Renters no more
Despite being in the U.S. illegally, undocumented immigrants can legally buy a house. Certain lenders don't ask for immigration papers. And buyers using a special tax ID often don't need a lengthy credit history.

Business Report - Real Estate
Poll: Not much interest seen in homes from big builders
Real Estate Weekly readers aren't interested in buying the thousands of new houses that will be built by national builders such as D.R. Horton and KB Home. Sixty-two percent of the people who responded to an on-line survey say they won't buy a house from the regional builders, but 38% say they will. More than 225 people participated in the survey.

HE CAME, HE WORKED, HE RUINED LIVES. MEET DAVID VICKERS, PROFESSINAL CONTRACTOR

Central Texas News 6 - New AC Repair
Problems Gary & Lorie Kreder, were looked forward to using their new home in China Spring, Texas to beat the heat...  A/C Expert Steve Wiggins says... See news report video http://www.kcentv.com/video/7-31/mon/ac_731.wmv.  See Quality Air Care websites Hall of Shame photos, Frequently Asked Questions & Controversial Issues. 

Their house was not a healthy home
I am not at her house to talk about a heart infection that nearly killed her. Or how sick her sisters were, or how her father got an infection in his vocal cords and couldn't talk for three months. Or how her mother had pneumonia more than 20 times in six years. Or how a baby boy born nine months before she was died when he was just 6 months old... So no one put the pieces together -- sick parents, sick kids, even the dogs were sick. The family's two cocker spaniels both developed lung and kidney disease...So Dean went looking, and in the crawl space under the master bedroom, an addition built by the previous owner, he found ``black mold spores everywhere."...The spores were like dust, and they were everywhere. Overnight, a high chair sprouted ``stuff that looked like something out of a horror movie...The contractor who built the addition 12 inches from a septic tank is immune to any legal action. It happened too long ago. The town inspectors? They're immune, too. No one is culpable. No one is legally guilty because, while the family believes the black mold caused them to get sick, there is no definitive proof.

Builders' bonds go in wrong direction
Debt sold by D.R. Horton Inc., KB Home and other construction companies has tumbled an average 3 percent since May 1, saddling investors with losses of about 1.1 percent this year, including reinvested interest, according to indexes compiled by Merrill Lynch & Co. That's the worst performance of 37 industries tracked by the firm.

State Rule Enforcers Are Often Players, Too
When it comes to protecting consumers in the real estate market, are the foxes guarding the henhouse? That's the conclusion of new research by the Consumer Federation of America into the relatively obscure state regulatory commissions that oversee residential real estate. Whereas other key industries regulated at the state level -- utility and insurance commissions, for example -- typically are run by professionals independent of the industries they oversee, real estate commissions are dominated and essentially run by active real estate agents and brokers.

KCRA 3 Investigates: Toxic Mold Found In Folsom Condos
Staci Disilva said four months ago, she paid more than $240,000 for an apartment at Waterford Place in Folsom. But she's not living in the unit because it's filled with toxic mold... But documents obtained by KCRA 3 show Prometheus Real Estate and the city of Folsom should have been aware of the potential dangers of mold. A report, required to be on file with the city and prepared by a private company, points out suspected mold in more than 170 units.

Citizen group takes on shoddy builders
Citizens Against Sick Housing (C.A.S.H.), a homeowner group dedicated to holding shoddy builders accountable, approached the county’s Legislative Committee July 10. They asked the county to adopt legislation that would require those seeking building permits to post a bond with the county codes department.