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WFAA News 8 Loan Fraud Part II |
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Friday, 10 March 2006 |
News 8 investigates: Mortgage Fraud Part II
A crime some say is as old as prostitution may be going down in your neighborhood: mortgage fraud. It's happening in record numbers in North Texas, and it is white collar crime at its worst. The criminals are sly. Their methods are difficult to detect and tricky to prosecute. Mortgage fraud can blindside even the most honest people—including former Dallas Cowboys cornerback Deion Sanders. News 8 Investigates in the first of a two-part series. |
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Star Builders meaningless optional program |
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Friday, 10 March 2006 |
Texas Star Builders
State officials are hailing a new program, scheduled to begin April 1, that could make it easier to identify home builders and remodelers who have worked to achieve good reputations in the business. But at least one consumer activist isn't impressed... Janet Ahmad, president of HomeOwners for Better Building, says of the new program: "Since it is optional, it is meaningless for the consumer... My guess is they want to divert some of the attention of the comptroller's report and put a spin on this meaningless optional program." |
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Realty Times - TRCC Paper Tiger |
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Friday, 03 March 2006 |
Texas' Residential Construction Commission Deemed A Paper Tiger
The vast majority of complaints to a state agency created to give Texan home owners redress for new home defects may as well be fed into a paper shredder, according to findings in a study by the Lone Star State's comptroller.The Texas Residential Construction Commission (TRCC) is little more than a paper tiger with no authority to force home builders to comply with orders to fix new home defects -- 86 percent of home owners who've used the commission's resolution process said builders failed to fix the problem -- according to an October, 2005 |
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POA Poll- 89% Say TRCC is unfair |
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Friday, 17 February 2006 |
POLICYHOLDERS OF AMERICA POLL
5,644 respondents in poll - 82% would not vote back in office any legislator, regardless of party, that is soft on bad homebuilders? |
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Tuesday, 14 February 2006 |
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Inspectors Display Integrity
Third party inspectors resign from the Texas Residential Construction Commission in protest (TRCC).
"I'm not willing to risk my credentials as being viewed an endorsement for this nonsense. I can better serve the consumers of Texas as a private inspector and expert witness for defects before they waste their time with the SIRP claims. Effective immediately, please remove me as an active inspector with this commission." |
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Express-News Commentary by Janet Ahmad |
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Monday, 13 February 2006 |
Comment: Homebuyers deserve better protection
In early 2003 the building industry contrived convincing tales of woe, along with millions in political action committee contributions, that persuaded some Texas lawmakers to help create the unprecedented experimental state agency... In the comptroller's report, there is compelling evidence that lawmakers made a mistake and were duped into going along with the building industry's long-term plan to thwart homeowners. The report gives failing grades to TRCC, and the revelations are reprehensible... despite the requirement for a criminal background check, "TRCC files show that a currently registered builder was convicted of burglary of a vehicle, burglary of a building and attempted homicide. Another builder was convicted of a sex crime and registered as a sex offender just months before he was allowed to register as a homebuilder." |
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Star-Telegram Watchdog Reporter - TRCC |
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Friday, 03 February 2006 |
Homeowners get ally in the House
State Rep. Todd Smith, R-Euless, says he had heard enough complaints about a new state agency that is supposed to help homeowners who have problems with builders. So, he wrote a letter in August to Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, asking her to look into the operations of the Texas Residential Construction Commission...Last week, Strayhorn issued a blistering report. She disclosed that most of the initial 102 homeowners surveyed by her office say their builders did not make required repairs even after their complaints about defects were confirmed as part of a new required state inspection and resolution process. In a news conference, Strayhorn blasted the TRCC as a “builder protection agency.” |
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Houston Chronicle Editorial - Bureaucratic Deadwood |
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Monday, 30 January 2006 |
Editorial
Bureaucratic deadwood
A state commission to curb homebuilder abuses proves to be a deck stacked in favor of the industry it is supposed to regulate.
When Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn issued a report last week criticizing the Texas Residential Construction Commission as a shield for politically-connected homebuilders, she could have been reading from a column the Chronicle's Clay Robison wrote last March. Headlined "No place like home for this cuddly Austin lapdog," Robison's piece characterized the creation of the TRCC as a boon for homebuilders who had contributed millions of dollars to state lawmakers. In return, the law creating the commission required aggrieved homeowners to go through a costly, time-consuming arbitration before they could take legal action against contractors. It also limited damages that plaintiffs could receive. |
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Insurance Journal - Texas Comptroller Report |
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Friday, 27 January 2006 |
Texas Comptroller Says Construction Commission Favors Builders
The Texas Residential Construction Commission is acting as a "builder protection agency'' and has no power to force homebuilders to repair construction defects in new houses, according to state Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn. The agency, formed by legislators in 2003, also is shifting most of the money it collects back to the state budget rather than spending it carrying out its mission, she said. |
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The Houston Lawyer - Debate Continues |
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Thursday, 26 January 2006 |
Pitfalls and Successes at the Residential Construction Commission
Many consumer advocates, such as Janet Ahmad of Home Owners for Better Building, believe the TRCC’s State-Sponsored Inspection and Dis-pute Resolution Process (SIRP) is essentially a sham crafted by industry-friendly legislators...addressing the passage of House Bill 730, Ms. Ahmad remarked, “Home builders got the best bill they could buy.”
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Austin-Statesman Editorial on Builder TRCC Agency |
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Thursday, 26 January 2006 |
The state is looking out for home builders, not buyers
The builders' primary goal was to protect themselves from lawsuits filed by unhappy home buyers. Thanks to the strong political influence of such home builders as Bob Perry and Dick Weekley, both of Houston, and to the $5 million in political contributions ($3.1 million from Bob Perry alone) to state candidates, parties and political action committees in the 2002 election cycle, the builders got the commission they wanted. The agency can force a home buyer to jump through more bureaucratic hoops before going to court, but it has little effective power to make an errant builder correct defects...But the fundamental problem with the commission is that it was designed to be weak...By the way, there aren't many frivolous complaints; the commission reported that 93 percent of its inspections found at least one construction defect. |
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