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Builder Charged in Fraud Scheme |
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Latest News
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Friday, 19 May 2006 |
Home Builder Charged In Alleged Fraud Scheme
The indictment describes Miller as the kingpin of an operation that included loan officers who forged signatures, appraisers who inflated values, realtors and developers -- all allegedly designed to con banks and down-and-out home buyers out of millions of dollars. |
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Building Industry Employs 12 Million Illegal Immigrants |
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Monday, 15 May 2006 |
Crackdown may raise prices
But nationally the Washington, D.C.-based Pew Hispanic Center estimates about one in seven construction workers, or 1.4 million workers, are here illegally. Pew says the construction industry employs the largest share of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in this country... The crackdown included a raid this week against Crestview Hills-based Fischer Homes, resulting in the arrest of 76 allegedly illegal immigrants and charges against four construction supervisors. |
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Building Inspection, Law Enforcement or Buddy System? |
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Monday, 15 May 2006 |
Fears building inspectors may not be doing their job
Building inspectors are really construction police. They watch a house go up from foundation to rooftop. At least that's what buyers assume. But that may not be the case in Wylie. In more than a dozen North Texas cities, building inspectors can actually be on the contractor's payroll...Moore says he was pressured to overlook mistakes and shut up....He quit. On principal he sued the City of Wylie... Janet Ahmad gets dozens of complaints about shoddy new homes every year. She's concerned not only about Wylie, but about a statewide trend that allows builders in some cities to hire their own inspectors. "The law is for sale when it comes to building homes," ..."This is law enforcement and they are making a buddy system out of it... |
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Woman and son forced out by mold |
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Tuesday, 09 May 2006 |
Woman's new home doesn't fit usual mold
When Gins Rubdie bought a house in Miami Township in July 2005, she had no idea that she would be searching for a new place to live eight months later.Toxic mold growing behind the walls of her house on Branch Hill-Miamiville Road is forcing Rubdie and her son, Kyle,14, out of their home... "I'm just taking things one day at a time," she said. Rubdie did say that she has contacted a lawyer and plans to file a lawsuit against the previous owner. |
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Homebuilderds Road To Riches |
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Sunday, 07 May 2006 |
MDC execs near top among builders
Larry Mizel and David Mandarich, the top two honchos at Denver-based home-building giant MDC Holdings, (Richmond American) were rewarded last year with pay days that topped $40 million...While MDC was the third- worst performing major publicly traded home-building stock last year, Mizel and Mandarich pocketed the fourth-highest salary and bonuses in 2005 compared with 13 other executives from other U.S. home builders. The duo topped the Rocky Mountain News' list last year, and in the past four years Mizel pulled in $109 million, and his counterpart Madarich pulled in $111 million. |
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Big Builder Business off 29% |
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Sunday, 07 May 2006 |
Big Builder of Luxury Homes Says Business Is Off 29%
Luxury homebuilder Toll Brothers Inc. on Friday said signed contracts for its homes fell 29 percent in its second quarter and that home deliveries for the year will be 200 lower than expected as the slowing housing market takes hold
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Sunday, 07 May 2006 |
For Whom the Home Tolls
Question: "How can you tell when a home-selling industry insider is lying?" Answer: "His lips are moving." Now, now. I'm not talking about specific agents here (although if you want to hear the one about the agent who tried to sell us a townhouse with a collapsing foundation for a mere half million bucks, let me know). |
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Defects in a new home rose from 52.7 in 2004 to 62.4 in 2005 |
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Sunday, 07 May 2006 |
Snagging Problems On The Rise
According to research carried out by Inspector Home, a specialist snagging company that works on behalf of buyers, the average number of defects in a new home rose from 52.7 in 2004 to 62.4 in 2005. |
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Latest News
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Thursday, 04 May 2006 |
Home builders see declines in shares
Shares of Hovnanian fell $2.39, or 6.2 percent, to close at $36.39 on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares of other home builders also suffered. D.R. Horton Inc., the largest home builder, fell 30 cents, or 1 percent, to finish at $29.44 on the NYSE. Pulte Homes Inc. shares dropped 85 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $35.75, while KB Home shares slipped $1.16, or 1.9 percent, to $59.50. |
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Don't Blame Lawyers - Build It Right or Just Fix It |
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Latest News
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Wednesday, 12 April 2006 |
Homebuilders fighting defect lawsuits get aggressive
After four construction-defect lawsuits were filed by 85 of its homebuyers starting last year, JTS Communities Inc. opted to bypass the plaintiffs' attorneys to deal with the homeowners directly -- a tactic JTS says has led 55 plaintiffs to drop their complaints.The attorneys counter that if builders don't want to be sued, they should build better houses (see story below). It took lawsuits to get builders to pay attention to homeowners, they claim, and there are more Band-Aids than permanent fixes in the new strategy to go directly to homeowners to get lawsuits to go away. |
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Excluded Coverage for Homeowners - Outrageous Profits for Insurers |
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Sunday, 26 March 2006 |
Most Texas Insurers Profited Despite Hurricane Rita
Texas home insurers turned substantial profits last year despite Hurricane Rita's destruction, prompting state regulators to question whether some companies' rates are too high, the Associated Press reported. Most of the state's home insurance companies posted big earnings in 2005, although nowhere near as high as 2004's record profits, according to the Texas Department of Insurance's financial reports. Texans pay the highest home insurance premiums in the country...State Farm, the largest insurer in Texas, paid out about 50 percent of its revenue from premiums in 2005, less than the average. It paid out 30 percent the year before. |
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