WCI's IPO shows real estate promise

It's been five years since WCI Communities filed for bankruptcy reorganization after a highly publicized feud with New York financier Carl Icahn.

Bankruptcy creditors bet WCI was better off surviving than chopped up and sold. Now, the company plans an initial public offering to raise $150 million, validating their decision. The Bonita Springs-based homebuilder says it will use the proceeds for land acquisition, development and homebuilding.

The move is another indication that the residential real estate market is healing. Investor demand for the company's stock will be a telling indicator of the health of the market because the company builds in nine master-planned communities, many of them on the Gulf Coast from Tampa to Naples.