John Henneberger co-director Texas Low Income Housing Information Service
The hopelessly flawed Texas Residential Construction Commission (TRCC) has been recommended for abolition by the Texas Sunset Commission staff.  The Sunset staff report on the TRCC concludes, “Current regulation of the residential construction industry is fundamentally flawed and does more harm than good.” I reluctantly concur.

KB Home's Toughest Market Competition May be Its Owner
This is really remarkable!  Let me see if I have this right, KB is in using this very odd promotional spin to compete with the “highly competitive foreclosure marketplace.”  A foreclosure market that most likely is glutted with the very same KB cookie cuter models, cheap!  If the housing and financial market collapse wasn’t such a far-reaching disaster I might fall off my chair in laugher reading this article.  If I understand this unique advertising angle it sounds like KB Home is desperate to effectively compete with this giant competitor (85 percent of the market); the very same predatory lending foreclosure scam it was highly instrumental in creating. My… my…KB’s creation is now its strongest competition?

Consumer Watch : Opinions mixed on the fate of TRCC
Jeryl Bennett paid about $130,000 for her new home four years ago. The appraised value now: $77,000. That dramatic decrease resulted from what Bennett says is a foundation problem, symptoms of which she started noticing shortly after she moved in. But the builder, Lennar Homes, and the Texas Residential Construction Commission have told her the foundation is solid. Consumer advocates and some lawmakers contend that situations like Bennett's highlight their contention that the TRCC is an anti-consumer agency.  Nearly two weeks ago, the Sunset Advisory Commission said what TRCC opponents have been wanting to hear: The agency should be abolished because it is "fundamentally flawed."...Alex Winslow, executive director of Texas Watch, said he will encourage the sunset commission to go a step further to create a new agency that will "impose real protection for homeowners that ensures builder accountability, quality building standards and real oversight of the home-building industry."

Join us for the Texas Residential Construction Commission (TRCC) Lobby Day & Press Conference on Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Homeowners losing fights with builders
The Texas Residential Construction Commission agreed the builder is responsible for the plumbing fiasco, but the agency can't force the company to fix it. That disconnect is one reason the Sunset Advisory Commission staff this month recommended abolishing the agency... The Texas Residential Construction Commission agreed the builder is responsible for the plumbing fiasco, but the agency can't force the company to fix it. That disconnect is one reason the Sunset Advisory Commission staff this month recommended abolishing the agency... “The remaining 88 percent of reported cases are pursued by one party or the other using the legal system — the very outcome the process was enacted to prevent,” the report said.“

Builders Foolishly Claim Industry Understands what is Best for Consumers
Mr. Binash (President, Greater Houston Builders Association and Wilshire Homes) and any builder that is against abolishment of TRCC and claims the agency is good for consumers are selfishly incorrect.  No one is buying the industry (Binash) smoke and mirrors spin, that without TRCC homeowners will end up in "time-consuming and expensive litigation."  The true fact is Sunset concluded that of the homeowners with construction defects who were forced into TRCC, 88% were driven to “time-consuming and expensive litigation.”  Sunset further concluded TRCC is bad for homeowners and failed to protect them from the bad actors of the building industry.  Shame on the industry that claims an agency that they bought and paid for is somehow good for the consumer. The industry’s attempt to claim to be experts on the subject of what is good for consumers is a hoax. They had their chances and failed miserably while making our Texas legislators look incompetent for listening to the industry for its legislative wisdom. Abolish TRCC! It’s bad for consumers and it’s an embarrassment to the industry and Texas .  Janet Ahmad
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Huttoparke Problems Continue, Values Suffer
It is with great fascination that I first saw last year Huttoparke home owners made sure that everyone knew how poorly their homes were built. They may have had no choice but to bring public attention to the problems they were having. In 2006/2007, when our phones rang daily with investors calling to buy in Austin, many didn’t like what I had to say when I told them I wasn’t interested in helping them buy a home in Hutto, Kyle or any other starter home area with supposed better cash flow. “It’s a bad idea” I would say...I hope the owners in Huttoparke find resolution and all problems are resolved. I feel sorry for them. First time buyers have enough to think about without having to do legal battle with builders.

State Representative Garnet Coleman
This past week the Houston Chronicle editorialized in favor of abolishing the Texas Residential Construction Commission (TRCC), following the recommendation of the Sunset Advisory Commission from a report they issued last week... Texas homeowners deserve to have a state government on their side when they need it.