Sale of golf ranch suddenly called off

[Gxgolfer]

Hank Haney Oh Oh

Article Link to Dallas Morning News

Sale of golf ranch suddenly called off

D.R. Horton was site's buyer; Haney says he kept his part of deal

By KATHERINE YUNG / The Dallas Morning News

Nearly a year ago, Hank Haney, the man who helped revamp Tiger Woods' golf swing, thought he had scored an agreement to sell his golf ranch in McKinney for $5.6 million.

Hank Haney (right) used to give lessons at his golf ranch in McKinney. D.R. Horton was to buy the land for $5.6 million. He was selling the 56-acre property, which used to be a ranch that belonged to the late World War II hero and actor Audie Murphy, to the country's largest homebuilder, Fort Worth-based D.R. Horton Inc.

Though the sale's March closing had been delayed to mid-October, Mr. Haney was so sure it would happen that last week he sold and removed the property's 240 trees and its sod. His employees unloaded the golf course's $300,000 in maintenance equipment at fire-sale prices and $150,000 worth of lights on its driving range.

"The place looks like a war zone," he said. "It's destroyed."

Last Friday, Mr. Haney said he was told to make sure everything was off the property or the Monday closing would be held up. That day, he signed documents at his lawyer's office. Everything was sent to the title company's office for the closing.


But Monday came and went. On Tuesday, Mr. Haney learned that there would be no closing.

"This is a mess," he said. "If they had let us know a week before, we would still have our business. Now we're stuck."

D.R. Horton had planned to build townhouses on the site. Steve Topletz, a Horton manager involved in the negotiations with Mr. Haney, said: "We wish Hank Haney the best in his future endeavors." On the advice of the company's legal counsel, he declined to comment further.


Pulling out

What happened to Mr. Haney illustrates the pitfalls a growing number of property owners face. The housing market is getting weaker, and homebuilders are pulling out of projects.

Horton's cancellation rate for new homes for its fourth quarter, which ended Sept. 30, climbed to 40 percent, up significantly from 29 percent in the third quarter. The company received 1,252 fewer orders for new homes in the 12 months ending in September than in the year-ago period.

Mr. Haney, who charges $400 for a one-hour golf lesson, opened the golf ranch in McKinney 15 years ago. It's one of four North Texas golf courses that the 51-year-old ESPN analyst and Golf Digest writer owns.

The Hank Haney Golf Ranch had a nine-hole course, a practice range, a miniature golf course, a teaching facility and company offices. It generated $150,000 to $175,000 in business a month and employed 40 workers. Though the business was profitable, Mr. Haney put the property up for sale last year because soaring land prices in the area outweighed the income it produced.

Mr. Haney could have left the golf course untouched, he said, but he didn't see any reason not to dismantle it. He even asked Horton's permission to remove the trees and the sod.

"They were going to come in with bulldozers," he said. "In hindsight, we should have had a contract that said you close and you have 30 days to get over there."

Darrell Cook, a Dallas real estate litigator, said that normally a seller will specify in a sales contract that it has a certain number of days after the closing to remove possessions or other items on a property.

"I've never seen a significant real estate transaction that was conducted in this manner," he said.

Mr. Haney says he doesn't know why Horton failed to close at the last minute. He's called Horton and left messages that haven't been returned. Mr. Topletz, the Horton manager who worked with Mr. Haney, apologized to him but couldn't answer his questions.

Stephen Summers, the broker handling the sale, said he was told that Horton was reallocating funds to other deals and the acquisition of the golf ranch wasn't part of the reallocation.

"This happens, but I've never seen it happen on the day of the closing," he said. "It's just a shame that they didn't give enough notice so that he could keep his business open. This is just shocking."

Horton paid $300,000 down, half of which has been distributed to Mr. Haney. Even if he gets the entire amount, which is likely, it won't come close to compensating for the more than $1 million he estimates it will cost to restore the golf course.

"I don't know if D.R. Horton has done anything legally wrong – that will be for the courts to decide – but they certainly have done something morally and ethically wrong, and even their own people have said that," he said.

[slicer365]

Haney should fire his lawyer, file suit on his lawyer, and then kick his own Word not allowed. That's just poor business practice. Never should, you jump the gun and let somebody ruin your investment until all I's are dotted and T's crossed.

 

I don't feel sorry for Haney. He's a millionare, he'll figure out how he can sell the property. If he doesn't make his money back in this deal, I'm sure Tiger will give him a nice Christmas Gift.

[crew_138]

Never the less... that is wrong and I hope Horton gets a bad name for this. I really hate the saying "buisness is buisness"

[golfernut78]

read the artilce and at first felt bad, but a number of people i know/work with have had similar problems or stories recently here in the dfw area. this only made the news because it was tiger's swing coach. haney made mistakes. he will/should learn from this. horton didn't do anything to help their image, but they didn't break the law either. i'm sure haney will still be able to sell the land off soon, maybe not as much as he planned.

[choeppner]

"I don't know if D.R. Horton has done anything legally wrong – that will be for the courts to decide

Judging by the Coment from Hank, it looks like this is going to court now. Any insights

-CHRIS-

[smarshal75]

Wow, burned on a big deal. I hope Haney had a liquidated damage clause in his sale contract. Unbelievable. It is not uncommon for a buyer to request certain improvements to be removed from a property by the close of escrow. However, I wonder why taking out the sod and removing the trees was required. Horton would just run CAT through that stuff when their ready to build.

Although, Haney is a millionaire, I still feel bad because his business had employees, who now don't have jobs because of an f-ed up land deal.

[Orlimar1]

:drinks: :cheesy: Yowzer!!!

 

Talk about putting the cart in front of the horse!!

[NPVWhiz]

Wow, burned on a big deal. I hope Haney had a liquidated damage clause in his sale contract. Unbelievable. It is not uncommon for a buyer to request certain improvements to be removed from a property by the close of escrow. However, I wonder why taking out the sod and removing the trees was required. Horton would just run CAT through that stuff when their ready to build.

Although, Haney is a millionaire, I still feel bad because his business had employees, who now don't have jobs because of an f-ed up land deal.

 

The article said that Haney made the decision to dismantle the course prior to closing. He likely did it for the salvage value of the sod and trees, which might have been quite a bit.

 

I agree with the previous post that said Haney should fire his real estate lawyer. First of all, the housing market has been weakening for months or longer in some areas. I could see where Haney might want to sell one of his assets to capture those gains, but his lawyer should have been on the stick here.

 

In certain areas where I live, tear-downs are hot. If you were selling your house and knew the new owner was going to level it, would you tear it down prior to closing? There is no circumstance I can think of where I'd do that. If the deal legally doesn't close, you have no house.

 

The cost of restoring the course wil be completely prohibitive for Haney. Odds are, someone at Horton simply said, "If he rips out the course, we can just wait and get a better deal". I'll bet that's what happens, or Haney will sell for a lower price to some other developer. It would be insane to rebuild the course/facility.

[Golfchicago]

:drinks: :cheesy: Yowzer!!!

 

Talk about putting the cart in front of the horse!!

Couldn't agree any more. Haney took the risk and lost. It is not a deal until you have the check in your hand. He should have negotiated the right to do the work immediately after closing. I've been a real estate agent since 1983, and I've seen it all, this is nothing new and doesn't surprise me.