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http://www.givemebackmycredit.com/blog/

Janet Ahmad, President

HomeOwners for Better Building

http://www.hobb.org

210-402-6800

1,000 homeowners taking legal action

Sun City, AZ. -"Owners of about 1,000 homes in Sun City Grand, one of Surprise's most affluent retirement communities, are seeking legal action against developer Pulte Homes (PHM) to correct alleged construction defects. The sheer number of participants puts this among the largest such complaints in Arizona history, building experts say...The law firm representing the residents argues that abnormal cracking in walls, floors and ceilings demonstrates a clear pattern of defective construction. It says the repairs could amount to $50,000 to $100,000 per home... Other complaints by residents include: Stucco: About half the homes do not have 'weep screeds.' A weep screed is part of stucco wall construction that allows rainwater to drain out of the walls and prevents mold growth. Acoustics: Noise levels are too high inside some Sun City Grand households, which fall within the noise-impact zone of Luke Air Force Base. Concrete: Foundations are deteriorating because of corrosive salts and desert weathering...Pulte merged with Del Webb Corp., famous for its Sun City brand developments, in 2001.'The homeowners relied on Del Webb and the promises they would use quality-control measures in connection with the construction, and they're terribly disappointed,' said attorney Ken Kasdan.'What they see is Del Webb walking away from responsibility in the community.'... 'The thing is, I want my home fixed, because I came here for retirement and I plan to die here,' he said."...
April 15, 2008

Lemon Law for Homes

Dallas, TX. -" You scrimped and saved for years to buy a new home, only to have your euphoria cut short when you find serious construction flaws and learn that your homebuilder isn't about to pay up... The Texas Residential Construction Commission was supposed to provide homeowners recourse against shoddy homebuilders...Homeowners must go through the commission's complaint process before they can pursue arbitration or litigation. And here's the kicker: The commission has no authority to compel homebuilders to fix faulty houses. A Dallas Morning News report last fall uncovered this rather large flaw: Even though the commission had ruled in favor of a number of homeowners, reporters found that many were still hassling with builders to make things right. State Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, offers a good fix. She's introduced HB 2721, which amounts to a lemon law for new homes . The bill would force builders, under certain circumstances, to buy back a home if they fail to make repairs recommended by the commission. In addition, if the builder decided to put the house back on the market, it would be required to disclose that the home was 'bought back' and why."...
03/27/07

 

Dark side of the housing boom: Shoddy work; Steps you can take if you find yourself living in a poorly made home.

U.S.A. -"Less than a year after moving into her new 2,100-square-foot house in Lenexa, Kans., Susan Sabin has strung up lemon lights in her front window. The lemons, she says, go perfectly with the home's most prominent features: jammed doors, warped windows, bent pipes and cracked walls. 'The house is essentially splitting in two,' says Sabin...now stories of shifting soil, leaky roofs, damaged stucco and other construction defects abound...the building frenzy also opened the door for unskilled labor, unscrupulous contractors and untested products...Contractor problems rank among the most common consumer complaints, according to the Better Business Bureau...What do you do? A lawsuit is bound to be expensive and messy, if you can even get in front of a jury at all; many builder's contracts nowadays include a binding-arbitration clause that essentially waives your right to a jury trial....Here's how to evaluate the likelihood that you'll be able to get your home repaired at minimal cost, and your plan of action."...
June 21 2007: 6:59 PM EDT

Homeowners complain builders did shoddy work

Mesa, AZ.-"Pinal County resident Etta Estes wrote 'I hate my Beazer. Ask me why' on her truck. Citing her opinion of her Beazer Homes USA (BZH) house isn’t limited to her vehicle — it's also displayed on her Beazer-built home, her son's car and her 3-year-old's Big Wheel. In Gilbert's Trilogy at Power Ranch, two homeowners, Craig Chernoff and Jim Daniels, handed out pamphlets and made signs that stated, 'Awareness - Residents of Trilogy,' which Chernoff held on neighborhood streets to inform people about the issues they had with Shea Homes...Cynthia Dunham, executive director of The Leadership Centre, a Chandler-based organization dealing with community and neighborhood issues, said frustration is the driver for homeowners who resort to publicizing their bad experiences. 'Their reality is not what their expectations were,' she said. 'I appreciate that they're trying to communicate with neighbors, that's a positive thing. By organizing with neighbors, they can affect change.'...She filed a complaint with the Registrar of Contractors and has been scheduling repairs with the builder’s warranty department. In the complaint, Estes listed numerous issues including plumbing, leaks, broken tile, mold and flooding...   Chernoff and Daniels moved to homes in Trilogy at Power Ranch about two years ago...Both men filed complaints against the developer with the Registrar of Contractors... And, they said, they’re concerned to learn that homes sold by Shea were actually built by UDC Homes Construction 'doing business as' Shea Homes...Any time within two years, homeowners who have purchased new or old homes can have a free inspection through the Registrar of Contractors , he said. And if developers aren’t making fixes, they can contact the agency or file a complaint."
10/08/06

New suit over bomb-range homes

Orlando, FL.-"Another class-action lawsuit has been filed in the ongoing legal fallout over homes built on and near a former World War II-era bombing range in southeast Orlando. The latest suit, filed this week in Orange Circuit Court, is similar to at least three others. It alleges fraud and other actions that have harmed property owners. The suit is filed on behalf of Orlando homeowners Vivian Sipe and Marc Gervais by a South Florida law firm against builders Engle Homes, Inc.,based in Boca Raton and its corporate parent, Tousa Homes Inc. based in Hollywood. The suit claims that the builders knew there might be unexploded bombs, bomb debris and contaminated dirt but didn't tell homebuyers, attorney Bobby Robbins said...The complaint of Sipe and Gervais parallels the other suits representing more than 400 homeowners living on and near the former 12,483-acre Pinecastle Jeep Range off Lee Vista Boulevard. Since July, more than 260 bombs and more than 14 tons of bomb debris have been unearthed."
May 23, 2008

Fourth home-fraud defendant sentenced to a year's probation

Stroudsburg, PA.-"The fourth of five people charged in a conspiracy to defraud home buyers was sentenced Thursday to a year's probation after pleading guilty to perjury. Lauren Erb, 47, of Kunkletown was charged with taking part in the fraud scheme by signing as a witness on a forged home sales agreement in 1998, and then making a false statement to a Harrisburg grand jury in 2004 when asked about what she did. The state Attorney General's Office in January 2005 filed fraud charges against Erb and others affiliated with Eagle Valley Homes in Brodheadsville, including owner Steven Parisi, mortgage broker Rose Perdue, builder Donald Kishbaugh and Mountain Valley Abstract owner Anita Peterson. The scheme involved false documents, forged signatures, inflated home prices and phantom down-payments on second mortgages hidden from the buyers and primary lender, according to the Attorney General's Office. In return for pleading guilty to perjury, the forgery charge against Erb was dismissed."...
September 15, 2006

Jury hung in Anita Peterson home fraud trial

Stroudsburg, PA.-"A deeply divided jury Thursday acquitted home-sales title agent Anita Peterson on two charges regarding the way she handled home closings, but deadlocked on six other counts. She is expected to face a new trial in May...Following a six-day trial, Peterson, who facilitated home sales transactions as former owner of Mountain Valley Abstract, was found innocent of one count of perjury and one count of falsely testifying before a Harrisburg grand jury...Deputy Attorney General James Reeder, the prosecutor, said he intends to retry Peterson on those six counts...Peterson handled home closings for Eagle Valley Homes, a former Brodheadsville builder whose two owners each pleaded guilty last year to a single home-sale fraud charge and were sentenced to probation...The state also produced secretly taped phone calls between Peterson and a cooperating witness in which Peterson appears to tell the witness she weeded through and removed notes from her subpoenaed files. But Peterson never said she removed 'checks' from those closing documents. The jury apparently believed Peterson, since the two charges they acquitted her on dealt directly with producing the checks...Prosecutors say Peterson intentionally falsified dollar amounts on federal Housing and Urban Development disclosure forms to hide the fact that buyers didn't have enough money at closing to qualify for mortgages under terms set by the primary lender. They also say Peterson hid the existence of second mortgages, used as down payments on the primary mortgage.They charge that Peterson also hid some aspects of multiple transactions, sometimes involving the sale of land from one Eagle Valley subsidiary to another, before the land was immediately sold again to the buyer as part of a home-construction package."...
March 16, 2007

Home sales fraud trial underway

Stroudsburg, PA.-"Will the title agent accused of altering home-sale records, removing key documents and lying about it be convicted by her own words? The trial of Anita Peterson, the abstractor who handled sales closings for Eagle Valley Homes, is underway with prosecutors playing two secretly taped phone conversations.Peterson's comments were recorded through the cooperation of Dana Kleintop, a former Eagle Valley mortgage broker who turned evidence in return for immunity from prosecution...She is charged with removing key documents from Eagle Valley Homes sales files subpeonaed by a state grand jury formed by the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office.This includes removing copies of checks — which prosecutors say show discrepencies between the stated amounts buyers put down for homes and the amount ultimately reported to the bank on the federal HUD disclosure form. Authorities say Eagle Valley Homes did this to inflate mortgages and create false down payments...Defense Attorney Marshall Anders challenged Kleintop’s credibility. Anders said Kleintop herself presented false pretenses in the phone conversations, misrepresented facts in her own testimony to the grand jury, and broke the law while employed at Eagle Valley...Kleintop admitted she altered sales agreements by inflating sales prices and hiding down payments, to falsely make it appear to the banks that buyers made the required 15 percent down payments."...
March 08, 2007

Valley Homeowners File FRAUD and Other Violations Complaint with State Agencies Against Major Developer of Boxed Living Spaces in the Los Angeles Area

Woodland Hills, CA.-"Homeowners in the Siena Development filed FRAUD charges today against The Lee Group, Inc. (Contractors lic. #684904) located in Marina del Rey, CA.  Also included among the other charges in the complaint are: 'Significant financial and physical injury due to significant incompetence and delays not disclosed resulting in many major uninformed financial decisions over a three year period, and having to live in the resulting filthy conditions for at least a year.', 'Failure to build to trade standards', 'Failure to correct construction defect issues', 'Failure to correct damages caused by adjacent construction activities', 'Building on, under, and over, and taking permanent unauthorized and illegal easement to the property of others'.  These homeowners will now begin a campaign to inform the public and other existing and potential buyers in Lee Homes developments throughout Southern California so that their decisions to purchase may be based on all material information about this developer instead of just the image they attempt to portray in duping potential buyers with unattainable promises. To this end these homeowners are unveiling with this release a public website to be further developed over the coming weeks and by other owner input at: LeeHomes.info.  Additional inquiries for more information and pictures can be made to David Davis at (818) 347-5300"
July 13, 2007

Beazer Homes' Lending Practices Draw FBI Focus

Charlotte, NC.-" Federal officials, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, are investigating Beazer Homes USA Inc.,(BZH) one of the nation's largest home builders, that has been criticized recently for its mortgage-lending practices. 'There are potentially all sorts of fraud issues associated with Beazer to include corporate, mortgage or investments in varying degrees,' Ken Lucas, an FBI spokesman in Charlotte, N.C., said in an interview yesterday."...
3/28/07

Binding Mandatory Arbitration (BMA) Stories Sought by HomeOwners for Better Building

ATTENTION!

HOBB is in need of Binding Arbitration Stories. 

A report on Arbitration is currently being prepared and we need to hear about your experience.  Even if you decided not to go to arbitration for any reason or have sent your arbitration experience before please send it again, with any updates and additional comments. 

Specifically, we are looking for stories that reflect one or more of the following:

• You were unaware of the mandatory binding arbitration clause until the dispute arose.
• You could not afford the costs of arbitration, and therefore, did not pursue the dispute.

 

• You decided not to pursue a legal dispute against your builder after learning the negative results for homeowners in Arbitration and that builders most often win in Binding Mandatory Arbitration (BMA).

 

• You decided not to pursue BMA because you learned the arbiters’ decision is binding and cannot be appealed.

 

•  The decision rendered by the arbitrator was unconscionable, clearly contrary to the law, and/or went against the general notion of justice.

 

• Your arbitration appeal to the court was denied despite the arbitrator’s unconscionable and/or unfair decision.

 

• Stories that involve the use of mandatory binding arbitration agreements in automobile sale/lease contracts.

Please write a brief account of your situation include your contact information and your address.

This is a very important time in our efforts to rid consumers of forced arbitration in nearly all aspects of our lives, especially builder contracts.  So please let us hear your story.

Thank you for your help,

Janet Ahmad, President

HomeOwners for Better Building

http://www.hobb.org

210-402-6800

Comments Wanted on Abolishing the Texas Homebuilders Commission; TRCC

Brought to you by HADD:

"In Texas we have a 'Sunset Commission' which reviews each Commission in

Texas to determine if the commission should continue or if it
should be abolished. TexasThe Residential Construction Commission,
created by the builders for the builders, is up for review this year.

If you care to comment, please contact Kelly Kennedy at the Sunset
Commission  (512) 463-1300 or via email: sunset@sunset.state.tx.us.
Ask for the TRCC questionnaire.

From Houston Bay Area http://bayareahouston.blogspot.com/2008/05/history-of-failure-in-homebuilders.html

The TRCC law is up for sunset review, a process that includes a public
comment period through May 16 and hearings Sept. 23 and 24, during
which commissioners invite public testimony. Under sunset law
provisions, lawmakers are supposed to address any concerns raised when
they convene in 2009.

To fix this grossly unbalanced legislation will
require a willingness among representatives to give the same
consideration to the needs of Texas homebuyers as they do to the
wishes of the construction industry."

Builders Sodomise American Taxpayers for the Second Time in 20 Years Replete with Government Complicity; aka - Builder Bail Out

Can you smell the KY smoking? Is your lower back aching? Can you barely remember what happened to you? Well, let me refresh your memory…

1986 - 1995: $500 billion S&L bailout bill crafted by our elected officials that benefited fraudulent developers and lenders directly costing taxpayers approx. $153 Billion.

Does any of this sound vaguely familiar? It should; its damn near a mirror image of what is happening today with a few caveats. Here is what happened back then…

A bunch of greedy people got together and opened up a slew of S&L’s (Savings and Loans - specializes in accepting savings deposits and making mortgage loans) that were able to take in millions of dollars in government backed (FSLIC ) CD deposits and then take the same deposits (minus their capitol of course) and originate new mortgage loans with the money. Everyone involved got rich.

Then the greedy people got even greedier. The owners of these S&L’s began using the profits to make loans to their friends, relatives, and developers to fund construction projects that should never have been built. This created a building boom with no buyers. Meanwhile, all of this money being generated made it possible for kickbacks to accountants, auditors, representatives and senators on the banking committees.

Then the recession hits and the developers default on the loans causing a collapse of the construction market. Then our government comes to the rescue of the developers and S&L’s (who just got filthy rich) with our taxpayer money to bail them out.

Talk about sickening Déjà vu. Now fast forward to today…

2008 - $25 billion Builder Bailout under the guise of the “Housing Relief Bill” aka “2008 Foreclosure Prevention Act” passed by our Senate and being considered by our Congress preceded by mortgage fraud and over-development perpetrated by lending institutions and homebuilders pushing subprime garbage facilitated in shaddy backroom dealings.

Residential homebuilders saw the opportunity to make record profits due to the lowering of interest rates and a possible repeat of history. When the builders saw how much money the lenders were making they decided to enter and push their own mortgages; many times forcing homebuyers to use their in-house financing. Then subprime lending was just too profitable to ignore and the big homebuilders began pushing riskier loans to people who were obviously not going to be unable to repay them. All the while, building shoddily constructed new homes at a fevered pace causing the huge overhang of severely overpriced homes (by as much as 60%) in the residential housing market we are currently enjoying.

The flood of foreclosures and complaints of shoddily built homes that were sure to come are all around us driving our home values and wealth down. Yet, homebuilders and lenders have gotten rich as can be attested by the obscene compensation packages of their CEO’s and record profits.

Now, after all of this ill gotten money has been made, the homebuilders wanted to get in line to gorge again at the public trough via the first stimulus package. When they were denied the carry back tax credits that they sought the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) threatened our government officials with, “ceasing all approvals and disbursements of BUILD-PAC contributions to federal congressional candidates and their PACs until further notice.”  As a result of this apparently legal blackmail, our elected officials crafted a second version of the bill that has been stripped of actual aids to the homeowners in order to serve up the public money demanded of them by the home building lobby lest the congress and the senate lose their precious reelection money; somewhat along the lines of legal bribes that assure future blackmail if the intended demands are not met; can you say Bob Perry of Perry Homes?

If this dual “Sodomiseing of the American Taxpayer” (you and me) to further enrich the wealthy has angered you as it has me, I urge you to contact your congressmen and senators and demand their accountability to the American people instead of continuing "corporate welfare" and strike out the tax credits demanded by the homebuilding industry (blackmail money) from the Housing Relief Bill / The Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008. And if our elected officials refuse to represent their constituents – let’s vote the sorry b**tards out of office!!

ERIN BROCKOVITCH CONFIRMS CONTAMINATION IN LENNAR HOME & TEXAS SUPREME COURT GRANTS DOUBLE STANDARD DECISION TO ‘BUILDER BOB’ PERRY

Erin Brockovitch has her eye on the homebuilding industry. 

Brockovich will disclose test results of high levels of contamination in the Lennar Homes Westcott community in South Carolina.  Undisclosed source say Brockovich plans on naming KB Home (KBH) a contamination case in conjunction with the Wescott lawsuit as well. Additionally, Lennar (LEN) is the subject of homeowner outrage as community leaders in HuttoTexas(See: Lennar Homeowners Unite in Hutto Texas) hold a meeting next Saturday, May 10 to address loan irregularities as well as major construction defects.  See details.

For those of you who live in other states other than Texas, it is important to pay close attention to what is happening in Texas.  Why should you become more involved and be concerned about Texas?  The reason is Bob Perry of Texas (Perry Homes) and his nationwide campaign money machine is endorsed by the building industry (NAHB) to promote Tort Reforms and Binding Mandatory Arbitration that protect builders to assure new home warranties are unenforceable. 

Case in point; the Texas Supreme Courts decision Friday, in the infamous Bob Perry vs. Robert and Jane Cull case which illustrates how builder political contributions can so profoundly influence, when the court found in favor of Perry.  The Cull's were understandably stunted at learning of the decision. The couple has come to understand under the worst possible circumstance that a new home warranty is not a warranty at all but a deceptive false sense of security, designed to end in vicious litigation, influenced by big money.

This decision sets a double standard. No where has special interest money been more powerful and evident as Texas where builders freely build substandard homes, confident they will not be held accountable.  As I have said before, “As Goes Texas So Goes the Nation.”   

Last week a stunning article by Lise Olsen of the Houston Chronicle titled “Owners stuck with flawed homes – Families' costs mount, but state, builder give scant help, files show”   The article once again reported the scandals of Bob Perry’s TRCC builder protection agency and how the agency fails homebuyers.  Be sure to read the more than 300 reader responses the first day to the article.

Help us to help you by keeping in touch. Tell your story through HOBB, to your elected officials, and write the press. We would like to hear from you so, please take a few minutes to post your comments on the HOBB Forum.

 Thank you,
Janet Ahmad, President
Home Owners for Better Building

Wasteful $29 Billion Tax Cut Won't Help Housing: John M. Berry

Bloomberg -"Suppose you're trying to sell your house when a similar home down the street has a sign in its yard proclaiming, 'Foreclosure. Priced to Sell.'' You're probably already upset because the foreclosure likely has driven down the value of homes in the neighborhood. Then you learn that a law has just been passed giving a $7,000 income tax credit to anyone who buys a foreclosed property, further undercutting your asking price...More than $25 billion would be handed out to homebuilders over a three-year period in the form of rebates of income taxes paid during the height of the housing boom. The proposal would let homebuilders carry net-operating losses incurred in 2008 and 2009 for four years instead of just two as the tax code now allows...No, they're not keys to handling the housing crisis. At best, they would be a waste of taxpayer money. At worst, they might delay some of the adjustments that have to occur before the housing market can stabilize. The $7,000 credit, which would be paid over two years, is as likely to depress values as to prop them up. Why provide a credit to a buyer that's also going to help a lender sell a property when a hard-pressed homeowner in the same neighborhood is also trying to sell his property, possibly to avoid a foreclosure? Might that other owner not feel pressure to lower his asking price in the face of an effective reduction in the price of the foreclosed property?...Like the credit for someone buying a foreclosed property, the income-tax break for homebuilders could have a perverse impact and actually extend rather than shorten the current crisis...Avoiding the sale of land and the inventory of unsold new homes is exactly the wrong thing to encourage. Reducing the overhang of new homes is the real key to establishing a bottom for the industry. And until that is done, shoring up homebuilder bottom lines would do precious little to prevent layoffs...This legislation known as the 'Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008'' should be called the 'Homebuilder Bailout Act.'''
April 7, 2008

         

Housing Accord Puts Builders First; Strapped Homeowners Offered Little Aid

Washington, DC. -"Senate Democratic and Republican leaders rushing to address the nation's housing crisis reached agreement yesterday on a package that would provide billions of dollars in tax rebates to the slumping home-building industry while offering little to homeowners threatened with foreclosure... Instead, lawmakers settled on a sharply scaled-back array of measures...Home builders and other businesses suffering losses in the flagging economy, meanwhile, would get the lion's share of federal spending in the bill: $6 billion in tax rebates...Still, some economists, local politicians and advocates for borrowers reacted with disappointment. They estimated that 8,000 families per day are sliding into foreclosure and said that without a major new mechanism for renegotiating mortgages, the package announced yesterday is unlikely to help most borrowers struggling to keep their homes. 'It's not clear what good it's really doing,' said Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. 'It's a bipartisan effort not to help the right people.'...Both parties wanted to help home builders and other businesses. Under the agreement, corporations that lose money in 2008 and 2009 would be permitted to apply their losses to tax returns from as far back as 2004, making them eligible, according to a bill summary, to 'receive any applicable refunds.'"
April 3, 2008