Web Extra: Don't be a sitting duck for costly roofing scams
Well, the Defenders found out that politics and special interests have made Texas a roofing scammers paradise. Texas is the only Gulf Coast state that doesn’t license roofers. Alex Winslow runs Texas Watch, a consumer watchdog group. He says making licensing the law would make roofers behave. “Accountability for roofing, is slim and none as it stands today.” ...every time a roofing licensing law has been introduced in the past five years, Fuentes says, he and his lobbyists went to work. Like in 2005 when the last version of the law came up—meeting with this man—Representative Kino Flores, Chair of the House Committee on Licensing.

A message from Janet Ahmad - Erin Brockovitch Confirms Contamination in Lennar Homes & Texas Supreme Court Grants Double Standard Decision to 'Bob the Builder' Perry

Give Texas homeowners better tools to force irresponsible builders to fix construction defects
The mounting numbers of unresolved complaints make increasingly clear that the Texas Residential Construction Commission Act, passed in the 2003 Legislature, has become for buyers of poorly constructed homes the nightmare many feared it would. Adding insult to this injurious legislation is how the law is falsely touted as an aide to homeowners stuck in shoddily built houses...families spent countless hours in futile attempts to get their builder to fix the problems and thousands of dollars out of pocket on repairs.Then the aggrieved owners were further abused by the Texas law that was supposed to help homeowners at the mercy of predatory builders.

Texas Supreme Court Bails Out Bob Perry
 Alex Winslow, Executive Director of Texas Watch, released the following statement: “After years of forcing consumers into a lopsided binding arbitration process, the Court today carved out a special decision for the man who gives the Court more campaign cash than any other individual in the state...“This decision is little more than a bail out for a major political moneyman, and is the latest in a long line of pro-defendant rulings by our state’s highest court.”

Residents: Agency Didn't Protect Against Shoddy Contractors
Some residents are claiming that the state agency in charge of protecting homeowners knew of problems with two local contractors but did very little until it was too late. The I-Team met with other homeowners who said they were victimized by contractors Robert Scott Huff and/or Greg Haigis. The men are affiliated with Bay Area Design and Build and Arundel Home Connections... "I went down to their desk and told them this is a medical issue. My wife can't get up and down the stairs. My wife can't handle this. You guys have got to get going on this," Artale said. Artale's wife, Linda, died just before the work was supposed to be completed.

Court ruling may create loophole in defective home construction cases
A state Supreme Court ruling last week has some area lawyers worried the court has created a loophole that could lead to more property owners building their own homes to skirt responsibility for defects... The case worked its way up to the Supreme Court, which ruled against Smith. The court said that since Breedlove was not a professional and had not planned to sell the house, he has no obligation to honor a warranty on the home. Breedlove had never previously been employed in the construction industry nor done business as a general contractor, the documents said.

Letters to the Editor: Reaction to 'flawed homes'
It has been nearly six long years since "Bob the Builder" Perry and his builder friends bought, built and now operate the Texas Residential Construction Commission (TRCC). The state agency offers no help for aggrieved homebuyers; instead, its process forces homeowners into costly protracted legal disputes ending in abusive, binding mandatory arbitration that most cannot afford.  There is far too much blame to go around. It is our obligation as victims to fight for our basic rights that the building industry has systematically taken from us. No one group or group of organizations can possibly stop this madness, which will continue to devastate families unless more become actively involved. See: YouTube Video on Tremont Towers

Home builders group spent $3.2M lobbying
So far this year, the builders group has been especially active in pushing for legislation designed to jump-start the lethargic housing market. It favors an emergency tax break that would let companies use losses from this year and next year to offset profits earned over the previous four years, instead of the usual two-year timeframe and a tax credit of $7,500 for first-time home buyers, estimated to cost $3.8 billion over 10 years...Earlier this year, the builders were so distressed by what they saw as lawmakers' lack of attention to the housing market in an economic stimulus bill signed by President Bush in February that the trade group's political action committee halted contributions to congressional candidates' campaigns.

Foreclosure Act Does Squat for Homeowners
Representatives from numerous organizations assembled this week at a press conference in Washington, D.C., to call upon the House of Representatives to fix the legislation, which includes billions in taxpayer-funded breaks to homebuilders and financial-services companies...Critics of the legislation say the measure doesn't do enough to help individuals and families who are now suffering the consequences of a stalled economy. Instead, it aids the homebuilding and financial-services industries, who are in dire straits because of their own actions.

N. Idaho woman with sinking home sues builder
The owner of a slowly collapsing northern Idaho house built over landfill that includes decaying animal bones, tree stumps and other trash has filed a lawsuit against the builder, who in turn has filed a suit against the company that sold the land. "I want to be paid back everything it's costing me to get this house into livable condition," Margaret Cultice, the homeowner, told the Coeur d'Alene Press. "Dealing with all this is a nightmare."

No help for 70% of subprime borrowers
Seven out of 10 seriously delinquent subprime mortgage borrowers are still not getting the help they need to keep their homes, according to a report released Tuesday by state officials working to stem the foreclosure crisis...More than 1 million of those loans, or nearly 25% of the total, were delinquent as of Jan. 31. And foreclosure proceedings have begun on 300,000 of them - an 8% increase since October.

Homeowners Battle to Stop Home Foreclosures and fines
See who is behind HOA abuses of power. Associa Management Company is the largest HOA management company in the US and is owned byTexas Senator John Carona. Need help see American Homeowners Resource Center and Texas Homeowners for HOA Reform.
See Fox News Report  

LBI home builder sentenced to 364 days in jail
Superior Court Judge Wendel E. Daniels placed Louis Vanacore, 42, on probation for five years, ordered him to serve 364 days in the county jail as a condition of probation, and ordered him to repay a total of $169,311.87 to six victims — customers who paid for homes that were never completed and subcontractors who performed work but were not paid for it.