Countrywide, KB Home Venture Sued by Fired VP
According to a complaint filed this month in U.S. district court in Houston, the former executive Mark Zachary alleged that Countrywide KB Home Loans approved unqualified borrowers for loans so that KB Home could build more homes.  According to the complaint, Zachary questioned Countrywide's practice of using for KB Home just one appraiser whom was "strongly encouraged" to inflate appraised values by up to 6 percent because "that was the way KB Home wanted it." He also questioned what he called Countrywide's practice of converting loan applications that required full documentation into "stated income" or "no income, no assets" applications, saying loan officers would sometimes help borrowers submit applications with false income amounts, the complaint said.

Crime Increase In Gated Community Prompts Residents To Leave
Many residents living in a gated community in Osceola County have gotten so frustrated with the lack of security, that they are leaving. Members of the gated Amber Point community said their neighborhood was not really gated at all. They said the entrances have been left open around the clock, and crime has coming into their neighborhood.

Texas Supreme Court questions stir call for new selection process
In the coming weeks, justices on the Texas Supreme Court will decide whether a prominent Houston homebuilder should pay a couple nearly a million dollars after an arbiter ruled their new home was defective. See Video Report

FBI investigating 14 companies for mortgage fraud
Complaints about potential mortgage fraud are up during the subprime mortgage crisis, and the FBI has opened criminal investigations of 14 companies related to subprime mortgage loans, the agency said Tuesday. Neil Power, chief of the FBI economic crimes unit, attributed the increase "to good old-fashioned greed." "On insider trading, we're looking in some cases at whether executives were aware that the value of their holdings would be going down and the executives traded on that information," said Power.

Tousa, Florida Homebuilder, Files for Bankruptcy (Update7)
Tousa Inc., the homebuilder that lost 98 percent of its market value in the past year, sought bankruptcy protection as the Florida housing market's decline deepened. The company, based in Hollywood, Florida, listed assets of $2.3 billion and debt of $1.8 billion in a Chapter 11 petition filed today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. There were 37 affiliates that also filed today.

New York Times: Built Like Todays Houses
See Cartoon by Tom Toles

Senate Consumer Protection & Housing Commitee
Listen to the homebuilding industry whine and moan over bill to protect homebuyers. Chairman Senator Brian Weinstein has heated exchange. This will be a hot issue to watch. See Public Hearing...

Steve Kroft Reports How The Mortgage Meltdown Is Shaking Markets Worldwide
It was another nervous week for the world's financial markets and for Wall Street. In the last six months, Americans have seen their investments shrink, their property values plummet, and the country edge closer towards a recession. At the heart of the problem is something called the subprime mortgage crisis, which began last summer and continues to ricochet through the economy...Developers started turning asparagus fields into subdivisions, and lenders handed out free money to anyone who wanted to buy. "What do you mean by free money?" Kroft asks Jim Grant, the editor of "Grant's Interest Rate Observer" and one the country's foremost experts on credit markets. "I mean free money. I mean you had to apply not to get a loan, almost. Sometimes you have to apply to get a loan, you almost had to apply not to get one," Grant says.

Katrina Housing Funds Go To Port Instead
The federal government on Friday approved Mississippi's plan to divert $600 million in hurricane housing funds to a port improvement project, angering critics who say tens of thousands of people made homeless by Hurricane Katrina still need help. In his letter to Gov. Haley Barbour, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson said that although he's concerned about using the housing money for the port project, congressional language associated with the use of block grant funds "allows me little discretion."  "I'm sure that you share my concern that there may still be significant unmet needs for affordable housing, and I strongly encourage you to prioritize Gulf Coast housing as you move forward," Jackson wrote.

Developers arrested on corruption charges
Their arrests will likely trigger political shockwaves through town. Before this morning, Schatte had a long list of close friends in Houston government, from city hall to the commissioners court to the Houston Firefighters Pension Fund. Three years ago, Schattes' name first surfaced in a Justice Department investigation. Houston's former building director, Monique McGilbra, and Mayor Brown's former chief of staff, Oliver Spellman, were snared in that bribery case, but at the time, Schatte escaped indictments.

Developers arrested on corruption charges
It was just before 9am today when FBI agents arrived with their corruption catch at Houston's federal building. Two of the city's most politically powerful developers, Andrew Schatte and Michael Surface, were arrested on public corruption charges. Details of the indictments are still sealed at this hour. Their arrests will likely trigger political shockwaves through town. Before this morning, Schatte had a long list of close friends in Houston government, from city hall to the commissioners court to the Houston Firefighters Pension Fund.

Washington needs a Homeowner's Bill of Rights: Testimony on SB 6385
For the record, my name is Rick Hegdahl. I’m the Outreach & Advocacy Director for the Northwest Progressive Institute, a regional netroots strategy center working to advance the common good through ideas and action. I also run a home remodel and repair business in Bellevue, Washington, where I live – Viking Construction – so I have firsthand experience with this issue.  I’m pleased to be here today to voice NPI’s support for SB 6385.

Legislature proposes bills to protect consumers
State lawmakers want to regulate lead and toxic chemicals in children's products, create a bill of rights for airline passengers and allow homeowners to sue for shoddy home construction. Two weeks into the session, legislators have rolled out more than a dozen bills aimed at protecting customers after last year's product fiascos, including lead found in millions of toys, the subprime lending debacle and airline passengers stranded for hours on the tarmac without adequate food or water.

If Everyone’s Finger-Pointing, Who’s to Blame?
A wave of lawsuits is beginning to wash over the troubled mortgage market and the rest of the financial world. Homeowners are suing mortgage lenders. Mortgage lenders are suing Wall Street banks. Wall Street banks are suing loan specialists. And investors are suing everyone...Some of the loans have defaulted, and a trustee’s report on the pool of loans packaged and underwritten by UBS, the Swiss investment bank, shows that losses on some defaulted mortgages are as high as 100 percent. As of November, about 27 percent of the loans in the pool were either delinquent 60 days or more, in foreclosure or had resulted in a repossessed home.

KB Home Buys Back Bombing Range Home Despite Attempt to Bribe Owner 
Thea King-Lewis has maintained that KB Home in 2002 attempted to bribe her to give false statements to the Arlington Police Department and testimony against Janet Ahmad, President of HomeOwners for Better Building.  To this day she has refused. In March 2002 Thea King-Lewis refused on two occasions to sign false statements prepared by Victor Toledo, attorney and Vice President of Legal Affairs for KB Home in exchange for financial consideration.  Eventually, in December 2003 KB Home bought the Lewis home back however, the day before, she submitted the following Sworn Affidavit to the Tarrant County District Attorney regarding the attempts by KB Home's Victor Toledo to bribe her.  Read more: KB Attempts to Bribe Woman - Inman Report:  KB Community of Bomb & Attempt to Bribe  See Video: WFAA's Bryan Harris Investigates KB Home & Bombs