Wall Street Journal: Pulte Shareholders Rebuke Directors
Pulte executives believe shareholders were protesting the company's system for electing small groups of directors, every three years, as opposed to electing the entire board every year. For years, shareholder activists have criticized companies for holding these staggered, less frequent elections because it can prevent dissident shareholders from gaining sway over a board.The vote is an uncomfortable moment for Bloomfield Hills, Mich.,-based Pulte, which is trying to close its deal to acquire Centex Corp. to become the nation's largest home builder. The $1.3 billion all-stock acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter. See related video: Banks Demolish Houses in Austin... 

Supreme Court ruling goes against large homebuilders
Nevada homeowners don't have to be the original purchasers of their domiciles to be protected under the state's construction defect laws.  Supporters are hailing a Nevada Supreme Court ruling in the state's largest construction defect case as reaffirming the rights of buyers of resale homes to sue for construction defects that went undetected by the original owners. The state high court denied the writ of builder Del Webb and subcontractor Anse requesting the removal of more than 700 Sun City Summerlin homeowners from the massive lawsuit.

The Wall Street Journal: How to Prevent New Home Defects
As the downturn deepens, many would-be homeowners are taking advantage of down payment and closing cost assistance, free finished basements and other incentives offered by builders eager to move their merchandise. But buyers should take care that they're not purchasing an inferior-quality house...Since new home contracts often have binding arbitration clauses, many disgruntled buyers can't sue—although some have taken creative steps to embarrass builders they think have cheated them. Cynthia and John Daugherty posed as orange-jumpsuited "prisoners" on the Web site they made about their Pulte-built Kansas home, listing complaints about bad foundation walls and bouncy floors.

Report Claims Pulte Contractors Abusive
The 17-page report was compiled by religious leaders from Chicago- based Interfaith Worker Justice who discovered a "disturbing pattern of injustice and abuse" among contractors used to build homes for Pulte. They visited Pulte developments and talked to workers about a number of problems, including unsafe working conditions, nonpayment of overtime, lack of affordable health care and benefits, and wages so low they had to work 60 to 70 hours a week to make ends meet. "When I worked for Hutchins Drywall, I had a boss who was corrupt and did not have any feelings or respect for the workers," Rangel said. "When I went to get my check at the end of the week, I had to give a kickback of $150 to the foreman. When I went to the office to complain, they started threatening that I would lose my job."

Charleston attorneys urge individual Sun City stucco lawsuits
About 700 Sun City residents had wanted to join the couple's suit, with the aim of making it a class action case. But the four lawyers handling the case -- all construction defect specialists -- notified those homeowners Wednesday that the court won't handle their cases as a class action. So if the residents want to pursue claims for stucco problems, they'll have to file individual suits... Homeowners in Sun City communities near Las Vegas and Phoenix also have sued Pulte, claiming that stucco on their houses was improperly applied.

Review of county inspectors progresses slowly
County administrator Gary Kubic hired the firm in October to review the building codes department after learning that county inspectors had failed to spot faulty trusses in the roofs of more than 2,000 Sun City Hilton Head homes.

1,000 homeowners taking legal action
Owners of about 1,000 homes in Sun City Grand, one of Surprise's most affluent retirement communities, are seeking legal action against developer Pulte Homes to correct alleged construction defects. The sheer number of participants puts this among the largest such complaints in Arizona history, building experts say. "The homeowners relied on Del Webb and the promises they would use quality-control measures in connection with the construction, and they're terribly disappointed," said attorney Ken Kasdan."What they see is Del Webb walking away from responsibility in the community."

Poorly Built by Pulte Homes
Nearly two out of every three homeowners (66 percent) indicated that they have sought repairs under Pulte’s limited warranty. read the report.  Tracking Pulte- We will post the latest news as well as links to services across the country where unhappy homeowners can seek relief. Learn more about Pulte...

Developer to reshuffle board seats
Sun City Hilton Head's developer will soon re-gain a majority vote on the seven-member Community Association Board of Directors. Pulte Homes general manager Jon Cherry will announce at today's board of directors quarterly meeting that he will replace two resident board members with Pulte representatives, according to a letter he wrote and distributed to board members Tuesday. Cherry will be one of the new Pulte representatives, the letter said.

Pulte Homes pulling out of Kansas City
Pulte Homes, the metro's largest developer, confirmed they are withdrawing from Kansas City. Company spokesman John Conley says sluggish home sales are to blame. "Ultimately we were unable to achieve a consistent sales volume that would allow us to operate as profitably and efficiently as we would like to. So we are going to start redeploying capital to other markets," he explained. The phased withdrawal will being in about three weeks. It is expected to be complete in September of 2010.