Don't stick taxpayers with subdivision costs
County officials say this is not an isolated case. County Engineer Renee Green told the Express-News there are more than 60 other developments outside the city limits with streets in disrepair that are not eligible for county maintenance because they never met Bexar specifications.

Developers Blamed For Bad Construction At Champions Manor
Bexar County residents have had to deal with sinkholes for years because developers have not been held accountable for fixing the bad roads they built. At Champions Manor, drivers have to dodge sinkholes that could tear the bottom out of their cars. The streets were built by the developer, but have not been maintained. "You live in a brand new subdivision and it looks like it's been here for 150 years," said homeowner Carolyn Brady.

Back from Iraq, Frisco soldier finds home sold by HOA
On dangerous missions in Iraq, Capt. Michael Clauer of Frisco was responsible for the lives of 130 soldiers. He had a lot on his mind. "You can't worry about what's going on at home," he said. "It's enough stress there the way it is." His wife, Mae Clauer, was under stress, too. She was alone and taking care of her family in a $300,000 home her parents had given her as a gift...Even after the HOA foreclosed and sold the home at auction, Mrs. Clauer didn't open the letters that said she had six months to get the home back, and that time lapsed, too.  By the time Capt. Clauer returned from the war, someone else owned their home after paying just $3,500.

Resident Sued By HOA Over $390
Hern said he was late on his association dues but objected to the added fees and decided to fight. Over the years, he said the attorney's fees kept adding up. "They were asking for a little over $25,000 in fees," he said. But a jury ruled in his favor, agreeing he should pay his HOA $900 and that the HOA attorney should get $700. The jury decided that the HOA engaged in unreasonable collection practices.

Homeowners on hook for roads
Ventura Heights' streets are among 77 miles of roadways located outside city limits that never have been accepted for maintenance by Bexar County.Developer Obra Homes neither built the streets in Ventura Heights to the county's specifications nor completed the needed fixes — steps required before Bexar County will take over maintenance.

Mortgages: Walking Away
It's estimated that one million Americans walked away from homes "underwater" or worth less than their mortgages even though they could afford the payments. Morley Safer reports on this trend, called strategic default, that threatens the economic recovery. West Foothill Drive has become a street of shattered dreams. "Amazingly, 16 out of the 44 houses on this street have foreclosed over the last year," Deaner told "60 Minutes" correspondent Morley Safer.

Homeowner association foreclosures skyrocketing
What’s worse is that Tony is not alone. The number of HOA's seizing homes for late payments is going through the roof. According to Bexar County foreclosure sales records, supplied by rexreport.com, the number of HOA foreclosures has jumped 78% in Bexar County, when you compare 2008 to 2009.  Lawyer Tom Newton is the man behind almost all of San Antonio's HOA foreclosures.  News 4 WOAI Trouble Shooter Brian Collister spoke with Newton back in 2007 when he foreclosed on a disabled couple’s home.

The Rivermist Story - AND THE WALLS CAME TUMBLING DOWN
See the Newest Feature - Pulte-Centex Big Secret - Sell a Unsafe Manmade Hill Without Telling 
See the Rivermist Community - See More Photos

Uphill battle: Homeowners sour about construction
On Wednesday, homeowners will be in Detroit dressed as lemons, because they are still sour about the way the company and the city has handled the wall collapse. Meantime the city is reviewing Centex's plans to repair the wall.  Protesters will be showing up at the company's annual shareholder meeting to accuse them of turning a blind eye and cutting corners on construction.

Bank ombud can’t help with complaints about building The Ombudsman for Banking Services (OBS) will not be able to help you with complaints against your bank about shoddy construction work when you build a home.  In 2005, complaints about mortgage bonds ranked highest on the list of files opened at the OBS (791 files or 19 percent of the total), Melville says.  So far this year, he says his office has opened 2,493 complaint files, of which 420 (or 17 percent) relate to mortgage bond finance.

Bailed out homebuilders collect fat paychecks
Horton sold just 16,703 homes in 2009. Since the depths of the downturn in 2007, the company has lost more than $3.9 billion and laid off 53 percent of its workers. But Horton has seen robust growth in one area: executive pay. The company's founder and chairman, D.R. Horton, made $17.6 million from 2007 to 2009, as his annual compensation jumped from $2 million to $7.6 million, according to Equilar, a research firm that specializes in pay.  While Wall Street bankers have received far more scrutiny -- and grief -- for their fat paychecks, homebuilder executives have been doing quite well for themselves. In 2007 and 2008, the CEOs of the 10 biggest U.S. homebuilders earned an average of about $6 million a year each in total compensation.

CATO Institute: Downsizing The Federal Government - Department of Housing and Urban Development
The Department of Housing and Urban Development engages in a range of housing and community activities that used to be the responsibility of local governments and the private sector. Its public housing subsidies, rental aid, and housing finance activities have proven to be damaging to the economy. The department's poor management and misguided policies have also led to numerous scandals..."[The Department of] Housing and Urban Development has done an enormous amount of harm. My god, if you think of the way in which they have destroyed parts of cities under the rubric of eliminating slums . . . there have been many more dwelling units torn down in the name of public housing than have been built."  - Milton Friedman, Interview, Hoover Institution, February 10, 1999.  Read CATO Institute HUD Scandals,  Who Is Guarding The HUD Guards?      Read more...

Calif. Assembly acts to protect hate-crime victims
The state Assembly approved a bill Thursday intended to protect victims of hate crimes... The bill would ban a practice that requires people to sign away their right to a legal challenge...  Victims of hate crimes should never be forced into arbitration simply because they signed an employment or residential contract with fine print that waives their right to seek justice in the courts," Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California, a nonprofit group that sponsored the bill, said in a statement.

Bob Perry bankrolls GOP governors group
Houston homebuilder Bob Perry leads all givers so far this year to the Republican Governors Association.  Gov. rick Perry (no relation) is finance chair of the GOP group. Rick Perry's reelection campaign. Last year, when Perry was chairman of the governor's group, Bob Perry escalated his giving to the RGA -- $2 million. Bob Perry made headlines recently when a jury awarded $58 million to a retirement-age Mansfield couple over a defective Perry-built home that the homebuilder has refused for a decade to fix.

Claims and counterclaims mar her dream house
"At every single level, not one person has done the right thing," Soccolich said. But Soccolich has no intention of retreating to New Jersey quietly.  She recently sent a letter to Judge Lee Haworth, who presides over the 12th Judicial Court, alleging that her arbitrator -- Sarasota attorney William G. Christopher -- prejudged her case in favor of the home builder and refused to let her attorney call a witness that was key to her counterclaim or review evidence showing the difference between the model home she thought she ordered and the house that was ultimately built..."The process of mandatory and binding arbitration may not give rise to fair and just dispute resolution," Hodges said. "The arbitrator's allegiances to the builder are overwhelming. He knows he will never see the owner again, but the builder might use his services many times."..."If he is so sure that this is the house I ordered, why wasn't he willing to sit down and prove it?" Soccolich said. "Why wasn't he willing to to show me why a 20-inch window would not fit in the house I ordered? Why wasn't he willing to explain that ours was the only house in the subdivision that did not have 10-foot ceilings?"