More cracks found in subdivision walls
Six of the 14 retaining walls in the upscale Heights of Crownridge development still lack permits and construction has been on hold for some residential lots since November. Two of the retaining walls are cracked, and one of those was deemed unsafe by an engineer and had to be lowered, according to documents on file with the city. That wall sits on the property's southeast corner and was not built to specification. It was designed by the same engineer and built by the same construction company as the failed Rivermist wall.

New-home slump keeping door shut on U.S. recovery
Plagued by too many houses and too few buyers, 2011 is shaping up to be the worst year on record for new-home sales. The slump is pushing the key home-building industry into its fifth year of decline and keeping the U.S. economy from a rebound... Many economists don't see a significant rebound occurring until housing is fixed...Shares of Los Angeles-based KB Hiome, for instance, have fallen so much that the company is valued by Wall Street at less than the cash on its books. The company has continued to build despite the head winds, announcing in August that it had opened new homes for sale in the San Francisco Bay Area.

City, builder mulling solutions for sacred knoll: Four dozen protest at City Hall to stop construction project
City officials are working with a builder to determine whether an Eastside housing project can be altered to preserve a knoll where Native American remains were discovered earlier this month. Vice Mayor Don Lane, who attended a private meeting Monday between city officials and KB Home, said he believes the company would consider selling or setting aside the parcel where the remains were found even though it is designated for the most premium home among 32 planned for the site.

Investors Beware: KB Home Is Struggling Mightily
Since homebuilder KB Home reported a wider-than-expected second quarter loss of $68.5 million -- more than double from a year ago -- in late June, shares are down a whopping 20%....The company has a ridiculously high total debt-to-equity ratio of 381.5%, one of the industry's highest. Though the entire arena is under stress, most peers have a relatively better ratio.

KB Home Shares Plunged: What You Need to Know
Shares of homebuilder KB Homes fell 16% today when it found out its homes and shares were built on quicksand.

Home Builders to Settle Las Vegas Land Dispute
In Securities and Exchange Commission filings Thursday, KB Home reported it would pay from $216 million to $240 million, including fees, to a group of lenders led by J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. Beazer said it would pay from $15.7 million to $17 million, and Toll said it planned to enter into a "cash settlement" of an undisclosed amount.  The settlement plan indicates a conclusion is nearing for a long legal fight in federal courts in Las Vegas over an ambitious land deal that was brought down by the housing crisis. A person familiar with details of the plan said that the total settlement is worth from $330 million to $340 million and that Toll will pay from $30 million to $40 million.

Mirasol: A chance to rebuild
The Mirasol houses were completed in 2001, and many of the structures were quick to develop major problems... A year after the family bought the house, that vision began to fade, replaced by the appearance of cracks in the walls, a steep slope in the living room floor and doors that wouldn't properly open or close... Today, the three-bedroom house and the Mirasol Homes neighborhood it once advertised stand as a sad paradox. Built in 2001 with $20 million in federal housing funds intended to vault the working poor into homeownership, the West Side development turned into the kind of blighted neighborhood it was supposed to replace.

SAHA, homeowners agree to settle in Mirasol case
“We are thankful to have come to a mutually beneficial agreement and put an end to this four-year legal case,” says SAHA Chairman Ramiro Cavazos, following a special meeting of the board. “This settlement allows us to focus on moving forward and rebuilding the community.” In 2001, the contractors received $18 million to build 247 single-family homes in the Mirasol neighborhoods for low-income, first-time homeowners. However, a group of homeowners began reporting problems with the homes. In 2007, SAHA filed the lawsuit and was eventually joined by 66 Mirasol homeowners in the lawsuit. SAHA and the homeowners sought to recover damages and to receive funds that could be used to begin rebuilding Mirasol homes.

Is KB Home's mortgage partner, BofA, getting cold feet?
KB Home fears the joint venture it built with Bank of America is on shaky ground, according to securities filings. The company said BofA came forward suggesting a restructuring of the parties' joint venture. Over the course of the past several years, the joint venture allowed the firms to provide homebuyers with mortgage and banking services.

Is KB Home a Bargain After -86% Belly Flop?
Homebuilder stock KB Home trades at -86% below its July 2005 high at the peak of the U.S. housing boom. With operations in all the overbuilt housing markets larded down with foreclosures – including California, Arizona, Nevada and Florida – it’s hard to imagine a company with worse prospects in the near- and medium-term. In order to stomach the idea of swapping your investment funds for shares in KB Home, you’d have to believe that this company’s future is going to be much brighter than recent statistics suggest. But the odds of KB Home running out of cash are higher than the chances for a quick turnaround.

Suit on faulty houses may be resolved
Public housing officials hope to resolve the costly and bitter legal dispute over their claims of shoddy work on 247 homes built by local developer Magi Realty and national home-building giant KB Home.  In recent months, the housing authority has gained a string of victories that it lacked the last time it sat at the negotiation table, in October 2009. Housing officials said they have since uncovered widespread construction flaws in the homes, as well as evidence that KB Home and Magi scrapped the custom-built designs ordered by SAHA in favor of cheaper plans for tract-built houses.  But the housing authority might have gained its biggest edge last year, when it joined 66 homeowners who filed separate lawsuits in May 2009.

KB Homes and AIG Refuse to Keep Promises  
KB Home made millions by building substandard defective homes paid for by HUD under a lease to purchase programmed known as HOPE 6.  A program that allowed KB and the San Antonio Housing Authority to take advantage of those who could least afford to be cheated.   The federal government and the San Antonio Housing Authority wasted millions more to try and repair Mirasol homes but failed.  HUD has condemned the homes; that are never to be sold to the public again. 

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Project Weighs on KB Home
A group of lenders led by J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. forced a massive housing project in the Las Vegas area into bankruptcy, raising the possibility that its builders will have to book more than $320 million in losses. KB Home, which owns about 48% of the stalled development, has the most to lose. Shortly after a U.S. bankruptcy judge handed down his decision late Thursday, the Los Angeles-based home builder filed a regulatory form acknowledging that it "became responsible to pay" hundreds of millions of dollars into the bankrupt entity. 

How a Fraud's Value Affects Prison Time
When Bruce Karatz was running KB Home the giant home builder pulled in billions of dollars a year in revenue. But now, a mere $11 million could help determine whether Mr. Karatz spends more than a half decade in prison. The U.S. Probation Office, an arm of the courts, has recommended that Judge Otis Wright give Mr. Karatz probation and eight months of home confinement. The U.S. Attorney's office here wants a 6.5-year prison sentence. In a filing, the prosecutors argue that confining Mr. Karatz in his "24-room Bel-Air mansion," would suggest "a two-tiered criminal justice system, one for the affluent….and a second for ordinary citizens."