Regency Homes

Williamsburg Homes and Ryland Homes were triple winners when the Sales and Marketing Council of the Home Builders Association of Maryland presented its 1995 Awards of Excellence and Silver Merit Awards to Baltimore-area firms recently at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.Yearly sales honors were won by Lynne Hagan, Builder's 1st Choice, Sales Manager of the Year; Karen Stauffer, Ryan Homes, Rookie Salesperson of the Year; Margie Ogden, Pulte Home Corp., Single-Family Detached Salesperson of the Year; Laurie DeLucia, Ryan Homes, Multifamily Salesperson of the Year; and Rich Goldberg, Sales Excellence Award and Single-Family Attached Salesperson of the Year.

For 11-year-old Tim Betz, a Duke Blue Devils baseball cap has brought its share of luck this season.Tim, a Finksburg resident and center striker on Lovell Regency Homes 12-and-under soccer team, isn't without his good-luck charm at any of the indoor games this season. Sofar, Tim and his charm are working, as Lovell is undefeated and going to national competition."The way I picture Timmy," said Lovell's head coach Sandro Marcozzi, "he's always got a soccer ball in his hand and the Blue Devil capon."

UNDER CONSTRUCTIONSouth River ColonyThe Augusta, Doral, Muirfield, Oakmont and Riviera, houses named after famous golf courses, are being built by Regency RTC Homes at South River Colony in Edgewater.Regency is building a model of the Augusta, a 4,200-square-foot home with a beginning price of $418,900. The smallest home offered is the Riviera, which has a base price of $359,900 for 3,200 square feet.All Regency homes at South River Colony will include full unfinished basement, insulated front door with brass kick plate, hardwood floor in foyer, six-panel Colonial doors, nine-foot ceilings on the first floor and two-zone gas heat.

House votes to stall some mortgage lawsuitsThe House of Representatives voted last week to impose a six-month moratorium on some class-action lawsuits filed under the Truth in Lending Act provisions for refinanced home mortgages.The bill would establish a six-month moratorium on truth-in-lending class-action suits filed against inaccuracies in disclosure forms about refinancing given to borrowers. Individual borrowers could still sue.Under the Truth in Lending Act, refinanced loans can be rescinded for up to three years for inaccuracies in disclosure forms.

The Maryland Insurance Administration announced yesterday that it will pay $500,000 -- its largest payout ever -- to 171 consumers who lost deposit money when Regency Homes filed for bankruptcy protection in July 1998.The money will come from proceeds of a surety bond that Regency filed with the administration just months before it filed Chapter 7. However, the amount being released represents a little less than half of the $1.02 million that the administration could verify Regency had on deposit.

Hundreds of homebuyers, stranded by the demise of Regency Homes Inc., may have gotten a glimmer of hope when Washington Homes Inc. of Landover yesterday announced it had entered into a preliminary agreement to purchase certain assets -- including contract rights -- of the bankrupt builder.The tentative agreement for $25.5 million made between Zvi Guttman, the trustee appointed to the Regency case by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, and Washington Homes is subject to the reaching of a definitive agreement, a review of all contracts and bankruptcy court approval.

One by one they stood in line to look Regency Homes President Frank V. Mazza in the eye and tell him how his now bankrupt company had disrupted their lives.More than 100 home buyers, suppliers, contractors, attorneys and even former employees filled a courtroom gallery in the Federal Courthouse downtown yesterday morning in the first creditors' meeting arranged by the trustee handling the Chapter 7 bankruptcy of Regency Homes Inc. and other entities working under the Regency name.The room was filled with signs of frustration, anger, skepticism, sadness and remorse as Mazza, Chief Financial Officer Robert E. Grove Jr., and attorney Alan M. Grochal answered questions from Zvi Guttman, trustee for the case, and then from those affected by the demise of Regency.

A bankruptcy judge has allowed four major creditors to take back approximately 300 building lots in Maryland and Virginia from the Chapter 7 liquidation of Regency Homes Inc. and its affiliates, a move that gets homebuyers a step closer to a resolution in one of the largest homebuilder debacles ever in Maryland.Judge S. Martin Teel Jr. signed off on a motion of sale Friday from Zvi Guttman, trustee for the estate, that allows Provident Bank of Maryland, Sterling, Va.-based Bank United, First Union National Bank and Ohio Savings Bank of Cleveland to take back their lots in exchange for $21 million in secured claims against the estate.

Regency Homes, one of the fastest-growing mid-Atlantic homebuilders, is trying to boost its sales in the Baltimore market and elsewhere now that it has ended its partnership with British construction giant Y. J. Lovell."

Recent filings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Maryland, Baltimore City:July 30Regency Homes Corp.,7150 Columbia Gateway Drive, Columbia, filed under Chapter 7. Principal: David R. Priddy, vice president. Assets and liabilities both more than $50 million.Abbreviationsa.k.a.: also known as; c/o: care of; d/b/a: doing business as; t/a: trading as; n/a: not available; LLC: Limited Liability Company; L/P: Limited Partnership; J/V: Joint Venture; P/A: Professional Association; P/C: Professional CorporationDefinitionsThe most common types of filings under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code:Chapter 7 -- Liquidation.