Florida’s High-Speed Answer to a Foreclosure Mess
April Charney, a lawyer who represents imperiled borrowers at Jacksonville Area Legal Aid. “You get a five-minute hearing. It’s a factory.” ...Doctored or dubious records presented in court as proof of a bank’s ownership have become such a problem that Bill McCollum, the Florida attorney general, announced last month that his office was investigating the state’s three largest foreclosure law firms representing lenders. “Thousands of final judgments of foreclosure against Florida homeowners may have been the result of the allegedly improper actions of these law firms,” said Mr. McCollum in an interview. “We’ve had so many complaints that I am confident there is a great deal of fraud here.” ...Chip Parker,...“The threshold issue in any foreclosure case is who has the right to foreclose. We presented evidence to the judge that Fannie Mae owns the note and mortgage, and yet the judge ignored this crucial evidence.” Mr. Parker is concerned that some homeowners are victimized by the system. “What we are talking about is railroading homeowners through the rocket docket,” he added.

Former Beazer Homes executive indicted
A former chief accounting officer for Beazer Homes USA Inc. was charged in a 11-count federal indictment with conspiracy, securities fraud, obstruction, witness tampering, false statements to a financial institution, misleading conduct, and destruction of records... In July 2009, a federal bill of information was filed in U.S. District Court charging Beazer with, among other things, participation in the conspiracy and securities fraud with Rand. Beazer accepted responsibility for those charges and, in a deferred prosecution agreement, agreed to pay restitution over time up to $50,000,000.

Statesman Watch update: Homebuilder obtaining occupancy certificates for East Austin homes
Girija Shanmugam now has a piece of paper called a certificate of occupancy that the city requires for her and her husband to legally live in their Woodland Hills home. Their builder, Centex Homes, had earlier failed to complete the city's permitting process that requires a home pass final inspection.  Centex also learned that 39 of the other 170 homes in Woodland Hills also lacked certificates of occupancy. Centex has built 580 homes in the area east of U.S. 183 near FM 969.  Leon Barba, a City of Austin building official, said the company has completed the necessary paperwork for 25 of the homes and is working on the other 14.  Related article: Couple's home, built on former pond

Arizona Attorney General settles with Pulte on consumer protection violations
Attorney General Terry Goddard has announced a $1,181,400 settlement with Pulte Home Corporation and Pulte Mortgage LLC, resolving the State’s investigation into allegations that Pulte’s pre-qualification practices, earnest money deposit policies and Spanish-language marketing efforts violated Arizona’s consumer protection law. The settlement, in which no admission of fault or finding of liability is made, will be submitted to the Maricopa County Superior Court for final approval...homebuilders and lenders have a legal obligation to provide their customers with complete and accurate information. I commend Pulte’s commitment to amend its practices and bring more transparency into buying and financing a Pulte home.”

KB Home Sucks Live Radio - KB Home Toxic Black Mold Cover-up? KB Home Sucks Live Radio Date / Time: 8/26/2010 9:00 PM PDT Category: Current Events Call-in Number: (347) 637-3050 Mold, is it growing in your KB Home right now? 

Lowe's Drywall Settlement Called Unfair
It's a common argument against class action lawsuits: aggrieved consumers get little more than token compensation, while the lawyers walk off with all the money. That concern is being raised anew with a recently-proposed settlement involving drywall sold at Lowe's. The suit, filed in Georgia state court, concerns some of the defective Chinese drywall sold by the home improvement chain.The settlement totals $6.5 million, $2.1 million of which would go to the plaintiffs' attorneys. Meanwhile, class members are set to receive gift cards in varying amounts -- $50, $250, or $2,000 -- depending on how much money they can prove that they lost, according to ProPublica. Those who can prove damages greater than $2,000 are also eligible to receive as much as $2,500 in cash.

Government zeroes in on home developer fees
The Federal Housing Finance Agency said Thursday it's zeroing in on the practice after meeting with a coalition of real estate agents, title companies and consumer advocates that opposes it. Developers are able to collect the fees because they include “private transfer fee covenants” in their sales contracts. Under the covenant, the buyer agrees to pay the developer or an outside investor up to 3 percent of the future sales price when they end up selling the home. And for 99 years, any subsequent buyer is subject to pay the fee when they sell. Private transfer fee covenants are illegal in 18 states, but not in Texas. Related article: Home sellers beware: Fee might be hidden

Arbitration Strikes Again: Used Cars
Perz signed the dealer's arbitration agreement, meaning that despite hiring a lawyer his case would never reach a judge. Despite being advertised as faster than litigation, after three years his case is still in arbitration. Now he's up against an arbitrator whose record against consumers is abysmal.  Related articles: Support The Arbitrattion Fairness Act HR 1020

Brian Causey part of loan scheme to sell Columbus County mobile homes
Brian Causey, who worked for Wachovia bank in Wilmington, along with Mayo, Fluharty and Ford falsified information such as employment history, income, assets and credit letters to underwrite loans between 1998 to sometime in the 2000s, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office and federal court documents...  All told, 60 loans were issued with lenders losing more than $3.5 million, according to the complaint. Additionally, all but one of the loans was foreclosed on.  Later on, in early 2000, Rooks, Williams and others started buying up the foreclosed properties and flipping – or reselling them quickly – for inflated prices.

HOA Foreclosures; Necessary Tool or Extortion Racket?
It was no accident that the two examples of HOA foreclosures cited at the beginning of this article occurred in Texas.  Without a doubt, Texas has become the epicenter for HOA foreclosures.  Part of the reason is the tremendous population growth of the state since 1980, second only to Florida.  This surge in population led to enormous homebuilding and nearly all of these homes were in subdivisions with homeowner associations that all owners were compelled to join.  Today, there are roughly 30,000 HOAs in Texas. If Texas is the epicenter of the HOA foreclosure debacle, Houston and Harris County where it is located is ground zero.  A website founded by Beanie Adolph nearly ten years ago and whose database research is done by volunteers  has researched what has been occurring in the Houston metro area.  The following chart, posted on its website, reveals its findings.

Widely used arbitration quietly closes doors of protest for consumers
 Most consumer contracts include clauses that require you to take any disputes with the auto dealership, phone company or retailer to an arbitrator — one chosen by the business. You can't take the business to court. You might not even be able to take part in a class action lawsuit with others who have similar complaints. And the arbitrator's decision — with no explanation — is generally final.Consumers often aren't aware of this because the clauses are buried in the fine print of contracts. And even those who know what to look for say it's almost impossible to avoid arbitration mandates when signing up for a product or service.

Homeowners get help
Ventura Heights' road woes sparked the countywide survey that was outlined at Commissioner's Court on Tuesday. Residents of the neighborhood, in an unincorporated area near Converse, implored officials — again — to remedy their plight. Officials offered several long-term options. One plan would have the budget-strapped county assume responsibility for Ventura Heights' roads, making all taxpayers responsible for maintenance. In other scenarios, a special district could be formed where a road maintenance tax would be imposed for 30 years; or residents could be required to pay a share of the upkeep. In May, the county estimated it would cost $1.3 million to bring Ventura Heights' streets into compliance at a cost of $7,731.84 for each of the 170 homes.

Pothole problem turns into Ventura Heights blame game
"From the beginning it's been, the homeowners, 'You pay, you pay, and you pay.' There is nothing new. There is no change in that. And what upsets us the most is that somebody dropped the ball. The ball was dropped at county, and we are being blamed for it," says resident Kent Butler.  Residents in the neighborhood say the dispute has turned into one big blame game.

Petition to end HOA foreclosures in Texas
Texas is one of the worst ranking states, with among the highest record for HOA foreclosures.  Texas is also one of the fastest foreclosure states with only a 180 day redemption period.

Bexar County targets neighborhoods with street problems
Green says her staff started compiling the long list of neighborhoods with street deficiencies three months ago. Of the 121 communities, 48 subdivisions are in Bexar County Precinct 1, 16 subdivisions are in Precinct 2, 27 neighborhoods are in Precinct 3 and Precinct 4 had 30 subdivisions on the list...