San Francisco Chronicle Article:
A Court Case That Could Be A Sign of the Times

On Feb. 6, Bolden filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court along with her husband, Lonnie Bolden, and her neighbors David and Dolores Contreras against her builder KB Home, her lender Countrywide Financial Corp., along with affiliated businesses and two appraisers. Alleging that the defendants conspired to inflate the price of their homes through deceptive, fraudulent appraisals, the suit seeks compensatory and punitive damages. Asserting that they are the tip of the iceberg and that many other KB Home owners have been harmed by the same practices, the plaintiffs are requesting class-action status for all California KB Home buyers who obtained financing through Countrywide between Aug. 1, 2005 and July 31, 2006.
Read more... http://www.hobb.org/content/view/2502/1/

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hobborg wrote:
"Shysters" is a great word.  The extent of intricate schemes to sell houses are yet to be fully realized. It was KB Home, its mortgage company and appraisers that began utilizing their marketing schemes to test the predatory leaning waters in the early 90s.  In Texas where builders are unregulated they implemented 30-year debt consolidation of credit cards and cars into the sale of houses to increase sales comps and qualify those who didnt qualify. When that worked, without getting caught they expanded the market.  KB became the benchmark of the industry that created a market of unqualified buyers that didnt exist with inflated appraisals. The full extent of the real truth-in-lending scams is only now starting to emerge. Dont blame the victim when big business gives a whole new meaning to the words loan sharks.
Posted 3/24/2008 11:37:56AM  Comment: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article/comments/view?f=/g/a/2008/03/21/carollloyd.DTL&o=2