A-M Division Head Resigns to Start Own Firm

In the midst of a slump in new home construction, the president of A-M Homes’ Southern California division has resigned to start his own home-building company.

Thomas Hover, head of the Newport Beach-based division since 1985, said he is betting that the Southern California market will rebound within 18 months.

He said he plans to build “move-up” homes similar to the ones he built for A-M Homes, which generally sell for $500,000 and up. He may also build lower-cost attached homes.

He said he is talking to private investors about funding but declined to be more specific.

Hover joined Santa Barbara-based A-M Homes as division president in January, 1985. He said he took the division from sales of 38 homes the first year to an annual rate of 400 closings by 1987, with revenues exceeding $90 million. He has overseen the building and sale of 1,200 homes in six Southern California counties. Some of the more notable developments are Bear Brand Ranch and Marina Hill in Laguna Niguel.

He is a former vice president of marketing for J.M. Peters Co., a Newport Beach home builder.

Hover said his parting from A-M Homes on Sept. 30 was amicable. He said that his new firm, the Hover Co., will have offices in Newport Beach by the first of the year and that he may work with A-M Homes on some projects.

Officials at A-M Homes were unavailable for comment.

A-M Homes is a unit of Newport Beach-based Jennings Operations USA Inc., which is the privately held U.S. affiliate of Australian developer Jennings Industries Ltd.