Buyers Stand in Line for Bargain Lots

A crowd of bargain hunters who had waited in line as long as five days began purchasing lots with concrete slabs at marked-down prices Saturday as one the nation’s largest home builders attempted to sell off its interest in an Antelope Valley housing tract.

More than 20 buyers had lined up outside Kaufman and Broad Home Corp.’s California Chateau project in the Quartz Hill area by 10 a.m., the start of the sale. The first in line, who bought a half-acre lot and slab for $65,000, had waited round-the-clock since Monday.

For buyers able to build their own houses, it was a chance to snare a bargain. For Kaufman and Broad, it was an attempt to unload the remaining 67 unsold lots in a high-priced 123-unit project where sales had faltered.

“We’re the only ones who have ever done this as far as I know,� said W. Webb Parker, director of sales and marketing for the Los Angeles-based developer. In the first two hours, Webb said, the company sold 18 lots. The sale will continue until all are sold, he said.

Because of the slumping housing market, especially for higher-priced units, Kaufman and Broad officials said the company will focus now on less costly entry-level and trade-up residences.

Kaufman and Broad had sold more than 50 completed housing units in the tract at Avenue N and 60th Street West, at prices between $219,990 and $324,990. The company is selling the lots and slabs for between $59,990 and $104,990.

In advertising the sale, the company stressed that buying the foundations would enable purchasers to build customized houses.

The first buyer Saturday was a Palmdale contractor who said he could build a 2,800-square-foot house on the lot for about $175,000, more than $100,000 less than what he might have paid Kaufman and Broad for a finished house.