New laws affect HOAs and homeowners starting Jan. 1
In years past in Texas, HOAs could foreclose on a property owner in as little as a month for non-payment of its assessments. “You can get yourself caught up in a credit payment plan that makes payday loans look good, if you aren’t careful,” said Janet Ahmad, president of Homeowners for Better Building. And if you’re wondering how the HOA is spending your assessments, you can now request a copy of the agency’s recordkeeping. But beware, even that may cost you in copying costs and employee hours to procure it. “This open records request is extremely lucrative for -- again -- the management companies,” added Ahmad.

Quail Run developer goes bankrupt
Just 70 lots, but lots of headaches.  Residents also blame the county, saying it's holding them hostage... Quail Run's roads still have not gotten needed repairs nor passed inspection with Bexar County engineers, steps required before the county will accept the roads for maintenance. ... “At this point, he's still a viable developer with a presence in the community,” said County Engineer Renee Green. “The street issues in Quail Run came to light as part of a review in the spring of 2010, when the county identified 121 subdivisions in unincorporated areas whose streets and drains had been out of warranty for at least two years. ...  Green said county officials have not made a policy decision about how to deal with street problems...  Green said the county does not feel pressured to decide immediately how to deal with Quail Run's streets. “The streets are what they are,” Green said. “They're not going anywhere.”

Lets ensure that Forced Arbitration does not fall off the radar!
As previously announced, the Senate Judiciary Committee will be holding a hearing on the Arbitration Fairness Act next Thursday October 13th at 2pm in Dirksen 226.  Democratic witnesses include NACA Member Paul Bland, Minnesota AG Lori Swanson and consumer witness, Dr. Deborah Pierce. Republican Witnesses will include: Christopher Drahozel (click here to see his take on Concepcion and the Arbitration Fairness Act) and Victor Schwartz.

Medina calls Perry a 'capital crony'
An old foe is lashing out at Gov. Rick Perry, as he continues his campaign for president. Debra Medina - a GOP opponent in 2011's gubernatorial race - and a handful of tea party activists pointed out what they call “crony capitalism” formed under Perry's reign in Texas. ...“We want to take the opportunity and say it's not an HPV mandate but across all areas of public policy in Texas we've seen those sorts of practices,” Medina said. "We do all we can to inform the public about what's going on politically.”... "The stagnant economy is a predictable outcome of government picking winners and losers in businesses and industries that they will favor," Medina said.

Editorial: Bold move to hold banks accountable
Just as Americans kicked off the long Labor Day weekend, a little-known federal agency took a bold step to hold the banking industry -- including individual executives -- accountable for the mortgage meltdown still plaguing the nation's ailing economy. The lawsuit against JP Morgan, for example, names 38 individual defendants. Twelve execs are named in the Bank of America suit, while seven merit a mention in the Morgan Stanley filing. The lawsuits allege that these individuals, most of whom are not well-known but still work in this highly paid industry, signed off or were responsible for providing misleading information... FHFA's gutsy move won't help homeowners with underwater mortgages who are still being jerked around by the banking industry. Nor does it hold accountable the Fannie and Freddie executives whose ruinous leadership -- including Minnesota native and Democratic political operative James Johnson -- led to a massive taxpayer bailout.

Analysis: Mortgage cases target people, not just banks
By suing 131 individuals in its effort to recover losses on $200 billion of mortgage debt that went sour, the federal agency overseeing mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is doing one thing that the government has largely left alone. It is trying to hold actual people, not just companies, responsible for their roles in the global financial crisis. The 18 lawsuits by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, including 17 filed last week and one in July, signal a change from prior federal efforts to punish banks and bankers for their roles in the financial crisis.  Most of the higher-profile financial crisis cases brought by the Department of Justice, such as its civil fraud against Deutsche Bank AG, or the Securities and Exchange Commission have named few or no individual defendants. So far, no top executives at major banks have been criminally charged.

Nevada Says Bank Broke Mortgage Settlement
The attorney general of Nevada is accusing Bank of America of repeatedly violating a broad loan modification agreement it struck with state officials in October 2008 and is seeking to rip up the deal so that the state can proceed with a suit against the bank over allegations of deceptive lending, marketing and loan servicing practices. In a complaint filed Tuesday in United States District Court in Reno, Catherine Cortez Masto, the Nevada attorney general, asked a judge for permission to end Nevada’s participation in the settlement agreement. This would allow her to sue the bank over what the complaint says were dubious practices uncovered by her office in an investigation that began in 2009.

VA takes action against builder in WAVE 3 Troubleshooter report
Mike Jones Built Homes is still pushing forward with new construction projects despite losing its approval from the VA and getting hit with two different lawsuits from angry customers... In February, a WAVE 3 Troubleshooter investigation uncovered at least four military families in the same neighborhood who complained of shoddy workmanship with their Mike Jones Built Homes.Jones had transferred the properties he was working on at that time to Hardesty Built Homes. That company is owned by Jimmy Hardesty, the same guy who helped Jones build the homes the soldiers are having problems with now.

 Amnesty for the Indefensible
“They” are the Wall Street usurers, people of a sort condemned in Scripture, who have brought more misery to this nation than we have known since the Great Depression. “They” will not suffer for their crimes because they have a majority ownership position in our political system. That is the meaning of the banking plea bargain that the Obama administration is pressuring state attorneys general to negotiate with the titans of the financial world. ...The $20 billion or so that the banks would pony up is chump change to them compared with the trillions that the Fed and other public agencies spent to bail them out. The banks were given direct cash subsidies, virtually zero-interest loans, and the Fed took $2 trillion in bad paper off their hands while the banks exacerbated the banking crisis they had created through additional shady practices, including fraudulent mortgage foreclosures.

Metroplex homebuilder pleads guilty in widespread mortgage fraud scheme
Davon Willis, who oversaw a mortgage broker business that processed loan applications involved in the mortgage fraud, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering on July 18, 2011.  Two recruiters of homebuyers, Julila Nicole Allen, 38, of Grand Heights, Texas, and Kimoni Jackson, 34, of Desoto, ....  Another homebuilder, Yunus Mandli, 63, of Rockwall, Texas, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud...  A mortgage broker, Quincy Dynell Harrington, 41, of Corinth, Texas, ...  One loan processor, Natasha Manley, 39 of Sherman Oaks, California, ... One home seller, Keith Ezell, 46, of Cedar Hill, Texas, ...Sharetha Jackson, 41, of Desoto, Texas, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering ... Willis Raymond McMurran, 37, of Middleton, Delaware, ... and Edward Rogers, 41, of Midlothian, Texas.,Rodney Lavann Giles, Sr., 44, of Dallas, Renetta Yvonne Jones, 40, of Plano, Texas...M.D. Habibur Rahman, 52, of Garland, Texas, ...Jon Ruliffson, 31, of Plano, Texas,  ...Larry Reisman, 49, of Dallas, a homebuilder, was indicted for conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

Attorney General of N.Y. Is Said to Face Pressure on Bank Foreclosure Deal
Eric T. Schneiderman, the attorney general of New York, has come under increasing pressure from the Obama administration to drop his opposition to a wide-ranging state settlement with banks over dubious foreclosure practices, according to people briefed on discussions about the deal. In recent weeks, Shaun Donovan, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and high-level Justice Department officials have been waging an intensifying campaign to try to persuade the attorney general to support the settlement, said the people briefed on the talks. “The attorney general remains concerned by any attempt at a global settlement that would shut down ongoing investigations of wrongdoing related to the mortgage crisis,” said Danny Kanner, the spokesman for Mr. Schneiderman.

New York Fed Director Kathryn Wylde Provokes Accusations Of Conflict Of Interest
Kathryn Wylde, deputy chair of the New York Fed's board, challenged state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's opposition to a proposed $8.5 billion settlement between Bank of America and a group of investors -- leaping to the defense of the financial industry -- according to remarks quoted Monday in The New York Times..."I'm just appalled," said Whalen, who is managing director of Institutional Risk Analytics. "She is a public director of a Federal Reserve Bank, and she's not supposed to behave this way. She is not an advocate for the industry." "If she wants to be an advocate for the big banks," he continued, "then she ought to step down."

Former Miami Beach building official gets 18 months in corruption case
The third Miami Beach building department employee caught taking bribes from a scandal-tainted developer pleaded guilty Monday, agreeing to serve 18 months in jail.  Mohammed Partovi, 54, pleaded guilty to two counts of “unlawful compensation’’ for accepting a Rolex watch and cash from Michael Stern, a troubled Miami Beach developer who has repeatedly been accused of fraud and forgery in lawsuits relating to his real estate business.