Because of all the financial turmoil, only 15 out of the nearly 400 homes which were planned at Waterlace were built. Nothing else was built there--no pool, clubhouse or tennis court, says Rob Jordan, president of the Jordan Company, an Atlanta-based brokerage and real estate consulting firm, which represented Security Real Estate Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the FDIC, in the sale of the property, which closed on March 30th.

Security Bank of Macon, Georgia, was the lender which foreclosed on Waterlace and was taken over by the FDIC, says Jordan. The agency then asked Jordan for help in selling the property once the bank had failed. "The property had a lot of issues, such as the two dams on the site," he says. There were concerns about their integrity and whether or not they were up to code, says Jordan

"We had to make sure the buyers understood what they were looking at," says Jordan. "If people find out later (about flaws), they might drop the contract or the seller may have to drop the price. The fewer gray areas you have, the better the chance of closing," he says.