Hovnanian Enterprises

Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc. has delivered in excess of 336,000 houses since incorporation including 5,831 homes in fiscal 2018, with base prices ranging from $144,000 to $2,252,000 and averaging about $393,000. It operates in Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. The company relocated its corporate headquarters to a new building on the banks of the Navesink River in Red Bank, New Jersey, in 2006. In 2018 the corporate headquarters was relocated to Matawan, New Jersey. Also in 2018, Hovnanian moved to default on debts in a manufactured default deal with the Blackstone Group which would benefit through credit default swaps, in exchange for a sweetheart loan from Blackstone. In late May 2018, Blackstone abandoned the effort due to an admonishment from U.S. regulators. ==History==

In 1959, Kevork Hovnanian, an ethnic Armenian originally from Iraq, and his three brothers, Hirair Hovnanian, Jirair Hovnanian and Vahak Hovnanian, each contributed $1,000, in addition to $20,000 which they borrowed, to found Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc. in a trailer in Toms River, New Jersey. Hovnanian and his company earned a reputation to selling low cost condos and townhouses, many to first time young homeowners and families. Hirair and Vahak also left the company by 1969 to found their own enterprises. Hovnanian Enterprises had built and sold more than 30,000 homes and condos by 1989. An additional 200,000 residences were sold between 1989 and 2009, as the company expanded its construction to include luxury homes, mid-priced homes and retirement communities. It remains one of the United States' largest builders of "active adult homes", which are sold under the name of Four Seasons communities. Kevork Hovnanian stepped down as president of Hovnanian Enterprises in 1989, and was succeeded by his son, Ara K. Hovnanian. He remained chief executive until his retirement in 1997, and was also replaced as CEO by Ara Hovnanian. However, he remained the chairman of the company's board of directors until his death in 2009. ==Quality==

In 2005, Hovnanian acknowledged problems in a development in New Jersey after nearly three dozen homeowners turned to elected officials when their complaints were ignored. The mortgage company was involved in a class action lawsuit filed in 2007 alleging violations of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) for removing incentives from home buyers if they opted to use another title insurance provider rather than the Hovnanian-affiliated title insurance company. The company received numerous awards for construction quality in 2006 and 2007. == Charity ==

• K. Hovnanian Children's Hospital was named after builder Kevork Hovnanian after his foundation contributed the "largest donation the hospital had seen in its 101 year history." • Ocean Medical Center expanded in 2013 when it began an $82 million expansion project to substantially increase the capacity of its emergency room facilities and add additional basement and third floor space, funded in part by the family of Kevork Hovnanian who donated $5 million to the cause. ==References==