Residents: Pulte built homes on unstable foundation
A group of homeowners in Schertz say they are fed up with Pulte Homes and want their homes bought back by the company. Residents in the Fairhaven neighborhood claim Pulte built shoddy homes on unstable foundation. At least two dozen people showed up to a meeting on Monday night held by the non profit group HomeOwners For Better Building. The goal was to make sure everyone is on the same page when it comes to a letter homeowners plan on sending to Pulte Homes.

Pulte Homes homeowners meet to decide what's next
Residents in the Fairhaven neighborhood in Schertz say their homes are crumbling because of shoddy construction done by Pulte Homes.

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Homeowners meet to write "buy back" letters
Schertz--Some homeowners in the Fairhaven subdivision in Schertz want their builder to buy back their homes. They met on Monday night to finalize their plans on writing "Buy Back" letters. The homeowners want Pulte Homes to buy back their homes after problems that include cracks in foundations, cracked walls, and sticking doors and windows. Pulte Homes did not want to comment, but in the past a spokesperson told News 4 WOAI that the company has a 20 year history of standing behind their homes and that they're working with homeowners to resolve warranty related issues. ...Only 12 Rivermist Certificates of Occupancies Reissed after 2 years.  View Video Report on Fairhaven and Rivermist 2 Years Later

New laws affect HOAs and homeowners starting Jan. 1
In years past in Texas, HOAs could foreclose on a property owner in as little as a month for non-payment of its assessments. “You can get yourself caught up in a credit payment plan that makes payday loans look good, if you aren’t careful,” said Janet Ahmad, president of Homeowners for Better Building. And if you’re wondering how the HOA is spending your assessments, you can now request a copy of the agency’s recordkeeping. But beware, even that may cost you in copying costs and employee hours to procure it. “This open records request is extremely lucrative for -- again -- the management companies,” added Ahmad.

Schertz homeowners getting big support
Some Fairhaven homeowners are getting big support in their efforts to get the builder to buy back their homes.About 30 homeowners met with members of the Homeowners for Better Building and state Representative John Kuempel Monday evening to discuss the foundation problems many say they are experiencing in the neighborhood.  The majority at the meeting said they were dealing with "major" problems, including foundation shifting, sinking and cracking, some of which appeared to be cracking horizontally through the slab, according to Janet Ahmad, president of HOBB.

Unhappy homeowners angry with home builder
An ongoing issue between homeowners and a home building company caused controversy Monday night. People in Cibolo's Fairhaven neighborhood say Pulte Homes built shoddy houses and are trying to ignore their responsibility to fix them... Dozens of people have reported problems with their homes in that subdivision. Some have dealt with them for six months, others for five years. A representative from Homeowners for Better Building, a non-profit advocate for homeowners, was in attendance to help the group organize to get results.

Quail Run developer goes bankrupt
Just 70 lots, but lots of headaches.  Residents also blame the county, saying it's holding them hostage... Quail Run's roads still have not gotten needed repairs nor passed inspection with Bexar County engineers, steps required before the county will accept the roads for maintenance. ... “At this point, he's still a viable developer with a presence in the community,” said County Engineer Renee Green. “The street issues in Quail Run came to light as part of a review in the spring of 2010, when the county identified 121 subdivisions in unincorporated areas whose streets and drains had been out of warranty for at least two years. ...  Green said county officials have not made a policy decision about how to deal with street problems...  Green said the county does not feel pressured to decide immediately how to deal with Quail Run's streets. “The streets are what they are,” Green said. “They're not going anywhere.”

Pulte faces new wall cracks in Schertz neighborhood
Builder Pulte Homes is facing homeowner complaints of shifting foundations and retaining wall cracks — again. This time, it's in the Fairhaven neighborhood just northeast of San Antonio. Homeowners say that dozens of homes in the neighborhood have had problems, everything from cracks in the walls to foundations that appear to be splitting horizontally. Some residents say they are noticing cracks starting in a retaining wall that runs along their backyards.  See Related Pulte Walls features *  Pulte-Centex A No Show At Meeting * KENS5 Sour Sout Construction Hills at Rivermist  * Poorly Built by Pulte

Rivermist neighborhoods mark one year since wall failure
Slumping hillside that forced evacuation was national news. Some are still in rentals.
A year ago Monday, police and firefighters swarmed a hilly, Northwest Side neighborhood issuing evacuation orders to the owners of 91 homes.  The images from Rivermist of huge fault lines opening in backyards, a crumbling retaining wall and air conditioning units tearing away from homes were so bizarre — at least outside of earthquake country — that the local news went national... the 27 most-affected homes remain empty and San Antonio and Bexar County have changed development codes to include retaining walls. ...Centex bought back 22 of the 27 homes

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Centex wrong about wall threat
The day after a towering retaining wall collapsed in a Northwest Side neighborhood, officials with Centex Homes told anxious residents that the San Antonio Fire Department was leaving the neighborhood because the danger had ended. The San Antonio Express-News received a video of the entire private meeting on Jan. 25 at a Drury Inn & Suites between Centex and residents of Rivermist and The Hills of Rivermist, filmed by an attendee. It shows Centex Homes’ Trey Marsh telling scores of families, “They don’t feel like there’s a threat anymore based on the work that we’ve done since this whole deal started.”  Pulte History Repeated:  See Outstanding News Report *** See Related Pulte Walls features 

See Express News Video Report: Rivermist neighborhoods mark one year since wall failure
Centex wrong about wall threat Plus  View City Documents 

Homebuilder a no-show at city meeting about failed retaining wall
Some took off from work or school to meet with Centex-Pulte Homes at city hall. But instead of information on the upcoming fixes to a failed hillside in their subdivision, residents were faced with a no-show by the homebuilder. “They shafted all of us,” said one homeowner. “Quit using excuses,” said another.  Centex-Pulte Homes agreed to the meeting, put together weeks ago by the city. Then suddenly, the company pulled out. The last-minute communiqué left the city and its engineers to discuss what little they know of the builder’s conceptual design to not only fortify a failed hillside, but fortify homeowners’ confidence.

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Collapsed retaining wall prompts suit
Centex Homes filed a lawsuit last week against two companies that it claims failed to fix a retaining wall that collapsed at a North Side neighborhood in January 2010, causing the builder and developer to have to rebuild the structure and repurchase 22 homes there.  Centex, which filed the lawsuit last week, is suing Arias and Associates Inc. and Gravity Walls Ltd. for damages associated with the wall collapse at the Rivermist and Hills of Rivermist neighborhoods. It was not disclosed how much Centex is seeking in damages, but in the lawsuit it claims the total cost for repurchasing the homes exceeded $2.5 million.

Shifting ground destroying neighborhood fences
Most Houses in the Enclave of Willow Pointe are 3 to 5 years old. But some of the fences look a lot older because the ground is shifting and washing away, pulling some of the fences apart. She says they tried to work it out with the builder centex, but she says the company told her the fence was not under warranty.  When we talked to CenTex the company spokesperson said they were not familiar with the case, but confirmed that the fence did not have a warranty and that it did not actually build the fence. It was subcontracted out.