Schertz homeowners demanding buyback
The homeowners say they have had foundation problems that are also causing other issues. “We have cracked foundations, vertical cracks, horizontal cracks, tile moving, ceilings that are moving up,” said homeowner Faye Touve. Touve and other residents started a campaign against Pulte Homes on Saturday, sending letters to local, state and federal agencies. Related article: Pulte-Centex A No Show At Meeting * More videos for Pulte construction defects

Homeowners continue to ask builder to buy back their homes
Homeowners living in the Fairhaven subvision in Schertz want their builder, Pulte, to buy back their houses. Members of the group Fairness for Fairhaven Now gathered at a Schertz post office Saturday morning and mailed out dozens of letters to elected officals.  "We mailed one off to President Barack Obama, the Mayor of Schertz, and Governor Rick Perry," said homeowner Ryan Travis.

Inspector checks out Fairhaven homes
"A person should not be able to walk up to a wall, push that wall and see it moving like that," explained inspector Mark Eberwine. "A person can't generate the same amount of force that a wind gust can."  A few streets away, Eberwine examined a wall separating from the ceiling that left a noticeable gap. "It's not normal," he said. "This is not normal at all. This is the inability of the foundation to resist deflection to the degree necessary to keep your house from coming apart."

Schertz homeowners want builder to buy back their homes
Homeowner Bruce Touve can move his brick wall with a touch of his hand. And it scares him. ...It is not a very safe situation in the neighborhood,” said Touve... So dozens of the Fairhaven homeowners are documenting their problems in buy-back letters they are writing to Pulte Homes. It’s everything else except for the possibility that they may have built us a shoddy house,” said Lawrence... Alpersin tells KENS-TV she checks the wall daily, after discovering cracks and separations among the bricks. Last week there were 28 cracks, she said. Monday she counted 31. The news has Alpersin worried. She remembers Pulte’s retainer wall collapse in San Antonio’s Rivermist subdivision in 2010. Related article:Pulte-Centex A No Show At Meeting

Residents: Pulte built homes on unstable foundation
A group of homeowners in Schertz say they are fed up with Pulte Homes and want their homes bought back by the company. Residents in the Fairhaven neighborhood claim Pulte built shoddy homes on unstable foundation. At least two dozen people showed up to a meeting on Monday night held by the non profit group HomeOwners For Better Building. The goal was to make sure everyone is on the same page when it comes to a letter homeowners plan on sending to Pulte Homes.

Pulte Homes homeowners meet to decide what's next
Residents in the Fairhaven neighborhood in Schertz say their homes are crumbling because of shoddy construction done by Pulte Homes.

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Homeowners meet to write "buy back" letters
Schertz--Some homeowners in the Fairhaven subdivision in Schertz want their builder to buy back their homes. They met on Monday night to finalize their plans on writing "Buy Back" letters. The homeowners want Pulte Homes to buy back their homes after problems that include cracks in foundations, cracked walls, and sticking doors and windows. Pulte Homes did not want to comment, but in the past a spokesperson told News 4 WOAI that the company has a 20 year history of standing behind their homes and that they're working with homeowners to resolve warranty related issues. ...Only 12 Rivermist Certificates of Occupancies Reissed after 2 years.  View Video Report on Fairhaven and Rivermist 2 Years Later

New laws affect HOAs and homeowners starting Jan. 1
In years past in Texas, HOAs could foreclose on a property owner in as little as a month for non-payment of its assessments. “You can get yourself caught up in a credit payment plan that makes payday loans look good, if you aren’t careful,” said Janet Ahmad, president of Homeowners for Better Building. And if you’re wondering how the HOA is spending your assessments, you can now request a copy of the agency’s recordkeeping. But beware, even that may cost you in copying costs and employee hours to procure it. “This open records request is extremely lucrative for -- again -- the management companies,” added Ahmad.

Schertz homeowners getting big support
Some Fairhaven homeowners are getting big support in their efforts to get the builder to buy back their homes.About 30 homeowners met with members of the Homeowners for Better Building and state Representative John Kuempel Monday evening to discuss the foundation problems many say they are experiencing in the neighborhood.  The majority at the meeting said they were dealing with "major" problems, including foundation shifting, sinking and cracking, some of which appeared to be cracking horizontally through the slab, according to Janet Ahmad, president of HOBB.

Unhappy homeowners angry with home builder
An ongoing issue between homeowners and a home building company caused controversy Monday night. People in Cibolo's Fairhaven neighborhood say Pulte Homes built shoddy houses and are trying to ignore their responsibility to fix them... Dozens of people have reported problems with their homes in that subdivision. Some have dealt with them for six months, others for five years. A representative from Homeowners for Better Building, a non-profit advocate for homeowners, was in attendance to help the group organize to get results.

More cracks found in subdivision walls
Six of the 14 retaining walls in the upscale Heights of Crownridge development still lack permits and construction has been on hold for some residential lots since November. Two of the retaining walls are cracked, and one of those was deemed unsafe by an engineer and had to be lowered, according to documents on file with the city. That wall sits on the property's southeast corner and was not built to specification. It was designed by the same engineer and built by the same construction company as the failed Rivermist wall.

Quail Run developer goes bankrupt
Just 70 lots, but lots of headaches.  Residents also blame the county, saying it's holding them hostage... Quail Run's roads still have not gotten needed repairs nor passed inspection with Bexar County engineers, steps required before the county will accept the roads for maintenance. ... “At this point, he's still a viable developer with a presence in the community,” said County Engineer Renee Green. “The street issues in Quail Run came to light as part of a review in the spring of 2010, when the county identified 121 subdivisions in unincorporated areas whose streets and drains had been out of warranty for at least two years. ...  Green said county officials have not made a policy decision about how to deal with street problems...  Green said the county does not feel pressured to decide immediately how to deal with Quail Run's streets. “The streets are what they are,” Green said. “They're not going anywhere.”

Pulte faces new wall cracks in Schertz neighborhood
Builder Pulte Homes is facing homeowner complaints of shifting foundations and retaining wall cracks — again. This time, it's in the Fairhaven neighborhood just northeast of San Antonio. Homeowners say that dozens of homes in the neighborhood have had problems, everything from cracks in the walls to foundations that appear to be splitting horizontally. Some residents say they are noticing cracks starting in a retaining wall that runs along their backyards.  See Related Pulte Walls features *  Pulte-Centex A No Show At Meeting * KENS5 Sour Sout Construction Hills at Rivermist  * Poorly Built by Pulte

Rivermist neighborhoods mark one year since wall failure
Slumping hillside that forced evacuation was national news. Some are still in rentals.
A year ago Monday, police and firefighters swarmed a hilly, Northwest Side neighborhood issuing evacuation orders to the owners of 91 homes.  The images from Rivermist of huge fault lines opening in backyards, a crumbling retaining wall and air conditioning units tearing away from homes were so bizarre — at least outside of earthquake country — that the local news went national... the 27 most-affected homes remain empty and San Antonio and Bexar County have changed development codes to include retaining walls. ...Centex bought back 22 of the 27 homes

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