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Saturday, May 10, 2008. Patrick.net: More views on the Foreclosure Prevention Act, etc Housing Crash news
Saturday, May 10, 2008. Flipping Frenzy: President Bush Vows to Veto Comprehensive Housing Package One more view of the housing foreclosure prevention act in congress now.
Saturday, May 10, 2008. FL: Dade developer Oscar Rivero gets 21 months in jail In a plea deal, developer Oscar Rivero admitted using $711,000 from a Miami-Dade affordable-housing loan to buy a home for himself and install a swimming pool.
Saturday, May 10, 2008. FL: UPDATE: Builder's Probation Ends Early Ryan had built the LaBrakes a 4,200-square-foot South Tampa home for a cut-rate price in exchange for several inflated home-building contracts paid for with federal money.
Saturday, May 10, 2008. FL: Developer files for Chapter 11 Chapter 11 filing by Carriage Homes LLC, based on Apopka-Vineland Road...
Saturday, May 10, 2008. RESPA News: D.R. Horton claims win in RESPA suit over tying arrangement While HUD is on the verge of modifying the RESPA statute to clarify the definition of “required use,” federal courts continue to issue rulings adopting their own interpretations. A judge has recently ruled to dismiss a case pending against D.R. Horton for offering buyers a discount to ... (Site is subscription only. --Ed.)
Saturday, May 10, 2008. RESPA News: Trouble brews at HUD as Congress puts its foot down New information surfaced this week about the real reasons HUD decided to grant a comment extension on the RESPA rule, as reports also came in of an internal dispute being waged on HUD’s home front. Read on to learn about the secret letter sent to HUD by a high-ranking House member, and to discover why some HUD employees are being shown the door. (Pertatains to use of affiliated business arrangmenents like builders' lenders, title co's, etc, which has been problematic for consumers. Usually this site is subscription only but this one article seems to be free today. --Ed.)
Saturday, May 10, 2008. US: Real-Estate Drop Has a Green Lining There's a green lining to the real-estate cloud: Developers are dropping plans to build on some choice pieces of land and instead are selling it for such uses as public parks and nature preserves.
Saturday, May 10, 2008. Nat'l interest: A win for consumers on the arbitration issue Judge: Woman's rape case against Halliburton can go to trial
Saturday, May 10, 2008. US: "Arbitration Justice" Website link was sent by Paul B. Thanks! -Ed.
Saturday, May 10, 2008. NY Times: Senator’s Ties to Real Estate Draw Criticism Richard C. Shelby has more say over the revamping of housing finance laws than almost anyone else in Congress.
Saturday, May 10, 2008. TX: Texas is roofing scammer's paradise SUMMARY: Politics and special interests have made Texas a roofing scammers paradise. No license required. Every time a roofing licensing law has been introduced in the past five years, (roofing) lobbyists went to work. (Editor's note: licensing alone will not solve this problem but will give consumers a false sense of security. Licensing has to have teeth and enforcement, to work, and not be a 'fox in the henhouse' type agency.)
Saturday, May 10, 2008. Dept of Justice press release: TWO FORMER PRINCIPALS OF OLYMPIA MORTGAGE INDICTED ON CONSPIRACY, WIRE FRAUD AND BANK FRAUD CHARGES The indictment charges two fraudulent schemes. In the first, Pinter is charged with fraud in connection with the theft of $44 million of payoff proceeds for refinanced mortgage loans funded by Fannie Mae, a federally chartered mortgage lending company, and serviced by Olympia (the “Fannie Mae Fraud”). In the second, Goldstein is charged with fraud in connection with Olympia’s sale of a portfolio of non-performing mortgage loans to Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) using falsified loan histories (the “CSFB Fraud”).
Friday, May 09, 2008. US: FBI sweep targets Scarfo Two sources familiar with the investigation said the case had links to Texas and Florida and included companies involved in finance, construction, development, used-car sales, and charter-boat operations....FirstPlus Development touts itself as a company involved in general contracting, construction management, and project design and building. The search warrants served yesterday sought all documents and materials issued from Aug. 1, 2006, to the present involving 43 individuals and companies.
Friday, May 09, 2008. Iowa: Company must repay customers for shoddy work Joseph Lee Sehr of Grimes of Source One Construction.
Friday, May 09, 2008. US: Straw houses gaining acceptance despite concerns Many enticed by low construction costs, energy efficiency. ... Numerous studies and test homes built in a variety of locations have shown that once the bales are stuccoed and plastered, they are extremely resistant to both fires and pests. The U.S. Department of Energy quotes tests showing that straw-bale homes actually outperform conventionally framed homes when exposed to fire, and that the plastered walls so limited access to pests that they again outperformed conventional framing.
Friday, May 09, 2008. CNBC: Realty Check Diana Olick's column; sometimes we agree w/her, sometimes not, but there are usually interesting articles here.
Friday, May 09, 2008. US; Common Dreams: Statement by AFL-CIO President John Sweeney on Housing Crisis Legislation If the President is truly concerned about assisting undeserving speculators, he should take a strong stand against provisions in the Senate-passed bill, which would bail out developers to the tune of millions even though many homebuilders profited from their own subprime lending and speculative over-heating of the market.
Friday, May 09, 2008. US: Making the Banking Industry “Chew Brick” Author says remedy would redirect pain from homeowners, back to lenders who aggressively marketed subprime loans
Friday, May 09, 2008. US: Paying For Failure Toll Brothers, Countrywide, CEO's overpaid for poor performance. Robert Toll scraping by on a mere $9 million a year.
Friday, May 09, 2008. US: House passes mortgage rescue Also notable is what was not in the bill -- a tax credit for home builders. A Senate housing bill included the $6-billion tax credit to help developers and home builders, but the measure was dropped from the House version.
Friday, May 09, 2008. NJ: Meadowlands builder goes Chapter 11 EnCap acts after state kills plan for golf courses and homes on landfills: The company was supposed to clean up landfills and build a golf course, hotel and 2,600 homes in Rutherford and Lyndhurst, but the project got bogged down in cost overruns, delays and environmental violations.
Friday, May 09, 2008. Nat'l interest: Levitt seeks new name Fort Lauderdale's Levitt Corp., having separated itself last year from its bankrupt Levitt and Sons home-building subsidiary, now wants to shed its name. Levitt has asked shareholders to approve a name change to Woodbridge Financial Corp. The name change will be taken up May 20 at the company's annual meeting. If approved, the company will seek to change its ticker symbol to WDG from LEV.
Friday, May 09, 2008. TX: Half-built homes becoming eyesores It’s been 3 months since Buescher Homes, the large builder, went bankrupt. The fallout: half-built homes and now code compliance issues.
Friday, May 09, 2008. NC: Lewisville home builder files for bankruptcy John S. Card Residential Builders Inc. has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy...The filing indicates that there likely will be no funds left for unsecured creditors.
Thursday, May 08, 2008. CA: UPDATE on Empire Land (aka Prestige Homes): Bankruptcy leaves subdivision with unfinished work Homeowners in Alta Estates in Tehachapi are wondering how the bankruptcy of Ontario-based developer Empire Land LLC, who built in Tehachapi under the name of Prestige Homes, will affect their home warranty.
Thursday, May 08, 2008. CNN: House OKs controversial housing plan Opponents contend it's a bailout for lenders, investors and speculators.
Thursday, May 08, 2008. Mpls. Star Trib.: Home buyers left on hook to repair bad septic system Environmental specialist and expert on septic systems called the system, installed in 2003, "garbage."
Thursday, May 08, 2008. AZ: UPDATE: 2,400-home project hits big snags Half of the partnership responsible for developing a 2,400-home residential community in Marana has filed for bankruptcy, while the other is in the process of selling its interest to another developer. Ontario, Calif.-based Empire Land LLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on April 25. The company, which had teamed with KB Home to develop the Saguaro Springs neighborhood on Twin Peaks Road just west of Rattlesnake Pass, had been trying to sell its interest in Saguaro Springs since the two sides decided to put the project on hold last fall. ...Any sale of Saguaro Springs cannot go through, however, until the many liens that have been filed by various contractors are paid.
Thursday, May 08, 2008. CA: Editorial: The Case Against Proposition G one of the nation’s largest homebuilders [Lennar] sees an opportunity to bank hundreds of acres of prime real estate for free, with promises it has no obligation to keep.
Thursday, May 08, 2008. MD: McDaniels Homes' Registration to Build Homes Suspended Consumers who may have had problems with homes built by this or other builders should contact the Home Builder Registration Unit at (410) 576-6573 in Baltimore or toll free at (877) 259-4525. Consumers can also email the unit at homebuilder@oag.state.md.us. To determine if a builder is registered with the Office of the Attorney General, consumers can visit www.oag.state.md.us/homebuilder or contact the Home Builder Registration Unit. CONTACT: Raquel Guillory, Office of the Maryland Attorney General Tel: +1 410 576 6357 e-mail: rguillory@oag.state.md.us Attorney General of Maryland Tel: +1 888 743 0023 (toll-free) Tel: +1 410 576 6372 (TDD)
Thursday, May 08, 2008. Forbes: Hovnanian Crumbling Hovnanian (nyse: HOV - news - people ) tumbled on the New York Stock Exchange Thursday after announcing late the night before that is will conduct a follow-on offering of 14.0 million share of its class A common stock to raise capital...Hovnanian wasn't the only builder Wall Street was nervous about...All these builders are waiting on a bill being discussed in Congress this afternoon that might give the troubled industry some major breaks.
Thursday, May 08, 2008. WCBD-TV, Ch. 2, SC: High priced foreclosures The foreclosure crisis if affecting families of all income levels...Some of the high-end foreclosures happened because builders got in over their heads with pricey spec homes they could not sell.
Thursday, May 08, 2008. Business and Media Institute: Media Find Another Housing Crisis Villain: The Builder [What took them so long? --Ed.] "But the segment didn’t focus on the irresponsible lenders or borrowers that created the market for home builders to thrive." [The article's author appears unaware or in denial about the fact many builders operated their own mortgage firms or at least had preferred lender arrangements, and were in on the same risky lending practices. --Ed.]
Thursday, May 08, 2008. NH: UPDATE: Builder's developments leave long trail of unhappy buyers Residents of Heritage Park and Blossom Court, two incomplete developments in Litchfield, have been left to scramble through the financial and legal wreckage of a housing market gone sour and an allegedly bankrupt developer with a history of legal entanglements. Both Blossom Court and Heritage Park face foreclosure and a series of lawsuits over unpaid construction bills. Neither project is finished, and the man behind the companies that developed them, Richard C. Berube of Londonderry, filed for his second bankruptcy last month and was arrested at his home Tuesday, after a six-hour standoff with police on a warrant charging him with more than $18,000 in overdue child support.
Thursday, May 08, 2008. VA; NY: 33 In Custody After Immigration Raid Arrested at the construction site for the new federal courthouse in downtown Richmond...The builder is Tompkins Builders Inc., which is owned by New York-based Turner Construction Co.
Thursday, May 08, 2008. TX: Report says most Texas Supreme Court opinions anonymous A scathing report to be released tomorrow says a growing number of opinions issued last year by the Texas Supreme Court were anonymously written. The report by judicial watchdog group Texas Watch says it's a practice that enables the elected body to operate in secrecy and without public accountability.
Thursday, May 08, 2008. TX: UPDATE on Cull, Perry Homes case: Did contributions influence court ruling? Texas Supreme Court decision in favor of Houston home-builder raises questions
Thursday, May 08, 2008. US: Did Lenders Anticipate a Bailout if Loans Soured? Before policymakers undertake more bailouts arising out the subprime mortgage crisis, policymakers should ask the classic question: what did subprime lenders know and when did they know it?
Thursday, May 08, 2008. NH: UPDATE: Couple Win Lawsuit Against Developer Builder, Joseph Harnois. (Comments posted at end of article which is reprinted on HVAC website.)
Thursday, May 08, 2008. Of Two Minds: What's Up (Down) with Rents? Here's my answer to the cliche that "all real estate is local." Yes, but the economy is global. ... Areas which were overbuilt in the bubble have more dwellings than people who want to live there. (Rents varying wildly from coast to coast)
Thursday, May 08, 2008. Mortgage Fraud Blog: Mortgage Fraud news Attorney Rachel Dollar; daily news
Thursday, May 08, 2008. Patrick.Net: Housing Crash News News of the day
Thursday, May 08, 2008. US: Housing Market Crash Predicted By Ron Paul And Alan Greenspan Most joking aside, the example of Alan Greenspan as Federal Reserve chairman should serve as a strong warning against putting anyone in power who believes they understand how the economy works. Greenspan understood and believed in libertarian ideas of economic manipulation and Austrian economics, and then spent nearly two decades at the Fed working against every one of those principles.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008. NY: Former L.I. building inspector charged with bribery Former Smithtown chief inspector Robert Bonerba accused of taking bribes from developers.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008. NY: Cuomo cracks down on NY real estate fraud Enforcement and investigation of complaints is also expected to improve too. Real estate attorney Adam Leitman Bailey, who represents buyers with grievances against developers, anticipates a more aggressive AG’s office. “If you murder somebody, you have to worry that the police are going to get you,” he says. “If you build a bad building in this city, we want there to be a fear that the AG is going to be coming.”
Wednesday, May 07, 2008. CO: Developer disappears A Weld County developer who plans to build a subdivision some fear could threaten the Old Spanish Trail in Mesa County remains at large more than a month after he was indicted in a mortgage fraud case. Authorities believe he has fled to Mexico. The Weld County Sheriff’s Department is working with the FBI to try to find and arrest 50-year-old Mark Strodtman...Strodtman and another man bought a group of parcels in Greeley in 2004 and received financing to build homes on the lots. Strodtman has been accused of deceiving buyers into purchasing homes owned by his real estate company, JS Real Estate LLC, and deceiving lenders into loaning money for the project. Buyers’ incomes, assets, rents, employments, bank records and outstanding loans were falsified, according to the indictment.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008. MSN: Why CEO pay fed the mortgage mess If you're wondering how otherwise extremely bright people at the top of our country's best banks led us into the subprime mess, here's a simple answer: There was too much money in it for them to resist.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008. Business Week: Judge rejects Countrywide settlement Hill was up to date on her payments, yet Countrywide threatened to take her home if she didn't pay thousands more in fees, according to court documents. It later backed off, and offered to pay her lawyers. But Hill said her credit was permanently marred by the unjustified foreclosure attempt.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008. Peter G. Miller, Realty Times: Guess What? Predatory Lending Is Not A Crime No predatory lender will ever be persecuted by the federal government. The reason? Predatory lending is not a federal crime. Don't believe it? Just take a look at the annual statistics for financial crimes. Not a single case of predatory lending.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008. Broderick Perkins, Realty Times: Avoiding Mortgage Fraud Once the domain of home buying and home equity rip-offs during the boom market, mortgage fraud is muscling in on subprime loans, foreclosures, reverses mortgages and insider trading related to mortgage securities in housing's down market.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008. Broderick Perkins, Deadline News: Ferreting out Home Defects "The last time Consumer Reports checked, in "Housewrecked," it found serious defects in 15 percent of new homes. Other studies have found a greater incidence of defects..." Perkins' tips include: "Go grassroots. Hard. Contact Homeowners Against Deficient Dwellings and or Homeowners for Better Building, two 1970s-like grassroots efforts that have done more for homeowners suffering defects than regulators, the building industry and other entities -- public, private or government -- combined!"
Wednesday, May 07, 2008. Contractor Mag: Feds raise fines for employing illegal immigrant workers Two construction trade groups are reacting to stiffer penalties against employers who violate federal immigration laws recently announced by the U.S. Department of Justice. ... Importing illegal immigrants to undermine domestic workforce standards, while at the same time exporting high-value production jobs, has been a rock-solid, lose-lose proposition for the American economy and the domestic workforce for over two decades now
Wednesday, May 07, 2008. WA: How to Stiff Immigrant Workers in Construction The construction industry as a whole cheats the state's unemployment and injured-worker insurance systems out of about $109 million each year, according to a Washington State Institute for Public Policy report published last November. Employers have been finding ways to game the system since the first employee-protection tax laws were created in the 1930s
Wednesday, May 07, 2008. FL: Foreclosures foiling future? The struggling developer of Carriage Homes, a planned luxury town-house project with just 11 units built -- and only two sold -- sought bankruptcy protection from creditors Tuesday, averting a foreclosure sale scheduled for hours later. ... Meanwhile, only one unit is occupied, as a rental. Adjacent lots in the gated development are overgrown with weeds and littered with trash. It was unclear Tuesday whether any would-be buyers had made down payments on units in the project. None was listed in the bankruptcy filing, but creditors often are added to such filings later.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008. KS: Commission discusses building permits Commissioner Dean Oroke explained that the county’s decision not to issue building permits without utilities being present stemmed from an issue with the Cedar Falls subdivision near Basehor. ... Sewer and water infrastructure were not completed as scheduled, and several property owners occupied houses in the Cedar Falls subdivision, drinking bottled water and using portable toilets. “It’s against our codes, but people had to have a place to live,” Oroke said. The Cedar Falls developer later filed for bankruptcy.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008. FL: UPDATE: Levitt and Sons bankruptcy: When it All Falls Down That the company has tried to be sensitive to its customers’ plight is a statement Levitt homeowner Dan Wenk strongly disagrees – so strongly, in fact, that he maintains a Web site dedicated to exposing alleged Levitt wrongs. The Web site chronicles Wenk’s three-year battle with Levitt over toxic mold and water damage in his Clermont home near Groveland -- damage he claims made his home unlivable and that Levitt has refused to address. Wenk says his battle took on new urgency in August 2006 when he was diagnosed with leukemia. “I’m not blaming Levitt for my illness, but I’m saying, ‘Hey, I can’t live in the home you sold me, and you haven’t done anything to fix the situation,’” says Wenk, adding that he and his family had to rent another home in which to live. “I hired an attorney, and when we finally sued Levitt, it was about the same time that I noticed some of the financial things going on with the company -- they were reorganizing their stock. ... “Because of this, I’m having file for bankruptcy now, and my mortgage company had to foreclose on the Levitt house.”
Wednesday, May 07, 2008. MN: MORE of the "Mortgage Meltdown" series from the Star Trib "Our $500-$600,000 homes are in foreclosure as well. That's the stuff north of [Hwy.] 610," he said. There also were pockets of mortgage fraud in the boom area; he's submitted one builder's name to the FBI. (p. 2 of article.)
Wednesday, May 07, 2008. NH: Litchfield developer arrested after 6-hour standoff Summary: Richard C. Berube, who faced lawsuits over failure to complete construction projects was the focus of a six-hour police standoff...police (had) an arrest warrant for contempt, relating to failure to pay child support. Builder tried to flee, then lied about who he was and hid in the attic before finally being arrested.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008. OH: Legislative action in Ohio state house of representatives PASSED HB 257 HOME INSPECTORS -- To require the certification of home inspectors and to regulate the certification and performance of home inspectors. INFORMALLY PASSED HB 444 CONSTRUCTION LICENSING -- To make changes to the construction industry licensing laws to discipline unlicensed contractors and eliminate unlicensed contractor activity.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008. ID: Village Green files for Bankruptcy Village Green, high-end subdivision, filed under name of Valley Club Homes LLC, to prevent bank from foreclosing on project.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008. CA: 89 Homeowners Sue Lennar in Calif. Drywall and stucco cracking, low water pressure, leaks, mold, deficient air conditioning units.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008. SC: MORE: Famous Environmentalist Says Local Homes Are Contaminated Lennar development
Wednesday, May 07, 2008. SC: Lennar Home Testing: Brockovich Returns Representatives for homeowners in Wescott Plantation say they want to do more testing for possible pollutants in the air. Several home-owners contacted famed legal advocate Erin Brockovich to investigate. Brockovich says so far tests from 29 homes showed concerning levels of benzene -- a chemical compound known to cause some types of cancer, and some levels of methane gas which can cause asphyxiation and even explode at high levels....Meanwhile Lennar home builders who built most of the homes tested say the Environmental Protection Agency tested 19 of the homes and showed there are no harmful levels of gases or chemicals inside. EPA test results: www.epaosc.net/doc_list.asp?site_id=3271
Wednesday, May 07, 2008. WSJ: Beazer Homes Gets Default Notice From Trustee The clock is ticking for Beazer Homes USA Inc. The Atlanta home builder has received a default notice from the trustee of holders of $103 million in junior notes because the company has failed to provide annual and quarterly audited financial statements.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008. MN: More on SERIES: The Mortgage Meltdown Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008. FL: Westgate resident accuses developer of trying to steal her house out from under her Homebuyer convinced developer Tony Sillato of S&S Project--who bought out the project from De Angelo Developers--was unable to come up with his portion at closing and in desperation was trying to ‘flip’ the house at her expense.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008. IRMI: Construction Defects and Insurance Insurance industry site. Often has articles on when builder's insurance does/doesn't cover construction defects. This is a new article today.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008. US: Exposing New Home Builders (Blog, commentary, news) Recent entries include: "Builders Sodomize American Taxpayers for the Second Time in 20 Years Replete with Government Complicity," and "ERIN BROCKOVITCH CONFIRMS CONTAMINATION IN LENNAR HOME & TEXAS SUPREME COURT GRANTS DOUBLE STANDARD DECISION TO ‘BUILDER BOB’ PERRY."
Wednesday, May 07, 2008. US: Housing Crash news Current news articles
Wednesday, May 07, 2008. CA: UPDATE: Prosecutors say real estate fraud was motive in San Ramon murder Reginald Robinson, 31, was charged with murder, solicitation of murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm in connection with the fatal shooting of 42-year-old Kashmir Billon...Billon reportedly financed the purchase and construction of homes on property that Robinson owned. Although details of how the fraudulent transaction was allegedly supposed to work were not being released today, it appears Robinson allegedly planned to sell those homes to a fictitious person through a bank.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008. NPR: Woman says Countrywide Proposed Fibbing to Get Loan Countrywide and other lenders say they have cleaned up their act. But one homeowner says she was recently given the hard sell by a Countrywide loan officer who appeared to be breaking rules. (Countrywide is the preferred lender of KB Home and last we knew also Beazer, since Beazer shut down it's in-house lending co after being investigated. (Charlotte Observer series "Sold a Nightmare" for details see message board or news archives.) --Ed.)
Tuesday, May 06, 2008. FL: Cape Coral: A piece of the american dream –– cheap Greg Jarrett and Larry Smith are buying 72 houses from down-on-its-luck builder Comfort Home Builders in Cape Coral - the plan is to offer them for half or less the original price and sell them in a month.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008. CO: UPDATE on Hillman initiatives: Trial lawyers, opponents stand down on ballot issues Trial lawyers in the state and a group proposing to severely restrict the ability of plaintiffs to bring contingency fee civil lawsuits have agreed to withdraw competing ballot issues aimed for the November ballot.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008. MI; Nat'l interest: Pulte claims 'green honor,' (conveniently omits study's finding that NONE of the big builders in study were 'green.'). SPIN? Closest this plug for Pulte gets to admitting what the study really found: "Though sustainable building is relatively new among large production home builders like Pulte, the report acknowledges that the company is on the right path toward energy efficiency and responsible building practices, she added." Compare w/other articles posted today on the green survey by Calvert. --Ed.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008. US: Big home builders not so green, study finds The study's authors said, KB Home and all big builders have a long way to go toward improving their environmental efforts. They said builders could have a major effect in helping reduce greenhouse gases and addressing other environmental problems.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008. MD: Lanham homebuilder’s registration suspended by state Derek A. McDaniels, McDaniels Homes, cited by state’s Consumer Protection Division of Attorney General’s Office for accepting deposits and payments then failing to begin or complete construction, pay subcontractors, or refund deposits...Consumers who have had problems with McDaniels or other builders may contact the Home Builder Registration Unit at 877-259-4525 or homebuilder@oag.state.md.us
Tuesday, May 06, 2008. TX: MORE on Perry Homes/Cull case: Editorial: Donors shouldn’t tip scales of justice Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor has railed about state courts being corrupted by large campaign contributions to elected judges. In her next speech about the influence of cash in the courtrooms, she will have a perfect example from Texas. Homebuilder Bob Perry has given millions of dollars to state and national political campaigns and candidates, including all nine members of the Texas Supreme Court. Perry hit the jackpot late last week as a divided Supreme Court ruled in favor of his company, Perry Homes, in an $800,000 arbitration case. Perry and his family have donated more than $260,000 to the justices.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008. US: FOLLOW UP to yesterday's "How Green is your Builder " article KB Home takes top spot in survey on green practices (BUT) None of the 13 home builders, according to the report, has "fully embraced the emerging market of sustainable building design and construction." (The study compared 13 large tract builders, and did NOT include any true green builders such as those building zero energy homes out of sustainable materials that do not leak or fall apart, which is an important consideration in how 'green' a building really is, too. --Ed.)
Tuesday, May 06, 2008. TX: MORE on the Perry Homes v. Cull case Renegade Texas Supreme Court?
Tuesday, May 06, 2008. US: Senate subcommittee investigates possible abuse of the bankruptcy code by mortgage lenders. (Senator) Schumer called into question Countrywide's motivation for implementing the changes. "You're always adopting good practices after you're exposed," he said. The hearing also featured testimony by Katherine Porter, an academic expert on the foreclosure crisis. Porter said in written testimony that her research found that mortgage servicers disregard bankruptcy law in more than half of all cases.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008. US: Countrywide Stock Hit by BofA Deal Fears But since Mr. Lewis announced the acquisition, the problems at Countrywide have intensified. Countrywide’s losses on mortgages and home equity loans have ballooned, federal and state agencies have investigated its business practices, and the company is bracing for a wave of lawsuits from angry customers and investors.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008. US: D.R. Horton swings to $1.3 billion loss Builder cuts dividend and records $834 million in inventory, land charges
Tuesday, May 06, 2008. US: Don’t buy someone else’s mess (Infrared camera, home inspection, catch significant defect in new house) Fortunately this buyer used proper due diligence and the issue was discovered and remedied prior to closing sale, to the tune of thousands of dollars. Left undiscovered, this could have turned into an even larger issue had it not been discovered and corrected. It would have been the buyer’s burden somewhere down the road.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008. US: Beazer Homes says it got default notice The company said it got the notice on April 30 from The Bank of New York Trust Company National Association, a trustee for a $103.1 million unsecured junior subordinated note Beazer has to pay off on July 2036. The trustee said Beazer hasn't provided required information, including audited annual and quarterly results, the company explained in a regulatory filing. If that's not remedied within 30 days, Beazer will have defaulted on the debt.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008. TX: Meece family ordered to pay $320,000 in case Former justices of the peace Patrick and Margaret Meece have been ordered to pay upwards of $220,000 by a Brazos County jury who found the couple breached a contract with a home builder (Oakwood Custom Homes). ... The Meeces, who previously served as attorneys for the company and at different times held the same elected JP office, counter-sued the following year, complaining that Oakwood did shoddy work, which led to leaking water and the growth of mold.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008. US: As the Feds Broaden a Mortgage Fraud Probe, Will the White Collar Perps of Subprime Crime Ever Do Time? Why would reputable bankers and respected investment houses engage in these dishonest activities? The short answer: money, and lots of it.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008. US: The High-End Real Estate Market: They Went Bankrupt?!? From Tamarack Resort in Idaho, to the Villages at Hayden in Colorado, posh real estate projects struggle
Tuesday, May 06, 2008. NY: Home improvement contractor heading to jail Judge threw the book at Ronald Timmerman.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008. NC: New Home with Potentially Dangerous Gas Leak Gas line crushed inside walls during construction made family ill. Builder KB Home initially balked at paying homeowners' medical bills. Homeowner doesn't feel safe, wants KB to buy the house back.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008. Mother Earth News: Green Homes Solar energy, alternative construction methods, etc.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008. US: How Green Are America's Top Homebuilders? Calvert designed the research into homebuilder sustainability with support from the Boston College Institute for Responsible Investment...13 homebuilders covered in the report: Beazer; Centex; D.R. Horton; KB Home; K. Hovnanian; Lennar; M.D.C. Holdings; Meritage; NVR Inc.; Pulte; Ryland; Standard Pacific; and Toll Brothers. (It's a shame that none of the truly green builders, usually smaller builders, are included for comparison. --Ed.)
Monday, May 05, 2008. US: UPDATE: Homebuilders’ group reactivates PAC giving The PAC made the decision to cut off contributions after lawmakers did not include tax incentives to benefit homebuilders in the economic stimulus package signed into law earlier this year. Since then, the Senate has passed legislation that includes a tax break for homebuilders, and the House is considering a bill.
Monday, May 05, 2008. CA: UPDATE: Developer fallout spreads with Dunmore Homes Builder's bankruptcy scorches many local businesses including subcontractors, bank, sign shop, etc, that were owed money for work, loans.
Monday, May 05, 2008. Virginia: SLAPP lawsuit: Christiansburg developer files suit over blog: Two of the women named in Roger Woody's lawsuit said they have nothing to do with the blog. (Builder's company is Showcase Home Builders. The website he's suing over is www.thinkchristiansburg.com ) Both Newell-Foutz and Carter said the Think, Christiansburg blog does not have sponsors as Woody alleges. "Google ads come up randomly based on the content," Carter said, adding that she also plans to consult a lawyer. "Legal counsel will help me answer the claims raised, some of which are factually incorrect," she said Monday. "It's sad that the already overburdened court system is being cluttered by this superfluous and intimidating legal action."
Monday, May 05, 2008. FL: UPDATE on Watson Custom Home Builders: Subcontractors file against Heritage Oaks property New property owners within the development are being hit with liens from unpaid subcontractors. The liens are legally the responsibility of the builders, but homeowners can be held liable under the states construction lien laws.
Monday, May 05, 2008. US: Homebuilder Legal Woes Beazer, Lennar, D.R. Horton...
Monday, May 05, 2008. TX: History of Failure in the Texas Builders Commission This year the Texas Residential Construction Commission is up for review by the Sunset Commission and based upon it’s past, consumers should contact the Commission and call for its abolishment. The Sunset Commission can be contacted at (512) 463-1300 or via email: sunset@sunset.state.tx.us. Public hearings will be held in sept.
Monday, May 05, 2008. TX; Bay Area Houston Blog: More commentary on the Perry Homes case: Bob Perry should go to hell for this Over the last decade the homebuilding industry has defended the abuse of arbitration saying it was "final", once the arbitrator makes the decision, you get your money and it is over. Well, in this case it is not over if you have money and your name is Bob Perry. Bob Perry, along with Steve Paxson (see Unamerican Arbi-traitors) should be the poster children for arbitration reform.
Monday, May 05, 2008. TX: A history of failure in Homebuilders Commission This year the Texas Residential Construction Commission is up for review by the Sunset Commission and based upon it’s past, consumers should contact the Commission and call for its abolishment. The Sunset Commission can be contacted at (512) 463-1300 or via email: sunset@sunset.state.tx.us. Public hearings will be held in June.
Monday, May 05, 2008. TX: Shoddy workmanship: Give Texas homeowners better tools to force irresponsible builders to fix construction defects The mounting numbers of unresolved complaints make increasingly clear that the Texas Residential Construction Commission Act, passed in the 2003 Legislature, has become for buyers of poorly constructed homes the nightmare many feared it would. Adding insult to this injurious legislation is how the law is falsely touted as an aide to homeowners stuck in shoddily built houses....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.
Monday, May 05, 2008. US: Foreclosing on the housing fix Federal investigators on Tuesday found evidence that when Countrywide Financial Corp, the nation's biggest mortgage lender, ran credit checks on prospective homebuyers, it deliberately overlooked inflated or made-up income figures. It then approved loans to such buyers and rated the loans as "prime," ... The lending industry did plenty to help create the housing crisis. Now it wants to prevent a reasonable fix. But the lending industry's credibility is as bankrupt as many of its credit lines.
Monday, May 05, 2008. US: It’s Newer Homes That Stand Empty as Vacancies Rise Vacancies concentrated in newest part of America’s housing stock.
Monday, May 05, 2008. Charlotte Observer: Ongoing "Sold a Nightmare" series: Beazer suit dismissal to be appealed Couple wants to show foreclosure links: The Tingley case, which sought class-action status, is one of at least four brought by Carolinas homeowners against Beazer following the Observer stories.
Monday, May 05, 2008. SC: More Pulte Del Webb lawsuits: Charleston attorneys urge individual Sun City stucco lawsuits Attorneys representing a Sun City Hilton Head couple who allege that stucco was improperly applied to their home are laying the groundwork for multiple lawsuits against Pulte Homes. About 700 Sun City residents had wanted to join the couple's suit, with the aim of making it a class-action case. But the four lawyers handling the case -- all construction defect specialists -- notified those homeowners Wednesday that the court won't handle their cases as a class action. So if the residents want to pursue claims for stucco problems, they'll have to file individual suits...Homeowners in Sun City communities near Las Vegas and Phoenix also have sued Pulte, claiming that stucco on their houses was improperly applied.
Monday, May 05, 2008. CA: Builders, subcontractors square off over defect-defense rules California's subcontractors claim they're being unfairly squeezed by homebuilders for legal fees and they're backing legislation that would give them more power and less risk when construction defect claims arise.
Monday, May 05, 2008. NV: Las Vegas has scrapped some structural inspections City no longer conducting structural reviews on some buildings as tall as four stories, strip malls, tract homes...
Monday, May 05, 2008. PA: Couple: Contractor Joseph Marrazzo of Marrazzo Custom Homes and Marrazzo Landscaping Nursery botched work (Case) is unique: asking for triple damages, citing underutilized but increasingly applied state consumer protection law, Pennsylvania's Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law...John Benson, attorney with Penglase and Benson in Doylestown, successfully won triple damages for (another) homeowner against a contractor. But homeowner is faced with new challenge...contractor filed for bankruptcy...creditors (including judgment creditors) will get “pennies on the dollar.”
Monday, May 05, 2008. US: Ryland Rating Cut to ‘Junk’ Homebuilder and mortgage financier Ryland Group had its corporate and unsecured debt ratings downgraded to “junk” status by Standard & Poors
Monday, May 05, 2008. IN: Builders’ troubles continue Davis Homes faces lawsuits; DayMarc out of business
Monday, May 05, 2008. TX: More on Perry Homes case from earlier today A decadelong domicile dispute: Bob Perry, owner of Perry Homes, has made campaign contributions to all nine members of the Supreme Court, either directly or through a political action committee. Here is how the justices ruled in the case and their Perry contributions...
Monday, May 05, 2008. US: More buyers of new homes back out Despite the high penalty costs, cancellations are derailing about a third of transactions.
Monday, May 05, 2008. NV: Mansions languish in Las Vegas They blow up aging casinos in this town. Now, some are wondering what to do about yesterday's desert dream homes.
Monday, May 05, 2008. NH: Couple win lawsuit against developer Joseph Harnois, his wife-realtor, and home inspector who missed problems (But case still isn't over, says the article, and award does not include attorney's fees.)
Monday, May 05, 2008. US: A closer look at mandatory arbitration for consumers Lack of real agreement, the unfairness of the repeat player effect, and the harm secret decisions are doing to our public justice system in mandatory arbitration for consumers have given traditional (i.e., business-to-business) ADR a bad name.
Sunday, May 04, 2008. TX; Nat'l interest: More on the Cull/Perry case: Texas Supreme Court rules against Mansfield couple in battle with homebuilder The Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday in favor of Houston homebuilder Bob Perry, the state’s most prolific campaign contributor, in a case homeowner advocates say reflects the influence of big money over elected judges. (And a good example of how "binding arbitration" clauses in contracts don't really bind the corporation to the decision, only the consumer. --Ed.)
Sunday, May 04, 2008. US: Rescue Plan Leads Housing Package More on the controversial bailout bill, now in the House of Representatives. Article does not address multi billion dollar benefit that may go to the industry if that provision is in the House version.
Sunday, May 04, 2008. MI: Builder halts; residents reeling Residents of the 30 homes occupied within Fox Ridge are left with increased association fees, 10 vacant homes, an unfinished neighborhood and minimal control of their neighborhood association’s finances, which remains in the control of their developer, Crosswinds Communities of Novi.
Sunday, May 04, 2008. Consumer Affairs: Consumer News This week's news articles on all kinds of consumer issues including housing.
Sunday, May 04, 2008. Nat'l interest: Wondering about the fraud next door How much of that $6-trillion bubble was created by outright fraud?
Sunday, May 04, 2008. TX: MORE on homebuilder Bob Perry's case with the Cull family Texas Supreme Court ruling sides with prolific donor (builder Perry Homes).
Sunday, May 04, 2008. Common Dreams: The Plague of Potomac Fever SUMMARY: States doing a better job of curtailing fraudulent lending than congress. So-called foreclosure prevention bill mostly a bailout for banks and homebuilders who helped cause the mortgage mess, thanks to these industries' greater control over congress.
Sunday, May 04, 2008. TX: UPDATE on the Cull family's case: Houston homebuilder Bob Perry wins big in Texas Supreme Court Texas Politics, Houston Chronicle: The Texas Supreme Court today overturned an $800,000 judgment that a Dallas-area couple had won against Houston homebuilder Bob Perry and the companies that warranty his home construction business. The case has brought scrutiny to the court in the past because Perry has donated almost $95,000 to court justices. And the Hillco PAC, which has received almost two-thirds of its funding from Perry, has given the court another $95,000, according to a report compiled last year by Texans for Public Justice.
Sunday, May 04, 2008. Nat'l interest: Erin Brockovich Sets Sights on Lennar High-profile environmental advocate Erin Brockovich has been investigating possible health-damaging chemicals at a Lennar housing community in South Carolina.
Sunday, May 04, 2008. NACHI: Thermal Imaging VIDEO Infrared Thermography as part of a home inspection.
Sunday, May 04, 2008. IEQ Review: A Killer Within Weaponized, these two molds have been used to devastating effect in biological attacks waged by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and the former Soviet Union. With Stachybotrys' tendency to spew out toxins (which usually kill its host) in an effort to guard its prey from other parasites and Aspergillus' ability to hang on and infect a human body as robustly as almost no other fungi on the planet, these two toxic molds, while useful in a number of industrial and military processes, routinely prove deadly. (Story of man killed by mold can also be found at: City Life, http://www.lvcitylife.com/articles/2008/04/17/news/local_news/iq_20954359.p )
Sunday, May 04, 2008. International: Despite Alert, Flawed Wiring Still Kills G.I.’s Because of flawed electrical work by contractors, the bulletin stated, soldiers at American bases in Iraq had received severe electrical shocks, and some had even been electrocuted. ... For its part, KBR, which until last year was known as Kellogg, Brown and Root and was a subsidiary of Halliburton, denied that any lapses by the company had led to the electrocutions of American soldiers.
Sunday, May 04, 2008. UT: Home-Buying Fiasco! The home looks great, but there's more wrong with this place than just the furnace not being completely hooked up. So much is wrong, that it's estimated that it would take $90,000 to fix it all. And it looks like some who made money off this deal should have known about these problems, but nobody told the buyers.
Thursday, May 01, 2008. US Dept of the Treasury, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network report: PDF: Suspected Money Laundering in the Residential Real Estate Industry Within the sampled SARs, the most commonly reported professions associated with the residential real estate industry and suspected of being involved in residential real estate-related structuring and/or laundering were builders, contractors and rehabbers, who were mentioned in only about 5.5 percent of all filing narratives. In these instances, the impetus to structure and/or launder generally appeared to be tax evasion.
Thursday, May 01, 2008. CA: Real Estate Fraud Led To San Ramon Murder Supervising Deputy District Attorney Harold Jewett said Thursday that the murder appears to have stemmed from an alleged real estate fraud involving a residential development on Seventh Street in North Richmond. Billon reportedly financed the purchase and construction of homes on property that Robinson owned. Although details of how the fraudulent transaction was allegedly supposed to work were not being released Thursday, it appears Robinson allegedly planned to sell those homes to a fictitious person through a bank.
Thursday, May 01, 2008. US: Builders Facing Facts: No Congressional Bail-Out Up until yesterday, the builders’ number one priority appeared to be a tax provision that would allow them to carry back net operating losses (NOLs) to profitable years. ... The “moral hazard” argument--that rewarding big builders with a big bailout after they overbuilt and overstretched during boom times is somehow not just fiscally but morally wrong--appears to be gaining steam.
Thursday, May 01, 2008. SC: DenMark Homes goes into bankruptcy In the meantime, however, business won't stop. Banks have agreed to lend DenMark money so that it can finish homes under construction, and the company might even start on some new projects. (Buyer beware!)
Thursday, May 01, 2008. TX; Nat'l interest: Housing Crisis Affects Families Of All Incomes Some of the high-end foreclosures happened because builders got in over their heads with pricey spec homes they could not sell.
Thursday, May 01, 2008. TX: Hutto clay leaves some homes needing repairs Some residents unhappy with builders' efforts to remedy problems. (Print article, goes w/video below about Lennar problems.)
Thursday, May 01, 2008. TX: VIDEO: Lennar development in Hutto Defects, expansive clay soil, shifting new houses.
Thursday, May 01, 2008. Nat'l interest: Housing market more restrained now, say some agents Some builders, unable after a year or so to find a buyer for their homes, have actually taken those homes off the market and now have them occupied by renters
Thursday, May 01, 2008. MN; Nat'l interest: Letter: Coleman’s house vote no shock Billions in tax breaks for big businesses including mortgage companies who are Coleman campaign supporters.
Thursday, May 01, 2008. ID: Boise in Its Own Little Bubble Opportunistic Investors Overshoot Demand, Now Foreclosures Loom Large
Thursday, May 01, 2008. CA: UPDATE: Newhall Land's debt looms LandSource is comprised of Lennar Corp., LNR Property Corp. and MW Housing Partners, which is co-managed by MacFarlane partners and includes the California Public Employees' Retirement System.
Thursday, May 01, 2008. FL: Watson Custom Bulders saddles homeowner with $19,000 in liens Builder closed up shop, didn't pay subcontractors. Homeowner "could be forced to chose between paying off the subcontractors herself or having her house sold to satisfy the liens....Under Florida’s Construction Lien Law, property can be sold against the property owner’s will to pay for labor, materials, or other services which the contractor may have failed to pay."
Thursday, May 01, 2008. Inman.com: Judges should have say in mortgage modifications Bankers' big win is borrowers' major loss
Thursday, May 01, 2008. US: Viewpoint: Finding Fraud, and What it Really Means for Loss Mitigation Author says estimates suggest anywhere from 40 percent to 70 percent of original balance of entire loan pools from 2006 and 2007 were fraudulent originations.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008. MO: Wentzille developer sentenced to 15 months for violating Clean Water Act Eric Johnson, owner and operator of Providence on Peine, Providence Meadows, Woodsmill Estates, sentenced to 15 months in prison for environmental and bank fraud convictions.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008. NV; Nat'l interest: Who can sue? Case may decide The state's largest -- and possibly longest -- construction defect case, pitting about 1,000 Sun City Summerlin residents and seven homeowners associations against Del Webb, Pulte Homes and four subcontractors, could also decide which class of homeowners has the right to sue for defects in Nevada.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008. OR: Clackamas builder files for bankruptcy Clackamas County homebuilder Tony Marnella and three of his companies filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this month. Landing Development LLC, 550 Investments LLC, Tony Marnella Inc. and Marnela collectively owe about $24 million, the bulk of it to two lenders - Sterling Savings Bank and MW Housing Partners III LP, an affiliate of timber giant Weyerhaeuser.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008. IN: Indianapolis Home Builder Gets Homeowners Slapped with Mechanic's Liens Davis Homes is getting its new homeowners slapped with liens on their brand new homes that Davis built and failed to pay all of their contractors.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008. US: Homebuilders Back On Capitol Hill--And Still Feeling Ignored 1,200 members of the National Association of Home Builders are taking their annual day of action up here.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008. MN; Star Trib: Mortgage Meltdown SERIES of articles
Wednesday, April 30, 2008. MN: More on Series, Mortgage Meltdown: State is on track for 39 percent increase in foreclosures Those once-rural farm towns were popular with overzealous home builders, speculators and homeowners who overextended themselves and found that the equity they once had in that real estate was nothing more than vapor fueled by the steepest runup in home prices in more than a generation.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008. US: Foreclosure reforms that guarantee more foreclosures Grossly misnamed “Foreclosure Prevention Act” a bailout for banks. It’s “our biggest legislative effort since the Tax Reform Act of 1986,”one home-building lobbyist said. Not just home-builders, but retailers, manufacturers, mortgage companies and others are piling on. Thousands organized by these interests flooded offices of congressmen over spring recess. Those with lobbying power are diverting a mass upsurge to save homes into a golden opportunity to feast at the public trough.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008. US: No Assets? No Problem. You probably thought nothing-down mortgage loans disappeared in the wake of the American subprime lending crisis...They didn't...thanks in large part to the federal government and a legal loophole that lets builders and bankers ensure a steady stream of asset-challenged borrowers for taxpayer-insured loans. (Also talks about "down payment assistance programs" that result in higher number of foreclosures. --Ed.)
Wednesday, April 30, 2008. US: Centex posts $910.5 million quarterly loss Market Watch site
Wednesday, April 30, 2008. SC: Court ruling may create loophole in defective home construction cases A state Supreme Court ruling last week has some area lawyers worried the court has created a loophole that could lead to more property owners building their own homes to skirt responsibility for defects.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008. CA: Sacramento-area community banks still solid amid subprime meltdown Although they largely sidestepped subprime lending, many are bracing for losses on loans to construction firms, subcontractors and suppliers. Two banks are owed millions by John Reynen, the prominent Sacramento home builder who filed for personal bankruptcy recently.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008. MI: PDF of Case: FEINBLOOM v. AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL INSURANCE New home nightmare; not covered by insurance.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008. TX: Owners Stuck with Flawed Homes Repeat of original article from last week: see letters to editor below.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008. TX: Reaction to 'flawed homes' Consumers liked it, felt it reflected what's going on, but builders think it was "biased" and refer problems to the TRCC which has proven again and again to be ineffective in reining in bad builders.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008. US: Preserving the past helps the future You're a fool or a fraud if you say you are an environmentally conscious builder and yet are throwing away historic buildings, and their components."
Tuesday, April 29, 2008. MI: Cities snatch up HUD homes Houses to be fixed up for first-time buyers, low-income families.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008. NY: You Tube Video: Subprime scam by developer UPDATE to ongoing story
Tuesday, April 29, 2008. MI: Housing slump hits builders Half-built subdivisions dot the region, construction workers are fleeing south and companies from family-owned shops to global firms like Pulte Homes Inc. are bracing for what could be their worst year yet. One national player, Dallas-based Centex Corp., has decided to leave Michigan altogether.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008. US: A bottom in housing? That's a big 'No' at this confab Despite glut of unsold homes, "Builders are still building more homes for sale than people are buying today."
Tuesday, April 29, 2008. National interest: MORE on the Pigs at the Trough Tour "Pigs at the Trough" campaign hopscotches across the country, attending annual meetings of corporate home builders, and on Wednesday will be back in Washington, D.C." Union organized protests raising awareness that home builders are fighting for a $25 million bailout for themselves through the "Foreclosure Prevention Act." Protesting at Richmond American/MDC in CO, then back to Washington DC.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008. US: Housing Crash Daily news.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008. LIUNA Press Release; Washington DC: LIUNA Intensifies Fight Against $25 Billion Handout for Corporate Home Builders and for Real Relief from the Housing and Mortgage Crisis UPDATE: WHAT: "Pigs at the Trough" tour comes to the National Association of Home Builders legislative conference. WHEN: 8:00 - 10:00 a.m. Wednesday, April 30, 2008. WHERE: Washington Hilton, 1919 Connecticut Ave., Washington, D.C. VISUALS: More than 50 protestors, including pigs at the trough.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008. CO; National interest: UPDATE: Protests planned outside MDC annual meeting One of MDC Holdings Inc.'s shareholders, Amalgamated Bank's LongView Funds, wants the Denver builder to toughen the oversight of its lending practices. ... The Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA) plans a demonstration outside MDC's South Monaco Street headquarters, where the annual meeting will be held, against U.S. home builders seeking "a multibillion-dollar handout from Congress through the Foreclosure Prevention Act." The union represents construction workers. ... Publicly traded MDC (NYSE: MDC) builds houses nationwide using the Richmond American Homes brand, and offers mortgage loans through HomeAmerican Mortgage Corp. The company's other subsidiaries include American Home Insurance Agency and American Home Title and Escrow Co.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008. CA: Developer Empire Land files for bankruptcy protection Empire Land, an Ontario-based land development company, has filed for bankruptcy protection, joining at least a dozen home builders that sought protection from creditors...
Tuesday, April 29, 2008. US: Wall Street's big spenders: lobbying by business special interests U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Home Builders, etc, giving millions annually to influence govt.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008. US: Home Vacancies Set Record Indicates home prices won't stop falling and home builders can't ramp up construction until glut of vacancies worked down. Home prices may continue to drop.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008. FL: Investors lose despite city official's `guarantee' After housing development in Florida City failed, the people who financed the project say a city official had guaranteed it. The investors, who collectively poured nearly $4 million into the Sandra Fay development, had bought into a lie. Florida City's former housing director, Matthew Price II, who had ''backed'' the project, was apparently trying to reward a developer who had given him the down payment on a house...That builder was Anthony Riley, the developer of the Sandra Fay project. Riley is believed to have moved to Texas.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008. IOWA: UPDATE: More Than 200 Liens Filed Against Regency Homes State's largest homebuilder goes under, but hasn't filed for bankruptcy.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008. Nat'l interest: Terrorist ties to mortgage fraud: "New charge, hearing for fraud suspect" Bassam Omar and Alaa Ramadan: mortgage fraud and phony construction co, and ties to al-Qaida.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008. Rocky Mountain News: Could be fireworks at MDC annual meetiing UPDATE on Pigs at the Trough Tour: Groups blame builders such as MDC, parent co. of Richmond American Homes, for financial mess, which many believe already has brought country into recession.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008. Charlotte Observer: Homebuilder being replaced D.R. Horton not meeting contract terms
Tuesday, April 29, 2008. US: "No Sign of a Bottom" "I don't think we're anywhere near a bottom in housing,'' Eli Broad, the co-founder of KB Home, told Bloomberg TV. "We're going to have a big inventory of unsold, unoccupied homes that's going to take three or four years to clear out.''
Sunday, April 27, 2008. US: Who benefits from bailouts? Billions for House Builders But homebuilders are supposed to understand their business. ... Why don’t they learn? Because they expect a bailout. ... Why is Congress giving this tax break to real estate developers? The National Association of Home Builders have a PAC (political action committee) which gives money to candidates for government offices. This PAC was one of the top contributors to federal office seekers in 2006. ... The real estate crash will not bottom out until land values have fallen from their speculative peaks
Sunday, April 27, 2008. Nat'l interest: Real estate guru may don stripes Rick Dryer Ponzi scheme: Out on $250,000 bail, continues his work as persuasive real estate guru.
Sunday, April 27, 2008. Nat'l interest: Why should you care about impact fees? If the new development doesn't pay for itself, everyone else does
Sunday, April 27, 2008. AL; Nat'l interest: SPIN ALERT: "Local builders association looks out for consumers." Similar spin may be coming to a home builders association near you. --Ed.
Sunday, April 27, 2008. US: Profit from watching the government Taxpayers would look askance upon the notion of delivering truckloads of freshly printed cash to America's homebuilders, and even a few ardently pro-business politicians (including the president) declined to support a recently proposed multi-billion dollar tax cut for homebuilders. Nevertheless, the government has adopted and, no doubt will continue to adopt, policies that disproportionately benefit the homebuilding sector.
Sunday, April 27, 2008. Nat'l interest: Your Government At Work New Orleans floodwalls stuffed with newspaper?
Sunday, April 27, 2008. NY: Builder flees & 40 Hasidic families face eviction in Brooklyn swindle SUMMARY: 40 families face eviction, foreclosure thanks to developer Eliyahu Ezagui, who pulled off massive swindle, then fled the country.
Sunday, April 27, 2008. Consumerist: If You (as a consumer) Happen To Prevail In Arbitration, Get Ready To Lose On Appeal SUMMARY: While arbitration clauses in consumer contracts are generally binding on the consumer, and biased to favor the corporation, corporations do sometimes appeal if they do lose. "Just one of many reasons to support the Arbitration Fairness Act."
Sunday, April 27, 2008. TX: Owners stuck with flawed homes: Families' costs mount, but state, builder give scant help, files show SUMMARY: Hyde Park Crescent: Faulty windows, water-soaked balconies and defective roofs spawned leaks, mold and rot in nearly new $350,000 homes. Homeowners contend men behind Stature Construction, Jorge Casimiro and Thomas Thibodeau, committed a kind of corporate identity fraud to avoid responsibility and keep right on building in construction-friendly Houston. Another related company developed Montrose's Tremont Tower, a troubled condo project that bears the dubious distinction of having one of the region's highest 2007 foreclosure rates. Norman Chapa another name associated w/companies, a former convict. Law enforcement's often-heard answer, it's a civil matter, not criminal.
Sunday, April 27, 2008. Builder Online, on 10 Year Home Warranty Policies: Risk Retention From the archives and worth repeating: 2002 building industry articles says 10 year structural warranty policies pay only about ONE PERCENT of claims. Quotes from builders and even a warranty co CEO indicate they all know they're in the business to collect money, not pay claims.
Saturday, April 26, 2008. FL: Homeowner: "My Florida Safe Home" contractors aren't safe Problems with Eagle Development.
Saturday, April 26, 2008. SF Gate: Countrywide CEO got $22.1 million for 2007 He collected much more in options in same year company's stock dropped 80%
Saturday, April 26, 2008. US: “Financial” Crisis? The “crisis” they are describing is that troika of problems known as the housing “bubble”, the mortgage “meltdown” and the credit “crisis”. This is no financial problem, but a scam, a fraudulent enterprise gone bust. A scheme. A swindle...largest scandal in American history... big time bank swindlers can rest easy knowing that even when they are caught, it will only be described as a financial crisis.
Saturday, April 26, 2008. Wash. Post: Don't Blame All Borrowers Sen. John McCain argued that "it is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers." Many share McCain's concern. But while Congress clearly should not rescue borrowers who lied about their incomes or tried to get rich by flipping condos, such borrowers were at most a minor factor in this crisis. Primary responsibility rests squarely on regulators who permitted the liberal credit terms that created the housing bubble.
Saturday, April 26, 2008. NY: Local contractor says someone ripped off his name There are two completely different companies with almost the same name: Rock Solid Construction, a legitimately licensed company, and Rock Solid Roofing and Siding, a non-licensed contractor owned by Ronald Timmerman who's violating a state order and facing possible jail time. "Rock Solid Construction Owner J.P. Armitage said, "I'm kinda sick by it because its ruining my reputation. The calls that are coming in, are because its almost identical to my logo. People are thinking it's a division of my company, so its hurting my company pretty bad."
Saturday, April 26, 2008. US: $15 Billion Housing Bill Approved by House A $15 billion housing bill was pushed through a House committee Wednesday by Democrats. Republicans objected to the bill, calling it a government bailout for lenders and speculators and expressing fears that it could lead to even more foreclosures. [MORE: about the "Foreclosure Prevention Act" which became more of a Builder Bailout Act as industry lobbyists worked on it, and any help for 'consumers' was reduced in favor of helping the industries that created the mortgage mess. --Ed.]
Saturday, April 26, 2008. US: Bush administration opposes Democrats' mortgage relief bill Hensarling also said Frank's bill amounted to a bailout of the large banks that made the ill-advised loans in the first place. "You can not bail out borrowers without bailing out lenders," he said. "This is a massive Wall Street bailout bill."
Saturday, April 26, 2008. Nat'l interest: So many Florida housing scams, so few watchdogs Complaints to law enforcement and regulatory agencies seemed to disappear into a black hole. After every story, I'd hear from readers wondering why Clavizzao was still in business. The partial answer: He was just one cog in an industry so complex and poorly monitored it was hard to tell who was at fault. He couldn't have operated without the help — sometimes unwitting, sometimes not — of Realtors, title agents, appraisers, builders and lenders, who made risky subprime loans but didn't care because they quickly sold them to huge institutional investors.
Saturday, April 26, 2008. OK; Nat'l interest: Housing market is a disaster-horror-comedy flick The Central Oklahoma Home Builders Association has joined the Oklahoma Association of Realtors in paying for good news. ... The Realtors have committed a couple hundred thousand dollars for a statewide campaign saying "Good Thing You're in Oklahoma.” The builders dedicated $50,000 to an Oklahoma City campaign pointing out that housing here is "Defying the Trend” — it's at odds with the national situation and the national news. Now, somebody from Purcell called me last week to say that was all bull. He said he was an appraiser for the sheriff, that foreclosures there had more than doubled since last year, and that home values are dropping. [This editor is acquainted with a couple of courthouse clerks who say foreclosures are way up in their areas, too. --Ed.)
Saturday, April 26, 2008. IA: Cash gap paralyzes Regency, Iowa's top home builder Iowa's largest home builder, Regency Cos. of Des Moines, has laid off the entire staff of its home building business and left behind 300 homes that lenders and buyers will now have to sell or finish.
Saturday, April 26, 2008. Tort Deform: More on arbitration case being reinstated Decison could have relevance to all cases where one side is trying to get out of an unfair arbitration clause and/or where a whole industry forces the clause on consumers.
Saturday, April 26, 2008. US: The bill: The Arbitration Fairness Act S.1782 (Senate Bill); H.R.3010 (House of Representatives Bill). They are the same bill. This is the govt. link to read the bill.
Saturday, April 26, 2008. People Over Profits: Urge your Senators and Representative to support the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2007! You can use this site to contact your senator/representative in congress. The Arbitration Fairness Act would make PRE-DISPUTE mandatory arbitration clauses unenforceable. People could still choose to arbitrate disputes AFTER a dispute arose if they wanted to. These clauses, used industry-wide, do not allow consumers to choose. Arbitration can be biased to favor the industries that do repeat business with arbitrators to name just one problem with arbitration. --Ed.
Saturday, April 26, 2008. US: Card Games: A Federal Court gives a second chance to claims charging America’s biggest banks colluded against credit card customers. [This article is relevant to arbitration clauses in all kinds of consumer contracts including homes and warranties.] "Meanwhile, Congress has basically stalled on a billed called the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2007, a bid by consumer groups to make mandatory arbitration in consumer and employee contracts null and void."
Friday, April 25, 2008. PA; Nat'l interest: UPDATE: Big Business Bureau takes control in NEPA A mega-Better Business Bureau in Washington, D.C., has taken over the scandal-rocked Northeastern Pennsylvania BBB. ... For several years, the national Council of Better Business Bureaus had the local office under probation, as the office flouted requests to meet standards and turn over information. The bureau came under fire in 2007 for backing homebuilder Scott Binsack, of Mansions & Estates. Later, executive director Jay Schectman stepped down under threat of expulsion as well as fraud accusations in civil court from private tax clients. The national group moved to expel the organization, opening the door for a takeover.
Friday, April 25, 2008. U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development: PDF: 590 pg document from HUD on RESPA rule issues including problems with use of the builder's in-house, or affiliated, lender The agency believes that, more often than not, consumers do not gain from, and can be mislead by, deals involving economic incentives from a builder to obtain a loan or settlement services from an affiliate. (Quote is from p. 217-218)
Friday, April 25, 2008. Consumer Law blog: ARBITRATION This consumer law blog has a lot on arbitration again lately.
Friday, April 25, 2008. WSJ: April 2008: The Month of Arbitration Flagellation? "Arbitration seems to be taking a beating these days." (See HADD's message boards sections on Arbitration, and Home Warranties. --Ed.)
Friday, April 25, 2008. CO: Battle raging again with dueling Colorado ballot initiatives Nine proposed ballot issues were filed this week by individuals aligned with trial lawyers in the state in apparent retaliation for a proposed amendment that would severely limit contingency fee compensation for lawyers in civil lawsuits. The new proposed ballot measures target doctors, real estate brokers, corporate executives and homebuilders. For example: ... Caps on damages arising from construction defects would be increased from the current $250,000 to $750,000 under another proposal. A new triple damages provision would also be created for homebuilders who fail to respond to a claim by a homebuyer.
Friday, April 25, 2008. US: Pain of Foreclosures Spreads to the Affluent This wooded town of roughly 60,000 on Long Island Sound — home to dozens of hedge funds, many millionaires and more than a few billionaires — is one of the wealthiest enclaves in the country. But even Greenwich is not immune to the wave of home foreclosures sweeping the nation.
Friday, April 25, 2008. US: Builders foresee recovery this year The U.S. housing market will begin to recover in the third quarter as new and existing home sales start rising, the National Association of Home Builders said. (Interesting contrast to article directly below! ;-) --Ed.)
Friday, April 25, 2008. Forbes: Falling Prices Haunt New Houses American homebuilders are waiting for the U.S. residential real estate market to hit bottom. Data released Thursday indicated they'll be waiting for a while.
Friday, April 25, 2008. The Street, investment site: RealMoney Extra: Be Cautious With Builders Monthly sales gains meaningless...merely reflects the regular seasonality of home sales.
Friday, April 25, 2008. Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Radio : Medical problems associated with living or working in water-damaged buildings Click on Episode 79, Ritchie Shoemaker, M.D. -Part 1: You can listen to the audio of the show. If it's still going on theoretically you may be able to call in but we didn't get enough info about this in time to give more info. --Ed.
Friday, April 25, 2008. Article by Steve Zurier, BuilderOnline.com: The Damage Hits Home Construction defects, builder bankruptcies such as Tennessee's Mathews Bro's, problems with 2-10 Home Buyers Warranty and arbitratoin, houses that have lost value in the housing market, etc.
Thursday, April 24, 2008. Public Justice: Mandatory Arbitration Abuse Prevention Project (MAAPP) List of news articles and reports on problems with arbitration in consumer contracts. The clauses are common in builders' contracts and home warranties, and strip home buyers of their right to use the courts, important leverage consumesr shouldn't sign away. --Ed.
Thursday, April 24, 2008. CA: UPDATE: Reassessing Runkle After pleading with the city to test suspect-looking water in Runkle Canyon in 2007 and then being told that it has already been adequately assessed in the EIR, which it hadn’t, the Rangers paid for their own sampling and analysis of the goo last May 18. Those tests found the surface water and adjacent soil heavily contaminated with the toxic heavy metals arsenic, nickel and vanadium. The city responded by conducting its own tests and spun the results that the water and dirt were clean when they actually found even higher levels of the toxins as well as barium, cadmium, chromium and lead.
Thursday, April 24, 2008. MS: Repair fraud arrests total 87 Victim of home repair fraud? Call the Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division at 1-800-281-4418 or the Coast Contractor Fraud Unit at 228-386-4400.
Thursday, April 24, 2008. US: Housing bill includes big tax breaks for businesses "Tax breaks for corporate home builders won't help stabilize the housing market, won't create jobs and won't prevent a single foreclosure," he continued. "If anything, this multibillion-dollar windfall will make things worse."
Thursday, April 24, 2008. US: EDITORIAL: More Rube Goldberg schemes Congress poised to make housing meltdown worse
Thursday, April 24, 2008. AL: Building codes could be affected by current legislature House Bill 121 and Senate Bill 483: “I’m not so sure about putting three homebuilders on a committee that determine building standards for the state of Alabama" ... “The committee makeup allows the homebuilders to continue their tactics of consistently opposing the adoption of nationally recognized codes and the implementation of proven fire safety systems. It will be impossible to obtain the six out of eight votes necessary to pass an item when the homebuilder’s have three votes.”
Thursday, April 24, 2008. US: Lender's Remorse More problems with various schemes to bail out the housing industry.
Thursday, April 24, 2008. CA & IL: Nat'l interest: More on Kimball Hill bankruptcy Suburban Chicago builder Kimball Hill Homes, which has a Sacramento division and is selling homes from five new-home communities in the region, on Wednesday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in Chicago. The company has been struggling with mounting debt and had said earlier that its prospects for continuing as a going concern without a reorganization were doubtful.
Thursday, April 24, 2008. CA: More on Reynen & Bardis bankruptcy A Sacramento-area home builder facing huge debts and buyers angered over what they claim are defective houses has filed for personal bankruptcy protection.
Thursday, April 24, 2008. CA: Reynen & Bardis co-founder files personal bankruptcy John D. Reynen, a co-founder of Sacramento's Reynen & Bardis Communities Inc., filed for personal bankruptcy reorganization Wednesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, the company announced. Reynen had personally guaranteed money lent to the development and home-building company he founded with Christo Bardis and secured those loans with his personal property. Bank of the West had been pursuing recovery of those personal assets.
Thursday, April 24, 2008. US: Real estate's new hidden market Unable to sell, a growing number of homeowners are simply pulling homes from market.
Thursday, April 24, 2008. Common Dreams: Subsidizing Corporate Crime and Rewarding Constitutional Abuses Government handouts to corporations might seem untenable at a time when more and more Americans suffer every day from the impacts of a mounting economic crisis. Yet efforts to bolster the economy have largely taken the form of corporate welfare — much like an appalling effort, in the closing days of the Bush administration, to subsidize corporate violations of the rule of law and individual liberties. After the Federal Reserve’s $30 billion bailout for investment bank Bear Stearns last month came the Senate’s recent decision to set aside $25 billion in tax breaks for corporate homebuilders, and...
Thursday, April 24, 2008. US: NAR Spin Cycle Set To Permanent Press I have long been critical of the NAR’s efforts to spin the market as positive no matter what is happening...
Thursday, April 24, 2008. IRMI, an insurance industry site: Arkansas Rules No "Occurrence" for Construction Defect in CGL Insurance In Essex Ins. Co. v. Holder (Ark. March 6, 2008), the Arkansas Supreme Court held that defective workmanship which results in damages only to the insured's work product is not an accidental occurrence under a commercial general liability (CGL) policy.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008. LA: Metairie home warranty company closes its doors without a word to customers or contractors U.A. Durr continued to take in money, then suddenly disappeared, causing financial problems for clients.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008. US; The Street, investment site: Home Warranties Bring New Headaches Now may be a good time to call them (your home warranty co.) up to make sure they answer the phone. In the past few months, two home warranty companies have slipped out of business, leaving their customers out of luck with a broken appliance and out of an annual premium as well. United Home Warranty, based in Oakhurst, N.J., shut down overnight and disconnected its phones in March. U.A. Durr, a Metairie, La. warranty company closed its doors shortly after, blaming the lackluster real estate market for slumping warranty sales.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008. FL: Study: Late judge's court contaminated with mold A study sought by the family of a judge who died of a lung ailment says his courtroom was contaminated with mold spores...In general, public health experts have linked mold to asthma, allergies and respiratory, skin and eye problems, as well as lung infections.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008. NJ: Run-off from housing site sparks concerns The houses in question are being developed by Morristown-based Fenix Investment and Development, which acquired it from the Kara Homes during its bankruptcy.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008. IL: Kimball Hill Files for Chapter 11 to Restructure Debt MORE on builder bankruptcies.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008. TX: Is your inspector looking hard enough? (John) Corbarruvius feels the only real protection is to hire your own inspector to make sure all the work is done right. This isn't just a problem here -- it’s nationwide. (John is a former HADD Director, still working hard to improve things for homeowners. --Ed.)
Wednesday, April 23, 2008. US: BailoutWatch: I Can't Even Keep Up (Housing bailout attempts) getting progressively more irresponsible and transparent in their attempts to reward the very institutions that enabled the housing bubble in the first place.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008. US; update on so-called 'foreclosure prevention act' that has become a builder bailout: Rebates for home builders weighed O'Sullivan says the builders are partly to blame for the housing bubble, since many of these companies also made subprime loans. The bill has already passed the Senate. Now it moves to the House.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008. US: Moody's expects banks to harden line with homebuilders "It is likely that banks will finally begin to hold homebuilders accountable for their failure to generate cash, maintain adequate liquidity, and reduce outstanding debt"
Wednesday, April 23, 2008. CA: Financial problems strike Newhall Land's owner LandSource Communities Development LLC, the parent company of The Newhall Land and Farming Co., is in negotiations to restructure its debt...Newhall Land, developers of Valencia and Newhall Ranch communities owned by LandSource, which is comprised of Lennar Corp., LNR Property Corp. and California Public Employees' Retirement System.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008. SC: Poinsett Liens Upstate homebuilder (Poinsett Homes) owes thousands of dollars to local contractors for unpaid work, and that could potentially put hundreds of homebuyers in a financial pinch.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008. OH/KY: UPDATE to OLD case: Erpenbeck wants sentence reduced But the judges warned that Erpenbeck’s appeal could backfire, potentially leading to an even longer prison sentence for the former Northern Kentucky home builder. That’s because federal prosecutors responded to his appeal with an appeal of their own that seeks more years in prison. (Multi-million dollar homebuilding and mortgage fraud case that had been going on for years and took many twists and turns including a threat on one of the judge's lives. Search Google.com or HADD news archives for more on Erpenbeck fraud. --Ed.)
Wednesday, April 23, 2008. MI: Centex to leave Mich. In addition to home building, Centex's related business lines include mortgage, title and insurance services and integrated pest defense systems.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008. US: Backlash grows against the housing bailout Nationalbubble.com is another newly minted site devoted to the bailout backlash. "I just got really angry," said blogger Morgan Ward Doran, an L.A.-based attorney who isn't professional involved with the housing industry. "Everyone I hear from is against the bailouts." Doran argues that lenders, brokers and home builders all made huge profits by overbuilding houses pushing through poorly underwriten loans, and now they want taxpayers to cushion their fall. Indeed, there is a provision in the Senate bailout bill that