Buying a home? Think thrice!
Here's the latest from Texas, which shouldn't surprise anyone. The “great state” of Texas has a state “regulatory” agency called the Texas Residential Construction Commission,...it's of no surprise to me to learn that Texas builders, which, according to today's report on NPR have financed the elections of all but six of Texas' 188 “elected” legislators, are up in arms about an uppity legislator from a district north of Austin who has dared to propose new legislation to abolish this agency, just because the largest builder in his district is walking around (make that riding around in his armed limousine with tinted windows) with 37 felony indictments hanging over his head for building and selling high priced trash boxes disguised as houses. These charges, no doubt, are supposed to go away the usual way, with a little help from his friends: namely those other 182 legislators and their appointed judges. The whole purpose of the TRCC is, of course, to protect crooked homebuilders from being sued by their victims, and it has proven to be highly effective.

U.S. Lawmakers Seek Ban on Tainted Chinese Drywall
U.S. Sens. Bill Nelson, D.-Fla., and Mary Landrieu, D.-La., have filed legislation for a recall and immediate ban on tainted building products from China, as more and more people around the country are reporting problems in their homes built with imported drywall. The legislation presses the Consumer Product Safety Commission ( CPSC ) for a recall on Chinese-made drywall, based in part on findings by a Florida homebuilder and state officials who have confirmed the presence of sulfide gases in homes built with the drywall.

American Arbitration Association Data Revealed
The report (using AAA data) showed that consumers win some award about 50 percent of the time and receive about 50 percent of what they ask for; businesses win 80 percent of the time and get more than 90 percent of what they ask for.  Statistics based on consumer to business cases. Home construction defect cases were not analyzed separately.  Read more... http://www.searlearbitration.org/p/full_report.pdf

Kyle wins lawsuit brought by NAACP, homebuilders
City of Kyle officials can barely conceal their glee over a federal judge’s ruling this week that minimum lot sizes and building standards for single-family homes adopted in 2003 do not discriminate against minorities. In 2005, the Home Builders Association of Greater Austin, backed by the National Association of Home Builders, joined the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in arguing that Kyle’s revised subdivision ordinance pushed the average price of a starter home from $100,000 to $133,000, thereby disproportionately impacting prospective black and Latino homeowners.

Robert & Jane Cull Written Testimony Before The Texas House Subcommittee on TRCC
We followed the rules of the warranty, patiently notifying Perry in writing with each of our issues.  We trusted them.  We actually believed that they would do the right thing because we had been raised with those values...It is time for the legislature to act.  And that action has to be driven by the absolute reality that homeowners with limited knowledge and resources need protection from homebuilders, not the other way around.  Birthing the TRCC did nothing but give homebuilders a “gatekeeper” to control access and flow of complaints and otherwise frustrate Texas citizens into either withdrawing or never even trying to tackle the maze.  You need to come down hard and swiftly in order to minimize the possibility that other homeowners have to suffer the same fate that we have suffered.

Homeowners denounce Bob Perry-created housing agency
A succession of homeowner horror stories today at a House subcommittee considering legislation to abolish the state agency created at the behest of Houston homebuilder Bob Perry. Critics say the agency is designed to frustrate homeowners who have defective houses. They say the Texas Residential Construction Commmission is an expensive, time-consuming hurdle homeowners must jump before taking their disputes to arbitration or the courts.

Former California Homeowners Lash Out at Builder
Several former homeowners spoke here on Thursday about their disenchantment with the builder,  KB Home , at its annual shareholders’ meeting. The speakers said the company had pushed them into high-risk, high-interest loans for homes they could not afford and eventually lost to foreclosure.The company had a joint lending venture with Countrywide Financial — Countrywide KB — that issued roughly 70 percent of the loans originated for the builder...The protest on Thursday was the latest effort to draw attention to what critics say was KB’s role in the foreclosure crisis.

DR HORTON HOMES BAD FOR TEXAS, BAD FOR  THE COUNTRY
They are ignoring all warranty request from me and my neigbors...In August of 2008 we discovered mold growing above the cabinets in the kitchen. In order for mold to have grown to that extent, the leak had to have existed for some time...We could not get our warranty work started until after almost a year of being in our home...  State of Texas: 79% of DR Horton home complaints were found to have construction defects.  Read more...

The Journal of Light Construction (JLCOnline) Forum: Bob Perry Money, TRCC, Cull Case, Texas Supreme Court
Did any of you catch the news clip this morning on NPR radio regarding Bob Perry Homes? Chronicled how BP built a home for the Cull's and after just 6 weeks of living in the house foundation started to heave from the expansive soils.
Read and post comments.

A message from Janet Ahmad: Like never before your participation is so important; Hearings & Lobby Days

Critics: Texas Agency Favors Builders Over Buyers
Imagine hundreds of executives from BP, Shell and Exxon Mobil rallying on the steps of the Capitol in Washington to save the Environmental Protection Agency. That may be hard to picture, but recently in Texas, 1,000 homebuilders rallied at the state Capitol in an effort to save the agency that theoretically regulates them. Texas homebuilders are big fans of the job the Texas Residential Construction Commission has done since its inception five years ago. But after a backlash from homebuyers, who say the process is stacked in the builders' favor, state lawmakers are now considering whether to abolish it.  Out of 181 legislators, there are only six who don't take money from the Texas Association of Builders. So when the homebuilders come to Austin to lobby, the most powerful politicians in the state pay their respects. .."We're happy, you bet," says Ron Connally, a homebuilder and developer out of Amarillo who is also president of the Texas Association of Builders. "Court actions are way, way down because TRCC has taken care of a lot of those problems."  We heard from one reformer say that Texas is the worst state n the nation when it comes to protecting buyer of new homes.. Most investigators consider these states better than Texas because at least they don't give buyer an Illusion a regulatory agency

Did Builder's Clout Trap Couple In Dream Home?
Bob and Jane Cull bought the home of their dreams in Texas. It was built by one of the most powerful and politically connected homebuilders in the country — and it was defective. Thus began a 13-year odyssey that would teach them some unhappy lessons about money, power and influence....Seventy-six-year-old Bob Perry is one of Texas' most successful homebuilders. For the last two decades, he has used his $600 million fortune to fund the Republican revolution, both in Texas and nationally. He helped put George W. Bush into the White House. He was the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth's largest contributor. In Texas, if you hold a position of legislative, judicial or executive power, a Bob Perry donation is almost certainly in your campaign account. After he lost in arbitration to the Culls, the builder began appealing the award through the state courts. Perry's appeals were rejected at each stop until he got to the Texas Supreme Court. And there, he got satisfaction.

NPR to spotlight political moneyman Bob Perry
The battle has come to symbolize the disadvantage that an average homeowner faces in going up against a builder with deep pockets -- especially one as politically well-connected as Bob Perry. The Houston homebuilder is Gov. Rick Perry's (no relation) biggest campaign donor, and the governor was instrumental in creating the state agency that Perry wanted. The homebuilder has contributed money to much of the Legislature and to every member of the Texas Supreme Court, which ruled in his favor last year -- overturning the arbitration award and a string of court rulings and directing the Culls to start all over. Bob Perry spokesman Anthony Holm says the homebuilder is defending his legal rights.

The Watchdog: When it comes to the Texas Residential Construction Commission, follow the money
As always, you can follow the money behind efforts to promote the builder-friendly Texas Residential Construction Commission. As always, most of the money leads back to the largest individual donor in recent state history. Usually, such a big elephant would remain unmentioned in a legislative hearing, but on Monday,Rep. Chente Quintanilla, D-El Paso, brought it up — obliquely. He berated the construction commission: "It never became consumer-friendly." Then, after asking why, he mentioned "some builder who should not be named" and a "report about donations." Referring to the lawmakers’ overturning of the sunset staff report, he said: "All of a sudden, it changed overnight. Was the tail wagging the dog? Were they able to control what the commission was supposed to do?"

Homeowners troubled by builder liens
“We moved in January, and about two weeks later, we got our first claim to lien,” Renee Hoffman said. The lien was for work that Wilshire Homes should have paid for during construction.  The Hoffmans said the company told them it was an isolated incident. “They said all debt on the house was paid for, all vendors were paid,” James Hoffman said.