Sandra Bullock trial continues with builder's testimony |
Sunday, 19 September 2004 |
Sandra Bullock trial continues with builder's testimony Houston Chronicle, TX - Aug 25, 2004 ... foot, multi-million dollar Lake Austin mansion for movie star Sandra Bullock shifted into a ... the house needed $4 million in work to fix design defects after it ... |
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Sandra Bullock's Texas House Trial Begins |
Sunday, 19 September 2004 |
Sandra Bullock's Texas House Trial Begins People Magazine ... The characters are Sandra Bullock, her father John Bullock, Benny Daneshjou and a ... days â experts will come to testify that, among other defects, the framing ... |
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Actress takes stand in mansion lawsuit |
Sunday, 19 September 2004 |
Actress takes stand in mansion lawsuit San Antonio Express (AUSTIN â Sandra Bullock, the Hollywood star of ""Miss Congeniality,"" was anything but congenial ... done, about $4 million was needed to fix design defects in the ... |
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Update on Sandra Bullock's Days in Court |
Sunday, 19 September 2004 |
A $1.5 million price tag for a home by Hollywood standards is a modest sum; however, when that price tag soared to $6.5 million and the owner cannot live in the home, it becomes a nightmare and lawsuit. |
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Friday, 03 September 2004 |
Judge Wants Speedier Sandra Bullock Trial DEMANDED: Judge Paul Davis, presiding over the case of Sandra Bullock and Texas developer M.B. "Benny" Daneshjou, whom the actress claims dashed the hope of making her $1.5 million dream house a reality, on Thursday advised both sides to "speed the trial along," reports PEOPLE. |
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ATTENTION:Individuals who have the new home warranty HBW and feel they have been treated unfairly or |
Wednesday, 01 September 2004 |
ATTENTION:Individuals who have the new home warranty HBW and feel they have been treated unfairly or been adversely affected by an unfair arbitration, please read and respond: Background: Home Builders Warranty (HBW) has a history of selling new homebuilder warranties and declining 86% of all homeowner claims. There is wonderful news out of Washington â Public Citizen founded by Ralph Nader has been investigating HBW and its conflict of interest with Construction Arbitration Services (CAS) and is calling for investigations in 12 States. |
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Actress takes stand in mansion lawsuit |
Wednesday, 01 September 2004 |
Actress takes stand in mansion lawsuit Walter Mizell, one of Bullock's lawyers, has said that even after the construction was done, about $4 million was needed to fix design defects in the massive homeâ¦Originally contracted to build Bullock a 5,000-square-foot home for about $1.2 million, Daneshjou, who Bullock said was described to her as being ""the best architect in Austin, if not in Texas,"" ended up building a house double the size of the original plan. Bullock's attorneys say she paid the builder more than $6.5 million before halting further payment⦠|
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Looser lending leads to more foreclosures |
Saturday, 28 August 2004 |
Looser
lending leads to more foreclosures
Saturday, August 28,
By PAMELA YIP / The Dallas Morning News
""Over the last 10 to 12 years, underwriting guidelines have gotten much more
lax,"" said David Motley, an executive vice president at Colonial National Mortgage
in Fort Worth . "Today you can get a 100 percent loan on a purchase or a 106
percent loan on your purchase to cover the closing costs."
Critics say the looser standards contribute to high foreclosure rates nationwide
because owners with no equity in their homes find it easier to walk away from
mortgages if they get into financial difficulty â and can get approved for
another mortgage later.
Even with low mortgage rates, first-time buyers have strapped on so much
mortgage debt that ""roughly one-third now pay at least 30 percent of their
after-tax income on shelter, and half of the lowest-income households spend
at least 50 percent of their incomes on housing,"" according to a report published
this month by Merrill Lynch. |
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The Times – Mercer County |
Monday, 16 August 2004 |
The
Times â Mercer
County
Home builder probed
HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP - Under fire from local officials for unfinished work in
upscale neighborhoods he built here, developer Merrick Wilson's business practices
have landed him in hot water with the state as well.
The state Department of Community Affairs launched an investigation this month
into River Valley Heights Corp., a construction company believed to be headed
by the embattled builder. |
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Saturday, 14 August 2004 |
FRISCO ENTERPRISE - Frisco Top Stories Group aims to remodel city charter The largest single investment most people make in their lifetimes is the purchase of a new home. It is part of the American dream. For Dr. David and Carol Becka of Frisco, however, that dream turned into what they described as a nightmare as the new custom home they built in Starwood became a ""money pit"" of problems. They blame shoddy construction and plumbing problems for rendering their ""dream home"" uninhabitable, and appeared before the Frisco City Council last year to share their fears over what they said was black mold that grew in the damp environment caused by water leaks in the house that began shortly before they closed on the home in June 1998⦠|
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Saturday, 14 August 2004 |
Pepperell
Free Press
Pepperell mold victim going national to back mold bill, Davis
takes her story to Washington
By Don Eriksson
Friday, August 13, 2004
PEPPERELL -- Mold victim Nancy Davis will carry her story to Washington ,
D.C. , and tell it to legislators during Mold Awareness Week, Sept. 19-24,
as part of a national consortium that is drumming up support for a bill filed
by Michigan Congressman John Conyers Jr. that would establish federal mold
regulations. |
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Residential housing standards are in the works |
Friday, 13 August 2004 |
Residential housing standards are
in the works
Adolfo Pesquera
Express-News Business Writer
Skating between the public's skepticism and an industry increasingly sensitive
about its image, the Texas Residential Construction Commission rolled into
San Antonio late Wednesday to solicit comments on its draft for housing standardsâ¦
The existing draft is essentially a carbon copy of the limited warranties
that homeowners have found so troublesome over the past decade, said Janet
Ahmad, president of Homeowners for Better Building ⦠Despite Thomas' assurances,
Scott Emerson of Scott's Inspection Co. spoke for many in the audience when
he noted that the commission had a perception hurdle to overcome â eight of
its nine members earn their livelihood within the homebuilding industry. |
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Texas Commission - Perception of Impropriety |
Friday, 13 August 2004 |
Residential housing standards are in the works Skating between the public's skepticism and an industry increasingly sensitive about its image, the Texas Residential Construction Commission rolled into San Antonio late Wednesday to solicit comments on its draft for housing standards⦠The existing draft is essentially a carbon copy of the limited warranties that homeowners have found so troublesome over the past decade, said Janet Ahmad, president of Homeowners for Better Building⦠Despite Thomas' assurances, Scott Emerson of Scott's Inspection Co. spoke for many in the audience when he noted that the commission had a perception hurdle to overcome â eight of its nine members earn their livelihood within the homebuilding industry. |
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Consumer groups skeptical of new law |
Thursday, 12 August 2004 |
Consumer groups skeptical of new law
Industry-created legislation creates dispute resolution
By PURVA PATEL
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle
Texas builders received a little-noticed victory during last year's legislative session: the industry-drafted Texas Residential Construction Commission Act. ""Although it was touted as legislation that extends more homeowner protections with the creation of a commission to govern the industry, consumer advocates say the new law works more to protect builders than homeowners. Homeowners really don't have any rights at all,"" said Cheryl Turner, a consumer attorney in Dallas. |
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Crooked contractors leave clients in shambles |
Thursday, 12 August 2004 |
Crooked contractors
leave clients in shambles
'I feel like I have zero rights,' says a homeowner whose work
was left shoddy and unfinished
By PURVA PATEL
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle
â¢The state attorney general's office received about 750 complaints about contractors
in the last two years.
â¢The Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan Houston has received some 4,200 complaints
in the past three years.
â¢The Harris County district attorney office's consumer fraud division reports
receiving more complaints about contractors than any other profession since Tropical
Storm Allison struck the city in 2001. |
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