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Welcome to HOBB
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GRETCHEN MORGENSON: Good news for homeowners - Has the bank lost your mortgage? |
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Tuesday, 27 October 2009 |
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If Lenders Say ‘The Dog Ate Your Mortgage’
But if our current financial crisis has taught us anything, it is that many borrowers entered into mortgage agreements without a clear understanding of the debt they were incurring. And banks often lacked a clear understanding of whether all those borrowers could really repay their loans. Even so, banks and borrowers still do battle over foreclosures on an unlevel playing field that exists in far too many courtrooms. But some judges are starting to scrutinize the rules-don’t-matter methods used by lenders and their lawyers in the recent foreclosure wave. On occasion, lenders are even getting slapped around a bit. One surprising smackdown occurred on Oct. 9 in federal bankruptcy court in the Southern District of New York. Ruling that a lender, PHH Mortgage, hadn’t proved its claim to a delinquent borrower’s home in White Plains, Judge Robert D. Drain wiped out a $461,263 mortgage debt on the property. That’s right: the mortgage debt disappeared, via a court order. |
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Feud over cracks in foundation, stucco walls lasts for years |
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Tuesday, 27 October 2009 |
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Sun City Anthem resident battles HOA
"Yes, we have construction defect issues, and yes, we are upset and mad about it," McCullough said as he pointed out stress cracks and crumbling exteriors on homes in his neighborhood. "But the real story here is not about the defects in our homes. It's about a board of directors who are more sympathetic to Del Webb's financial well-being than they are for the Sun City Anthem residents." The association hired a contractor to fill in the cracks and paint over them, but not before McCullough took 44 photographs of damaged villa homes on Peoria Avenue, where he lives, and around the block on Harrisburg Avenue. |
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NPR Reports on Defective Drywall |
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Tuesday, 27 October 2009 |
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Toxic Chinese Drywall Creates A Housing Disaster
Emissions from the drywall corrode plumbing and electrical systems. Homeowners also blame them for headaches and respiratory ailments. In Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina and other states, thousands of homeowners have had an experience like Luis Gonzalez...The problem began to emerge about a year ago. Tests found that Chinese drywall imported during the peak years of the building boom emits sulfide gases. The gases corrode copper coils in air conditioning systems and wiring in appliances and electrical outlets. |
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Mississippi to computerize public records about incompetent and dishonest builders |
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Monday, 26 October 2009 |
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Consumer info on builders improving
The Mississippi State Board of Contractors plans to launch a searchable computer database in early 2010 so consumers can check the track records of builders. The lack of computerized public records about incompetent and dishonest builders hampers Mississippi consumers who want to make informed decisions for one of life’s biggest investments: a new or remodeled home. |
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Mississippi Builders call for Licensing |
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Monday, 26 October 2009 |
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Industry leaders call for tougher regulation of home builders
The Attorney General’s Office says Katrina fraud cases are tapering off, but complaints are becoming more common in other parts of the state. Cases referred to the attorney general’s Consumer Protection Division decreased almost 39 percent from 2007 to 2008, when 423 cases were reported... “We feel like as an industry that it’s hard to understand,” said Marty Milstead, executive vice president of the Mississippi Home Builders Association. “For heaven sakes, you have to take a test to drive a car. You have to have insurance to drive a car, but not to build a house.” |
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Hovnanian Builds in Flood-Zone |
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Thursday, 22 October 2009 |
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Hovnanian Awash in Flood-Zone Problems
Permits for home construction in a Sacramento flood zone are causing quite the headache for builder Hovnanian Enterprises — and, possibly, some of its buyers. Hovnanian received permits for 35 homes in its Westshore development, but the rather appropriately named Dan Waters — the son of a Sacramento councilman — allegedly overrode a computer system to allow construction within the Natomas flood zone, the Sacramento Bee in California reports... Four homes have already been sold — with people living in them — and eight are in escrow, |
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Money Magazine: Builders Build New Cheap Houses |
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Wednesday, 21 October 2009 |
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Smart Money: THE FAT- FREE HOUSE
Builders are digging out of the housing mess with some courious shortcuts, from foam beams to picture windows that don't ever open. Our look at the home of the future... the art of building a house on the cheap without making it look cheap... no gutter...warranty manager for builder...maybe future occupants won't care about their flowers being decapitated. "You mighg be wasting $1,000.00...“perceived value.” Translation: Keep the high-profile amenities, but skimp everywhere else. And apparently, the strategy works. KB Home says... But creative economizing can come back to haunt homeowners. Missing Water Valves - Builder Saves: $35 per valve. When builders forgo under-the sink shut-ff valves, the savings seldom lower the home price. But when there's a leak, owners can face big plumbing and cleanup bills...
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Tort Reform proven more harm than good for Texas Consumers |
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Sunday, 18 October 2009 |
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Battle over legal ‘reforms’ has been costly to families
For 20-plus years, the insurance industry, aided by tobacco interests, polluters, developers and the medical industry, have been engaged in a pitched battle to take away the legal rights of families. Our state has been the front line in a battle for our Constitution. Sadly, the Constitution is losing, and Texas families have been the collateral damage. All of this has been done in the guise of “reform,” but real legal reform should be designed to protect everyday Texans, making Texas a safer and healthier place. What we've been handed in Texas certainly doesn't fall into that category. The only real beneficiaries of the decades-long fight in Texas have been a handful of powerful special interests that have boosted their bottom lines on the backs and broken hearts of countless Texas families. |
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ABC News Elisabeth Leamy - Defective Chinese Drywall and Canceling Insurance |
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Friday, 16 October 2009 |
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Homeowner Nightmare: Insurance Companies Revoke Policies Because of Drywall
As a New Orleans federal court holds a hearing today on lawsuits alleging that defective Chinese-made drywall.is destroying people's homes and their health, outside the courtroom owners of more than 100,000 houses built with that drywall are learning that some insurance companies are canceling their policies.When James and Maria Ivory of Punta Gorda, Fla., moved into their newly built home, they noticed a rotten egg smell. Then the metal in their home, from bathroom fixtures to air-conditioning components, began to corrode and turn black. And finally, the couple says their health started to suffer. |
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Drywall Victims Hung Out to Dry |
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Friday, 16 October 2009 |
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Insurers dropping Chinese drywall policies
James and Maria Ivory's dreams of a relaxing retirement on Florida's Gulf Coast were put on hold when they discovered their new home had been built with Chinese drywall that emits sulfuric fumes and corrodes pipes. It got worse when they asked their insurer for help — and not only was their claim denied, but they've been told their entire policy won't be renewed.. Thousands of homeowners nationwide who bought new houses constructed from the defective building materials are finding their hopes dashed, their lives in limbo. And experts warn that cases like the Ivorys', in which insurers drop policies or send notices of non-renewal based on the presence of the Chinese drywall, will become rampant as insurance companies process the hundreds of claims currently in the pipeline. |
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Big Fish, Little Fish - Who's Next |
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Friday, 16 October 2009 |
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Judge finds Tousa was 'insolvent' when loans struck. Orders funds returned to companies by Oct. 23
A U.S. judge ruled that loans taken out by homebuilder and financial services company Tousa Inc six months before it filed for bankruptcy involved fraudulent transfers of assets and voided them, ordering the lenders to return more than $600 million. The ruling, issued on Tuesday in federal bankruptcy court in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, instructed the lenders to wire $403 million plus interest into a disgorgement account on or before Oct. 23. It also ordered other lenders who took as collateral a $207.3 million federal tax refund Tousa received shortly before the bankruptcy filing to turn over those funds plus interest. |
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Another Small Fish Prosecuted for Mortgage Fraud - Still Waiting for Big Fish |
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Friday, 16 October 2009 |
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Bolivia man sentenced on mortgage fraud charges
A Bolivia man was sentenced in federal court last week to almost six years in prison for his involvement in a mortgage fraud scheme out of Whiteville that netted $6 million. Williams pleaded guilty in February to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice. |
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Tuesday, 13 October 2009 |
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Cindy Marcus Files Lawsuit in Hawaii against Centex Homes and its Agents
the area was declared a federal disaster area... According to court records, when people tried to cancel their contracts, many people said that they were coerced into closing against their will because Centex told them they would lose their deposits. Witnesses named in the court records have stated that Centex eventually sold the units of those people whose deposits they kept and they enriched their pockets with money gained from other unsuspecting victims. They allegedly kept many people's deposits which sometimes represented people's entire retirement and bankrupted those who had worked hard all their lives for a piece of the American Dream...Janet Ahmad, the president of HOBB, said, "Too many people have unjustly lost their money to Centex. It is time that this issue gains public attention so potential buyers are made aware of the tactics used by developers to enrich themselves at the expense of unsuspecting consumers." |
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HUD/FHA Sweet Deals Enabled Predatory Lending |
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Tuesday, 13 October 2009 |
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A Secret Deal Between Wall Street and Washington Shines a Harsh Light on Federal Housing Agency
While the Federal Trade Commission was receiving gut-wrenching documentation of predatory lending abuses at a unit of Citigroup, the Federal agency mandated to level the playing field for low income homeowners, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, was quietly awarding 19,968 mortgages of homeowners in distress to Citigroup to dispose of as it saw fit. HUD legally became Citigroup’s joint venture partner in at least two of the deals, retaining a minority interest. |
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KB Home is under SEC investigation - Stock drops 8% |
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Tuesday, 13 October 2009 |
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The home builder disclosed that the probe is focused on 'possible accounting and disclosure issues.'
KB Home's filing also noted the ongoing struggles of the national housing market. "A general oversupply of new and resale homes, exacerbated by rising mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures, continued to depress prices and intensify competition, while poor job market conditions, tight mortgage lending standards and weak consumer confidence restrained demand," it said. |
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SEC Investigation: Investors may want to stay away from KB stock |
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Monday, 12 October 2009 |
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Mystery Over Accounting Probe May Spook KB Home Investors
Does an accounting probe by the Securities and Exchange Commission mean another regulatory black eye for KB Home? In a disclosure buried deeply in a quarterly filing, the Los Angeles-based home builder said Friday that the SEC staff has issued a “formal order of investigation … regarding possible accounting and disclosure issues. “It’s tough to really know” whether the investigation will lead to serious problems for KB, said Ivy Zelman, chief executive of Zelman & Associates, a housing research firm. But, she said, investors may want to stay away from KB stock until the matter is clarified...KB has had more than its share of regulatory woes in recent years. |
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