Fake-bomb case from 2002 about to go to trial
Janet Ahmad of San Antonio, national president of HomeOwners for Better Building, is accused of calling 911 to report that a bomb had been found in the 7500 block of Cresswell Drive during a tour of the area in 2002... In a $1 million cleanup in 2004 and 2005, the Army Corps of Engineers removed more than 100 unexploded practice bombs buried near Matlock and Harris roads in south Arlington.The area was once the Five Points Outlying Field, used by Navy pilots for target practice during and after World War II. It is now occupied by more than 800 residents of the Southridge Hills subdivision and Twin Parks Estates mobile home park. Residents have sued KB Home because they said they were not told about the bombing range.  KB Home build on a bombing range? YES!: 20/20 Report

HOBB Press Release
A 65-year-old grandmother and long-time consumer advocate for better home construction practices goes on trial here Monday, January 7, on charges that she falsely called 911 and reported to police that a bomb was located in an Arlington, Texas KB Home residential development, previously used as a military practice bombing range in the 1940s and 1950s.  The charges were leveled against Janet Ahmad, president of HomeOwners for Better Building , a national consumer advocacy group dedicated to helping people with defectively built homes and well known critic of KB Home, and its long history of poor building practices.  KB Home build on a bombing range? YES!: 20/20 Report

More harassment from Texas
I know Janet Ahmad. She is a 66 year old, physician's wife and a real go getter. Very intelligent, articulate, and direct woman who has done much to assist buyers of shoddy new construction. I would find it VERY DIFFICULT to believe that Janet Ahmad would plant a fake bomb anywhere. Read more: TOXLAW.com

The rise and fall of Bruce Karatz
Certainly, he was among the most visible - there were the black-tie fund-raisers, the CNBC interviews, the pro bono favors for mayors and governors. And then, suddenly, it was over. The company's own investigation had implicated him in the backdating of stock options, and that was that. At this point, both the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating his actions at KB. There also are a bunch of shareholder law suits...Why on earth would he risk losing all that fame and fortune for the sake of a few more bucks?...He’s had a rocky personal life. Karatz’s first wife, Janet, filed for divorce in 1999 (KB stock options totaling $23 million helped cover the terms of the settlement), and soon after that he became involved with homemaking doyenne Sandra Lee, the host of Semi-Homemade on the Food Network. More than 20 years his junior, Lee was named KB’s “national lifestyle spokesperson” in 2001...

BIG BUILDER Magazine - Starts: Slip Sliding Values
As if getting houses sold wasn't a big enough challenge, builders in what were some of the fastest appreciating markets in the country are beginning to experience more challenges–falling appraisal values and greater loan scrutiny right before closings.  Appraisals became almost cursory. A computer records search for comparative prices and a drive-by to make sure there was a house on the lot often sufficed... First, the company is starting up mortgage and title businesses in conjunction with First American and Market Street Mortgage. The new services intend to provide customers with a more complete home buying experience while injecting the company with additional revenue streams...the company is pulling up the stakes in San Antonio after an arguably frustrating five-year run that produced roughly 225 homes.

David Weekly's illusion and the Truth of Binding Mandatory Arbitration
David Weekly has something to sell and it not just houses.  He and his lobbying team spin a fictitious tale of builder woes and the fabricated promotion that “more construction defect lawsuits are being filed than ever before.”  The fact is that builder contracts include a Binding Mandatory Arbitration (BMA) clause that slams the doors of  America ’s judicial system and denies new home buyers their constitutional right to ever sue their builder for shoddy construction. Bob Perry and David Weekly are the kingpins, of untold wealth and brains behind the deceitful builders 'Right or Opportunity to Repairr' and the Texas Residential Construction Commission (TRCC) that forces families to BMA, with the intent to limit all builder responsibility and cheat buyers. The following article by David Weekly is the great self-serving homebuilding industry illusion. See related article: Homebuilder's Right-To-Repair Illusion and Arbitration Fairness Act 2007

Congress reluctant to act on mortgage lending issues
As 2007 came to a close, Congress had done a lot of talking about cracking down on unfair and deceptive mortgage lending practices, but didn't deliver on any major legislation. Although there's some consensus that tighter regulations or new laws governing lenders are needed, some lawmakers have been reluctant to impose restrictions that might worsen the credit crunch and the housing downturn. In the meantime, the Federal Reserve has proposed strengthening its implementation of the Truth in Lending Act, through new regulations that would require subprime lenders to verify a borrower's ability to repay a loan after a payment reset; document income and assets; and establish escrow accounts for taxes and insurance for a minimum of one year.

Martha's Market Suffers Growing Pains
Since I recommended buying puts on Martha Stewart Living (MSO) last month, shares have tumbled more than 5% as the broader market has rallied. Then came word that the company would shutter its Blueprint magazine... Like nearly every other effort MSO has made to expand its reach (The Apprentice, KB Homes (KBH), K-Mart), Blueprint was a disappointment. Every attempt to expand her brand to other demographics has flopped, and she has been replaced as the “it” homemaker by Rachael Ray. I have no doubt that MSO can profitably milk its loyalists for steady revenue during the next few years before its 66-year-old namesake decides to retire to the tropics.  See related articles: Martha Picks Bad Business Partner In KB Home and KB Home Stock Down - Can Martha Stewart Help?

The Ten Best Public Policies of 2007
The Arbitration Fairness Act, proposed this year in the United States Senate by Senator Russell Feingold (D-WI), protects against clandestine decision-making and corporate favoritism by invalidating pre-dispute BMA "agreements" between parties of unequal bargaining power. For safeguarding the right to trial by jury, where a body of law protects the rights of producer, consumer, employer, and employee alike, the AFA is one of the best policies of 2007.

America's Housing Troubles Won't End with 2007
"The bottom has nowhere near been reached," said William Wheaton, an economist with MIT's Center for Real Estate. Wheaton said there was a great deal of overbuilding, driven in part by speculators. The result, he said, is that there are now more than 1 million extra homes sitting on the market. That's even after home-building had been cut by 50 percent and massive layoffs. Economy.com says when it's all added up, there will be 750,000 foreclosures in 2007. Looking forward, he said, "I think we're in store for at least a million lost properties in '08." "The average household size is a couple [to] three people," Zandi said, "so you're talking 3 million people actually lose their homes."

When a short sale isn't a short sale
What is there to gain by marketing a property as a short sale that isn't a short sale? Serious buyers are a rare breed in some market areas these days, and many of them are looking for bargains. Short sales can in some cases sell for a lower amount than comparable properties that are not similarly distressed, as there is urgency by sellers to get out from under the properties and by lenders that wish to avoid costs associated with foreclosure.

How arbitration steals your day in court
If I told you there was a courtroom in America where consumers lose lawsuits to businesses 94 percent of the time, and there is no chance to appeal, you'd probably never want to go there.While you may have never heard of binding mandatory arbitration, it is part of nearly every significant transaction you engage in now. It's also become a controversial battleground over consumer protection in America, and on Thursday Congress held hearings debating legislation that would largely nullify many arbitration agreements. Binding mandatory arbitration clauses crept into consumer contracts during the late 1990s and are now standard practice. They arrived in the name of efficiency and tort reform... Public Citizen found one arbitrator had ruled 1,292 times during the span -- and only 21 times for the consumer. On one particularly busy day, he ruled on 68 cases -- all in favor of companies.

Controversy surrounding Mirasol homes continues
Controversy continues for the very unhappy people living in the Mirasol Homes. They now want Gordon Hartman out as chairman. They’re upset that he allegedly told the SAHA and city leaders last week that everything was going well for the homeowner…Henry Rodriguez who was on the Task Force says, these people continue to suffer and I don’t see the end of it.  See News 5 Video Report

Developer of 3 Burned Homes Missing
The developer of three houses that were destroyed over the weekend by fires authorities have called suspicious has not been seen in recent days.State Bureau of Investigation agents said in a search warrant that fires at three houses on Rivercliff Road were intentionally set early Saturday. Two homes were next to each other on a cul-de-sac overlooking the Cape Fear River, while the third was down the street.