Builders Change Tune: As the recession was...

Builders Change Tune: As the recession was beginning in 1990, the home building industry’s credo was: “Make it through to ’92.” Nowadays, even the optimists are singing: “Stay alive till 95.” And for the pessimists: “Things might be fine by ‘99” is as good as it gets.

Though times are tough for the industry, not all builders are in the dumps.

Roland Osgood, president of Kaufman & Broad Homes’ South Coast division in Newport Beach, says he’s busier than ever, thanks to the deep pockets of his Los Angeles-based parent company, which has enabled him to buy some of the nicer parcels of land being offered at fire-sale prices these days.

Other Orange County builders with several projects in the works across Southern California include Akins Group; A-M/Greystone Homes--the former A-M Homes of Southern California; Donald L.Bren’s California Pacific Homes; the revived and revised J.M. Peters Co; Polygon Communities; RGC Development; Richmond American; Signature Homes; Standard Pacific Corp. and Warmington Homes.

“The land market has heated tremendously in the last 90 days, and demand for finished lots in Orange County is the strongest in three years,” said Tim Hamilton, a Laguna Niguel consultant.