Drees ordered to pay $4.75M in ‘sick house’ case
The jurors decided that Fort Mitchell-based Drees had been negligent and violated the Virginia Consumer Protection Act. It accepted the Mengs’ claim that faulty construction had promoted the growth of toxic mold.

Don't Trust Drees.com
Drees Homes ruined our lives! Drees Home built us a house we cannot live in due to severe mold contamination - the worst part is they knew about it and covered it up. http://www.donttrustdrees.com/
The Washington Post: Sick House, Suffering Family Read more... Costly Mold: Loudoun couple awarded $4.75M for mold injuries Read more...

Sick House, Suffering Family
Shoddy construction and unmended leaks had let moisture in, allowing toxin-producing mold to grow and spread through the three-story house, the Mengs said. A Loudoun jury recently awarded the family $4.75 million, among the largest awards in a mold case in Virginia...  "We kept on hoping that Drees was going to do the right thing," Wendy Meng said. "All we asked them to do was put us up somewhere while they got the house completely cleaned . . . and they wouldn't do it." ... The Mengs said problems with the house have cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical expenses, legal fees, discarded furniture and other expenses. But they can be replaced.  "If you don't have your health," Wendy Meng said, "it doesn't matter what you have."

DR HORTON HOMES BAD FOR TEXAS, BAD FOR  THE COUNTRY
They are ignoring all warranty request from me and my neigbors...In August of 2008 we discovered mold growing above the cabinets in the kitchen. In order for mold to have grown to that extent, the leak had to have existed for some time...We could not get our warranty work started until after almost a year of being in our home.

Major Arizona home builder files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
“Unfortunately, the filing is a sign of the challenging times builders and developers are currently facing in today’s housing market,” Burger said. According to the company’s website, Fulton Homes has 21 communities in development in the Phoenix metro area. "As long as this doom and gloom scenario exists, you're going to have companies like this strained and stressed," added Hoffman.

Dallas-area homebuilders suspend operations, leave buyers in the lurch
Who's Next?  Number way down. The worst housing market in generations is taking a big toll on the local homebuilding industry.  More than two dozen builders have suspended operations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, analysts estimate, leaving some homebuyers and new owners in the lurch... In North Texas, new home sales have fallen by more than 40 percent since 2006, and single-family home starts are at the lowest level in close to 20 years.

Construction Consultant Agrees: Chinese Drywall Defective
Hundreds of homeowners have been plagued by odious smells and ongoing wiring, pipe, and air conditioning problems due to defective Chinese Drywall.  Worse, consumers are complaining about health problems that seem to lift when they are away from the toxic Chinese Drywall.  Health concerns include an array of respiratory problems, nosebleeds, irritated eyes, and headaches.  Of very serious concern, is the possibility that the Chinese Drywall is emitting excessive amounts of hydrogen sulfide fumes, which can cause extreme irritation, unconsciousness, and even death.

KB Home Chisholm Crossing turns to Rental Community
Sales in Chisholm Crossing located in Round Rock Texas have been slow since opening in 2004.  The community, like nearby Chandler Creek are mostly rental communities rather than homeownership.  Foreclosures are abundant as many of the home sit empty.  In Chandler Creek investors bought up homes as residents moved out in the middle of the night.  Some homeowners got KB Homes to buy back their homes after testifying at hearings during the 2005 legislative session at the Capitol.  Chisholm Crossing appears to be suffering the same fate.  One family established a website called WhyLieKB.com that is no longer active since they moved out when KB Homes bought back their home.   View protests at Chandler Creek and Chisholm Crossing. See: Map showing the high number of Rentals in Chisholm Crossing.

The operators of Carolina Development conned more than 1,000 in a Ponzi scheme, California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown's office says.
Six Orange County men face criminal fraud charges in an alleged $52-million investment scam that was said to promise big profits from luxury developments next to golf courses designed by Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Greg Norman.
The criminal cases, filed Thursday in Orange County Superior Court by the office of California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown, follow civil charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission against the operators of Irvine-based Carolina Development Co. "This is a very serious case, an unusually large fraud," Brown said in an interview. The defendants "callously conned" more than 1,000 people, including retirees, he said...The promotions took place from August 2001 to February 2006, authorities said, when a state and federal task force shut down Carolina Development.

Another TRCC Closure: Defective Choice Home Sold on the Auction Block
“I bought a defective home built by a builder that is not licensed and wired by an unlicensed electrician.  I was stuck with a house that could not be insured, that I couldn’t live in or sell.  I got no help from the City of Princeton or the State ‘Builder’s Protection Agency’ TRCC.   I can’t sue the builder because of a binding arbitration clause or any of there subs, yet the builder somehow has a gag order on me so I won’t tell any of the other homeowners what has happened.   So… welcome to Texas … my dream went down the toilet when my house was sold on the auction block,” said Cam Taylor.  See new construction in Princeton Texas...Homebuilding Texas Style

Buying a new home gets riskier
...at least four KB Homes communities, residents have found that waging grass-roots protests can yield some success when builders scale back. Where builders pull out completely, the future is less certain. Either way, the problems are likely to continue as the market struggles to recover. Earlier this week, residents of KB Home's Sundance Trails, Sundance Ridge and Quarry at Iron Mountain subdivisions were told by KB Home's Central Texas region President Ken Langston the company had decided to reverse some of it cutbacks. This was after weeks of lobbying county commissioners and state legislators, letter-mailing campaigns and the launching of a Web site, http://kblies.com/ by Quarry at Iron Mountain residents... “My price per square foot has diminished 17 to 18 percent, $70,000 to $80,000 in one year,” said Matthew Hegedus who with wife Rachel are among the dissatisfied Quarry at Iron Mountain residents. “That's because of the acts of the one builder who controls this neighborhood. We just want to educate other consumers.”   See http://kblies.com/

Homeowners Lash Out At KB Home
Several KB homeowners confronted the home builder at a Tuesday evening meeting claiming they were decieved about the future of their community... In the end most homewoner left as angry as the were before that meeting started. Viewer comment: "When the judges and commissioners side with the Fascist rules written by the self-serving corporate greed machines we have a fascist governance of our neighborhoods. Have some guts, Judge Nelson. Put the decision in the hands of the homeowners and hold the big corporation accountable for this deception."

Homeowners Call For Builder To Buy Back Houses
The homeowners are asking KB Homes to buy back their homes because their property values are declining. Those homeowners say their home values went down after KB began building smaller and less expensive homes in the subdivisions. "The community is no older than 2 years, and most of us have already lost 10 to 15 percent because of the homes KB has decided to bring in and the prices they decided to bring," said homeowner Jennifer Czuhajewski.

Home Builder Sentiment Sinks to New Low
The National Association of Home Builders said its preliminary NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index was 8 in January, down from 9 in December. That is the lowest level on record since the gauge was launched in January 1985. Readings below 50 indicate more builders view market conditions as poor than favorable. The January index was below expectations of 9, based on a Reuters survey of economists. Eric Belsky, executive director at Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies, said home builders are not only struggling under sinking demand and a credit crisis, but are facing a flood of homes in foreclosure.