Abolition of state home-builder agency recommended
The controversial state agency that registers home builders is too broken to fix and should be abolished, according to a report from the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission... The report said the TRCC is not a true regulatory agency and is not effective in keeping problem builders from working. The report also said that the process for homeowners to resolve disputes can be difficult and frustrating and that homeowners do not trust the inspection process.The sunset commission concluded "that anything short of a true regulatory program does more harm than good, and should be abolished."

Agency recommends ending construction commission
Dallas Morning News: Duane Waddill, TRCC executive director, upon learning the Sunset Commission Report recommends to abolish TRCC, calls it: "…a basic misunderstanding of what we were created to do. He said his agency's mission is to help resolve disputes between home-owners and builders…and not necessarily to regulate an industry."...The original legislation was backed by Houston homebuilder Bob Perry, who is also the largest political donor in the state. His spokesman, Anthony Holm, said it was a rare case where the industry came to the Legislature and asked to be regulated.

Texas Sunset Advisory Commission Says Texas Residential Construction Commission Should Go
If you have a problem with your new house and the builder won’t fix it you go to the Texas Residential Construction Commission with a complaint. The Commission has been under fire almost since it started and now the Sunset Advisory Commission is recommending the TRCC be abolished.Texas Watch Director Alex Winslow agrees with that recommendation. “The TRCC is not serving the needs of homeowners and the legislature needs to go back to the drawing board and start over again.” The Commission is fighting back. It says it has shut down hundreds of bad homebuilders and without it consumers would have not protection and homebuilders could do whatever they want without someone looking over their shoulder.

Spring residents learn subdivision is in tollway's path — and wonder why they weren't told
Nobody told her that their brand-new neighborhood was in the footprint of the Grand Parkway, a planned highway encircling Houston. Or that most of the nearby houses would likely be bulldozed when construction began on the four-lane tollway that would be her future next-door neighbor."Lennar or the developer should have disclosed this to us, and we would have went to another neighborhood and tried to start our new life," Martin said. "I planned on leaving this house to my grandchildren. But who wants to raise children next to a freeway?" Robert A. Hudson, a Spring developer who partnered with Lennar on the project, said builders knew the highway might come through the subdivision.

Court: Homeowners Can Sue Builders
Arizona homeowners don't have to buy directly from builders to sue them for defective work, the state Supreme Court ruled unanimously Tuesday in a case with implications for consumers and businesses alike. "Innocent buyers of defectively constructed homes should not be denied redress on the implied warranty simply because of the form of the business deal chosen by the builder and vendor," Justice Andrew Hurwitz wrote in the unanimous ruling.

Sunset Staff Recommends Abolishment of the Texas Residential Construction Commission (TRCC), Homebuilder Protection Agency
Today consumer groups are praising the Sunset Advisory Commission for its candid assessment and recommendation to abolish the controversial builder protection agency known as the TRCC... ”The Sunset words ‘Abolish TRCC’ are powerful,” said, Janet Ahmad, national president of Home Owners for Better Building.  “The report is a consumer victory and goes a long way in restoring confidence in our state elected officials to do the right thing for genuine consumer protection this next session.”...“No other state in the nation has a public policy that poses a greater burden for shoddy home construction squarely on the backs of homeowners, like Texas.  Currently builders have no incentive to build homes right especially when industry controls a state agency and homeowners are forced into builder dominated binding mandatory arbitration (BMA).

TEXAS WATCH PRESS RELEASE: SUNSET STAFF: TRCC SHOULD BE SCRAPPED
Alex Winslow, Executive Director of Texas Watch issued the following statement: “Like many of the homes built by bad builders in our state, the TRCC is beyond repair.  We need to scrap it, go back to the drawing board, and implement a process that truly protects homeowners. “We endorse the Sunset staff’s recommendation to bring an end to the TRCC as we currently know it.  Lawmakers should replace the feckless TRCC with real reforms that ensure builder accountability, quality building standards, and true oversight and regulation of the homebuilding industry.  Instead of a builder protection agency like the TRCC, homeowners need an agency designed to serve their needs. “Consumers need real protections against unscrupulous builders who build shoddy homes, and the TRCC has never provided homeowners with that kind of protection.  Indeed, homeowners – not builders – are the ones regulated by the TRCC.

Homeowners deal with flood damage
Families flooded out after this weekends storms say the companies connected to what happened are now trying to pass the buck about who’s to blame. The two homeowners say KB Homes owns the land right behind their property. That’s where they say there’s a retention pond that busted through a wall and into their homes.

Housing starts plunge 11%, payback for temporary NYC surge in June
Housing starts fell 11% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 965,000 in July, close to the 960,000 expected by economists surveyed by MarketWatch.  It's the lowest level in 17 years. June's starts were revised higher to a 1.084 million annual pace. Housing starts are down 29.6% in the past year.For single-family homes only, permits fell 5.2% to a 584,000 pace, the lowest since August 1982. Single-family permits have plunged 41.4% in the past year. The number of permits for single-family homes in the West region fell 10.8% to the lowest level in at least 20 years.