VOLUME 7 • NUMBER 12 • SEPTEMBER 1989
JLC · SEPTEMBER 1989
A surplus of condos, some unfortunate
business and banking
decisions, and a leveling economy
have resulted in a growing
number of bad condo-development
loans at savings banks in
northern Massachusetts and
southern New Hampshire. The
bad loans—and in a few cases,
allegations of fraud—have some
people comparing the situation
to a similar one in Texas in the
early 1980s, when poor loan
management and overbuilding
led to a real estate crash and the
ruin of dozens of savings and
loan institutions and scores of
developers. Others say such comparisons
are out of line.
But warning signs abound. The
J.P. King Company, a Gadsden,
Ala., auctioneering firm specializing
in retail real estate auctions,
opened