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TRCC in the News
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Texas Monthly - Home Buyer Beware |
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Friday, 15 July 2005 |
How a new state agency of the builders, by the builders, and for the builders makes it harder for you to sue, yes, your builder.
In 2003, after spreading around $9 million in campaign contributions, the powerful home builders’ lobby got the Legislature to agree with its contention that implied warranties were too darn vague and that the lawsuits they produced were too damaging to the industry. Instead, it asked lawmakers to create a new state agency to protect builders from legal retribution. It was one of the most blatant power plays in recent years, made possible by an anti-lawsuit fervor that swept through the new Republican-controlled Legislature and by the influence of two politically active builders: the biggest individual contributor, Bob Perry (no relation to Governor Rick Perry but lots of political ties), and the co-founder of Texans for Lawsuit Reform, Dick Weekley. Thus was born the Texas Residential Construction Commission (TRCC), which in its short life has served as the classic case study of what can happen when a public agency is captured by the industry it is supposed to regulate... Homeowner advocate Janet Ahmad points out that the agency refuses to hear cases involving incomplete construction, even though one of the most common complaints against homebuilders involves those who disappear and leave behind half-finished projects. Ahmad conducted telephone interviews and found overwhelmingly that the consumers who had “won” their cases at the agency felt it did no good because they still had to pursue action in court against their builders. |
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Ryland Homes Ceilings Collapsed & Update |
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Friday, 15 July 2005 |
City staff passes buck on ceiling problems
Ceilings collapsed in the bedrooms of two homes in Frederick's Overlook development in the last five years due to what city officials cite is faulty construction.City of Frederick staff knew about the collapses, but chose not to notify other homeowners in the development of the potential danger... |
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KB Home Pay $3.2 Million Fine |
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Wednesday, 13 July 2005 |
KB Home Settles U.S. Allegations
HUD began a review of KB Home practices after receiving complaints from borrowers, including some in California, Texas and Florida, said HUD spokesman Jerry Brown. Further details about the alleged violations weren't immediately disclosed. Some regulators and consumer advocates have suggested that questionable lending practices have grown in the red-hot housing market, with buyers forced to stretch finances to qualify for loans and some lenders eager to accommodate them. |
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More on Federal Trade Commission Action |
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Wednesday, 13 July 2005 |
KB Home expecting settlement
The FTC contends that KB Home violated a ban against binding arbitration clauses in sales contracts, which limit home buyers' ability to sue the company over defects. In both investigations, the government agencies relied on homeowner complaints that were funneled to them by the San Antonio-based Homeowners for Better Building... Brian D. Montgomery, chairman of the Mortgagee Review Board, described HUD's deal as a landmark settlement that "sends a strong message that FHA will not tolerate violations of its requirements, especially when they can cause homeowners to default on their mortgages." |
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KB TO MAKE A DEAL WITH FTC |
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Wednesday, 13 July 2005 |
KB Home to Settle FTC Arbitration Complaints
Los Angeles Times - KB Home said Tuesday that it had agreed to pay $2 million to settle complaints that it had again violated terms of a 26-year-old federal order prohibiting it from restricting customers' rights to sue over alleged construction defects... KB Home, among the five biggest U.S. builders, stands apart as the only major builder prohibited by the U.S. government from requiring mandatory arbitration...fresh complaints about the company's use of binding arbitration clauses were brought to the FTC's attention, said Janet Ahmad, president of Homeowners for Better Building, a consumer group that advocates tougher homeowner protection laws. KB Home has "to resolve these complaints with the FTC so homeowners can understand that if they complain long enough and if they are persistent enough" their complaints will be taken seriously by the agency, Ahmad said. She added that many KB Home customers have also filed complaints about the company not honoring terms of its warranty..."If there is an FTC enforcement action, I'm glad," Parrott said. "But that doesn't affect the people who have been misled about their constitutional rights or provide them remedies. They need more than an FTC settlement." |
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Wall Street Journal Report FTC To Fine KB |
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Tuesday, 12 July 2005 |
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 KB Home May Be Fined by FTC For Curbing Buyers' Right to Sue
In 2003, a homeowner's suit, Timothy D. Pruitt vs. Kaufman & Broad Home Corp., was filed in federal court in Laredo, Texas. (KB went by the name Kaufman & Broad until 2000.) Mr. Pruitt filed individually and on behalf of other KB Home owners, alleging that KB contracts contained mandatory-arbitration clauses at the buyers' expense. The case has since been refiled in state court in Laredo and names a different plaintiff, since Mr. Pruitt no longer owns a KB home, plaintiffs' attorneys say... She adds that if they win the approval, she will also ask the judge to have KB Home notify consumers that binding arbitration provisions are void and unenforceable... "I do not understand why any company that says they build good homes is so afraid of the public forum of the court," said Ms. Oliver-Parrott, who adds that her client isn't seeking monetary damages.
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Report: FTC to cite, fine KB Home |
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Tuesday, 12 July 2005 |
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Homebuilder accused of limiting the ability of customers to sue the company over alleged defects.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Federal regulators plan to cite KB Home, one of the largest U.S. homebuilders, for limiting the ability of home purchasers to sue the company over alleged defects, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. |
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Monday, 11 July 2005 |
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New York Times - New Jersey Officials Pleaded Guilty |
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Monday, 11 July 2005 |
Officials Pleaded Guilty, but Town Was Changed Forever
The price of corruption in this New Jersey town may best be seen in the many rooflines that snake down Woodcliff Boulevard at a uniform 25-foot setback from the curb. Or perhaps in the postmodern stylings of the luxury five- and six-bedroom homes in the planned community of Lexington Estates.
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Forclosures rise in 47 states |
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Sunday, 10 July 2005 |
A Bane Amid The Housing Boom: Rising Foreclosures
Foreclosure rates rose in 47 states in March, according to Foreclosure.com, an online foreclosure listing service. The rates in Florida, Texas and Colorado are more than twice the national average. Even in New York City and Boston, where real estate markets are white-hot, foreclosures are rising in working-class neighborhoods... many policymakers say the rise in foreclosures leads to a larger question: Is the push to boost homeownership -- successive presidential administrations have strongly promoted it -- backfiring? ..."We've had a national agenda that's putting people into homeownership who are not ready for it,"... |
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HUD - History Making KB Home Fine |
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Saturday, 09 July 2005 |
HUD ANNOUNCES $3.2 MILLION SETTLEMENT AGAINST KB HOME MORTGAGE COMPANY
Largest settlement in history of Mortgagee Review Board (HUD Press Release)
Washington-- The Department of Housing and Urban Development today announced it has reached a $3.2 million settlement with KB Home Mortgage Company in connection with a series of alleged violations of HUD requirements. The $3.2 million is the largest amount ever collected in the 30-year history of HUD's Mortgagee Review Board (MRB), which takes administrative actions against FHA-approved lenders... "This settlement sends a strong message that FHA will not tolerate violations of its requirements, especially when they can cause homeowners to default on their mortgages."...
Associated Press: KB Home also agreed to beef up its quality assurance practices as part of the deal, HUD officials said. See: Associated Press Brief and HUD Press Release |
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