of the sliding real estate market.

Guess we can all hold our collective breaths until Monday to see what the Court does. I wonder if Zudi has cleaned his office out and replaced that Rolex watch with a cheap Chinese knock-off. At least I think it is a Rolex, based upon his picture at: http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006611050353

Any other expensive assets purchased by him or other members of upper management? I'm sure Traxi or an appointed Chapter 7 trustee would be interested in knowing.........

Friday, November 10, 2006 11:06:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

How about all the nice cars the inner circle are driving (except GB)...who paid for the BMWs, Astin Martin, etc?

Saturday, November 11, 2006 12:01:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Every year, in late December, you'd notice that an awful lot of familiar names were suddenly buying Kara homes, esp. if they were within striking distance of that year's projected sales. No one who knew seemed to care that much but it definitely raised some eyebrows.

There were also people within the company who provided various friends with lots of Kara business over the years, even when a lot of that business could have been done much less expensively.

Saturday, November 11, 2006 5:00:00 PM  

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