Charleston attorneys urge individual Sun City stucco lawsuits
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.

Review of county inspectors progresses slowly
County administrator Gary Kubic hired the firm in October to review the building codes department after learning that county inspectors had failed to spot faulty trusses in the roofs of more than 2,000 Sun City Hilton Head homes.

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... The case worked its way up to the Supreme Court, which ruled against Smith. The court said that since Breedlove was not a professional and had not planned to sell the house, he has no obligation to honor a warranty on the home. Breedlove had never previously been employed in the construction industry nor done business as a general contractor, the documents said.

Letters to the Editor: Reaction to 'flawed homes'
It has been nearly six long years since "Bob the Builder" Perry and his builder friends bought, built and now operate the Texas Residential Construction Commission (TRCC). The state agency offers no help for aggrieved homebuyers; instead, its process forces homeowners into costly protracted legal disputes ending in abusive, binding mandatory arbitration that most cannot afford.  There is far too much blame to go around. It is our obligation as victims to fight for our basic rights that the building industry has systematically taken from us. No one group or group of organizations can possibly stop this madness, which will continue to devastate families unless more become actively involved. See: YouTube Video on Tremont Towers

Families' costs mount, but state, builder give scant help, files show
For years, neighbors in a stylish Montrose cul-de-sac named Hyde Park Crescent fought to get something out of the developer they claim failed to fix faulty windows, water-soaked balconies and defective roofs that spawned leaks, mold and rot in their nearly new $350,000 homes. Families alleged in a lawsuit that they were sold flawed town homes and then stuck with thousands of dollars in repair bills. They also contended that the men behind the company committed a kind of corporate identity fraud to avoid responsibility and keep right on building on other fertile ground in construction-friendly Houston... Texas laws offer minimal recourse for homeowners, and their complaints often drag on for years with disappointing results, advocates say. Some owners lose money fixing their homes or lose their homes because they can't afford to fix them. See Houston Chronicle Readers Comments Plus: See: You Tube Video on Tremont Towers

Home builders group spent $3.2M lobbying
So far this year, the builders group has been especially active in pushing for legislation designed to jump-start the lethargic housing market. It favors an emergency tax break that would let companies use losses from this year and next year to offset profits earned over the previous four years, instead of the usual two-year timeframe and a tax credit of $7,500 for first-time home buyers, estimated to cost $3.8 billion over 10 years...Earlier this year, the builders were so distressed by what they saw as lawmakers' lack of attention to the housing market in an economic stimulus bill signed by President Bush in February that the trade group's political action committee halted contributions to congressional candidates' campaigns.

Foreclosure Act Does Squat for Homeowners
Representatives from numerous organizations assembled this week at a press conference in Washington, D.C., to call upon the House of Representatives to fix the legislation, which includes billions in taxpayer-funded breaks to homebuilders and financial-services companies...Critics of the legislation say the measure doesn't do enough to help individuals and families who are now suffering the consequences of a stalled economy. Instead, it aids the homebuilding and financial-services industries, who are in dire straits because of their own actions.

N. Idaho woman with sinking home sues builder
The owner of a slowly collapsing northern Idaho house built over landfill that includes decaying animal bones, tree stumps and other trash has filed a lawsuit against the builder, who in turn has filed a suit against the company that sold the land. "I want to be paid back everything it's costing me to get this house into livable condition," Margaret Cultice, the homeowner, told the Coeur d'Alene Press. "Dealing with all this is a nightmare."

SAHA takes no action on Mirasol settlement
The San Antonio Housing Authority's board of commissioners postponed a decision Tuesday on whether to accept a settlement offer from KB Home, which would have ended a year-old lawsuit over the agency's troubled Mirasol Homes development...SAHA has budgeted $4 million to repair 246 homes and expects to spend roughly $3.5 million on a buyback program that allows Mirasol homeowners to sell their houses to SAHA and retain their first-time homebuyer status...Homeowners and tenants still attend SAHA board meetings to complain about the quality of repairs in their houses.

Lennar CEO Miller Forfeits $9.95 Million Stock and Options for Homebuilder's Money-Losing 2007 
Lennar Corp.'s chief executive could have earned more than $11 million in compensation in 2007 but forfeited $9.95 million of it because the homebuilder failed to meet financial goals amid the troubled housing market, an Associated Press analysis of company filings showed. Stuart Miller received $1 million in salary and $130,397 in other compensation that included $96,000 in dividends, $26,547 in car lease payments, a $6,750 matching payment for his 401(k) and $1,100 in life and disability insurance, according to the company's proxy statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

No help for 70% of subprime borrowers
Seven out of 10 seriously delinquent subprime mortgage borrowers are still not getting the help they need to keep their homes, according to a report released Tuesday by state officials working to stem the foreclosure crisis...More than 1 million of those loans, or nearly 25% of the total, were delinquent as of Jan. 31. And foreclosure proceedings have begun on 300,000 of them - an 8% increase since October.

Hutto clay leaves some homes needing repairs
City officials say the problems, which might affect all 787 homes in the HuttoParke neighborhood and several homes in Legends of Hutto, are not serious structural issues. But they have spurred the City Council to consider a more stringent building code. The clay expands and contracts with moisture. If foundations are not designed to handle that movement, the stress can cause cracks, popped nails and separation between walls and ceiling trusses.

 Mirasol Families call on KB
LULAC’s Henry Rodriguez and HOBB support Mirasol families exercising their civil rights...Therefore, the entire world needs to know what is happening here… It’s a mess. It’s much more cost effective to raze them, tear them down and build them right.  Stop trying to patch them up with caulking, said Rodriguez.  See You Tube video. 

Mirasol Homes' American dream still nightmare
In one of San Antonio's most troubled public housing developments, Raquel Martinez is watching her dream slowly fade away. For years, homeowners and tenants have endured life in houses that some say were built to last less than a decade. And there's a growing sense in the neighborhood that Mirasol is a problem that never will be solved. At the same time, residents' fervor for the fight is waning. What's clear is that the board, led by Ramiro Cavazos, is saying all the right things, at least for those who matter to the commissioners — Mirasol residents. His unabashed opinions of the workmanship by KB Home, the project's builder, resonate with them. "The problems probably are worse than even what's been described about the quality of the homes that were constructed," Cavazos said. "I was shocked at how poorly constructed the homes were."

1,000 homeowners taking legal action
Owners of about 1,000 homes in Sun City Grand, one of Surprise's most affluent retirement communities, are seeking legal action against developer Pulte Homes to correct alleged construction defects. The sheer number of participants puts this among the largest such complaints in Arizona history, building experts say. "The homeowners relied on Del Webb and the promises they would use quality-control measures in connection with the construction, and they're terribly disappointed," said attorney Ken Kasdan."What they see is Del Webb walking away from responsibility in the community."