Some NC homeowners upset with builder's sale plans
The more than 20 residents in the subdivision put up "For Sale By Owner" signs in their yards earlier this month to protest the lower prices for newer homes. Albert Mealer says he and other homeowners are trying to protect the value of their homes.

U.S. Senate to hold hearings on Chinese drywall
The U.S. Senate is scheduled to hold its first hearing on the issue of tainted drywall, tied to extensive corrosion in hundreds of homes in Florida and elsewhere, and blamed by many homeowners for health problems. The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation formally announced Thursday morning that a hearing on tainted Chinese drywall will take place next week on Capitol Hill.

ENFORCEMENT PROCEEDINGS - SEC Charges Home Builder's Former Human Resources Executive with Stock Options Backdating
The SEC's complaint alleges that Ray used hindsight to pick advantageous grant dates for KB Home's annual stock option grants in order to enrich himself and others at KB Home. On many occasions, the grant dates coincided with dates of low monthly closing prices for the company's common stock.

Express-News: Foundation Failures...Why so many in Texas?
How is it that for over a century contractors have built skyscrapers and massive structures that span acres, and millions of homes that have withstood decades of rain and drought, yet Texas Homebuilders have such a dismal record when it comes to constructing foundations that properly support the walls, ceilings, and other superstructure components? Simply put, why are there so many houses in Texas with foundations that have failed or are otherwise in need of foundation repairs/stabilization? The favorite excuse that shoddy builders use when explaining away yet another failed foundation is 'Texas soils'. Somehow we are expected to believe that the soils in Texas occur nowhere else in the world. While quality homebuilders are busy building homes with solid, properly engineered foundations that will last for 100 or more years, shoddy builders are busy petitioning the Texas legislature to continue to allow them to build substandard houses.

Bennett’s drywall amendments fuel dispute
State Sen. Mike Bennett filed an amendment to three separate legislative bills that would have limited liability for contractors, subcontractors, suppliers or other installers in connection with defective drywall. But the Bradenton Republican withdrew the proposed amendments each time after homeowners protested to the bills’ sponsors, saying their residences are showing toxic effects of Chinese drywall, according to Michael Ryan, a Fort Lauderdale attorney who opposed the amendments. “Sen. Bennett proposed an amendment to an existing bill, he did it three times, and the amendment would have protected builders, developers, suppliers and installers from liability, while hurting homeowners that did nothing wrong,” Ryan said.

Minyanville: Subprime Lending is Back with a Vengeance
This is truly a shell game of the most amazing magnitude and we are simply continuing the practices that got us here. Because Americans are not savers and there are not enough marginal buyers we literally are turning renters into homeowners and they need to bring nothing to the table ... again. So they will have no problem walking away... again. This is the latest outrage via an excellent piece at Minyanville... that $8000 credit we were lauding as an incentive? Well it is no longer being used as it was intended to be... i.e. borrower comes to government with their 3% down and then gets the $8000 the following year.

House Pushes For Study Of Toxic Chinese Drywall
South Florida families dealing with toxic Chinese drywall in their homes may one day get help from the federal government. Last week the U.S House approved a measure that directs the secretaries of housing and treasury to launch a study on the impact the tainted drywall has had mortgages and property insurance for homeowners affected by this problem. Homeowners who have the tainted plasterboard in their homes say the material gives off fumes which not only makes them sick but also corrodes pipes, blackens jewelry and silverware, and leaves air conditioners ruined.

Chinese Drywall Legislation Passes House
According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, the U.S. imported roughly 309 million square feet of drywall from China during the housing boom from 2004 to 2007. The material reportedly emits sulfur fumes that produce a “rotten eggs” odor and cause metals, such as air conditioning coils, to corrode. The fumes have also been associated with respiratory and sinus problems in some residents. In some homes, the drywall problems have been so severe that families have had to move, and some builders have begun gutting and replacing drywall in the buildings.

KB Home, Countrywide Accused of Racketeering
Homeowners brought a federal racketeering lawsuit on Thursday against KB Home (KBH.N), the former Countrywide Financial Corp and appraiser LandSafe Inc, accusing the companies of operating a scheme to fraudulently inflate sales prices of KB homes in Arizona and Nevada. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Phoenix, claims the three companies colluded to overprice as many as 14,000 homes in the two states by an average of $20,000, for an estimated total of $2.8 billion between 2006 and the present. The plaintiffs seek class action status and triple damages...LandSafe appraisers "blatantly falsified" sales prices for comparable properties, using prices from homes as much as 10 miles away, and citing comparable properties that were in different planned communities, the suit said.

Legal fees stem from N.C. mortgage probe.Company reports 2Q loss of $114.8 million and 48% drop in home sales.
Atlanta-based Beazer Homes USA expects to pay more than $13 million in coming months for ongoing litigation, the company’s chief executive told investors in a conference call Friday...In 2006, Beazer was the nation’s seventh-biggest home builder, and shares traded for as much as $79. Since then, stock prices have plummeted, and the company has downsized after homeowner defaults in the Charlotte area came to light, triggering the current investigations.

Customers sue KB Home, allege rigged appraisals, inflated prices
Customers of KB Home are suing the homebuilder, claiming they paid more than their homes were worth because the company artificially inflated appraisals in cahoots with Countrywide Financial and its appraisers. Representatives of the plaintiffs allege that KB Home, Countrywide and LandSafe Appraisal Services conspired over a three-year period to sell 14,000 homes in Nevada and Arizona with rigged appraisals that overvalued the homes by tens of thousands of dollars.

House OKs Homebuilder Restrictions
It would require licensing of homebuilders, requiring regular continued education and would strengthen the inspection process..."This bill is a good patch job, but there is still a long way to go to ensure that homeowners are fully protected from shoddy homebuilders," said Alex Winslow, executive director of the watchdog group Texas Watch. Winslow praised the bill for giving homeowners a choice whether to enter the TRCC's inspection process or go to mediation; requiring new builders to face bonding and exams; and for making the dispute resolution process expedited and free for homeowners.

Cash and Carry Legislation
Any hope for a resolution to their dispute with United-Bilt Homes is directly linked to another homebuilder, however. Bob Perry, whose Houston-based Bob Perry Homes had gone to great lengths to avoid paying damages to other new home purchasers like the Hardys, willed the TRCC into existence in 2003 through the great influence he exerts over Texas politics by virtue of the fact he is the largest political contributor in state history. This explains, at least in part, why the TRCC - facing a mandatory review this session by the Sunset Commission - is not a likely candidate for elimination despite a litany of consumer complaints and harsh appraisals from elected officials in both parties.  "Bob Perry is the reason for many of the ills that plague homeowners and consumers in this state," said Winslow. "His money has allowed him unprecedented access to the legislature and to our courts and he has used that access to feather his own nest and make life a living hell for a lot of folks in Texas."

Poll: Americans Oppose Forced Arbitration, Demand Corporations Be Held Accountable
Washington, DC – Americans widely oppose corporations using mandatory binding arbitration clauses in the fine print of consumer and employment contracts, according to national polling of likely voters conducted by Lake Research Partners. Forced arbitration clauses are hidden in the fine print of everything from cell phone, home, credit card and retirement account terms of agreement to employment and nursing home contracts...Fair Arbitration Now Coalition, an organization of consumer and community groups released poll results last week showing most people have no idea they're giving up a constitutional right when they sign contracts containing an arbitration clause. When details of mandatory arbitration are made clear, 59% of Americans say they oppose the practice and would back legislation requiring that arbitration be voluntary, the poll found...companies win nearly 84% of cases they initiate. Six in 10 likely voters support the Arbitration Fairness Act – including majorities of Democrats, Republicans and Independents.
Read Report...

Sue the company? Most contracts force consumers to forfeit that right
Mandatory arbitration clauses have become a routine part of the fine print in most financial, telecom and employment contracts, as well as numerous other customer agreements...Consumer advocates, sensing a shift in the political winds under President Obama, believe the time is right to challenge mandatory arbitration and have banded together to support legislation ending the practice..."We have no problem with arbitration," said David Arkush of the watchdog group Public Citizen... He was speaking on behalf of the Fair Arbitration Now Coalition, an organization of consumer and community groups. The coalition released poll results last week showing most people have no idea they're giving up a constitutional right when they sign contracts containing an arbitration clause. When details of mandatory arbitration are made clear, 59% of Americans say they oppose the practice and would back legislation requiring that arbitration be voluntary, the poll found...companies win nearly 84% of cases they initiate.