|
Support HOBB - Become a Sustaining Member |
|
|
|
Who's Online |
|
We have 3 guests online |
|
Latest News
|
Licensed, bonded and unaccountable |
|
Thursday, 08 December 2005 |
The Oregon Construction Contractors Board fails to discipline bad
The board has done little as contractors avoided nearly half the damages ordered by the agency. During the past 10 years, the board awarded some $55 million to homeowners, suppliers and subcontractors, but only about $28 million was paid, CCB records show. Homeowners stand the best chance of collecting, but The Oregonian's analysis shows that many end up like Stuart, who won board-ordered damages of $364,000 but has been paid zilch. |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Oregonian Editorial- Contractor License Needs Teeth |
|
Thursday, 08 December 2005 |
Contractors board needs some teeth
It's too easy to get a contracting license in Oregon, and the industry-dominated regulatory system is too lax - Getting a barber's license requires 1,100 hours of training; getting a contractor's license requires only 16 hours of classes, followed by a test. And that's just the least of Oregon's problem with its alarmingly lax system of qualifying and policing its building contractors. In a front-page report Sunday, Jeff Manning of The Oregonian described how the industry-dominated Oregon Construction Contractors Board oversees a regulatory operation in which: Contractors skate by without paying millions of dollars in board-ordered damages to aggrieved homeowners. |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Asbury Park Press four-part series |
|
Thursday, 08 December 2005 |
Broken hearts, broken deals
Marlboro developer Anthony Spalliero, accused of using bribes and go-go dancers to buy officials' support of his projects, has a history of accusations that he used and abused women to get his way. For years, Spalliero, 63, the developer of an estimated 1,000 houses in Marlboro, maintained two separate families, and had ready access to a supply of potential girlfriends for himself and his friends. |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Kickbacks Illegal Referral-fee Schemes Prosecuted |
|
Sunday, 04 December 2005 |
Referral kickbacks take a bruising
The federal government has mounted its most aggressive campaign in decades to stamp out illegal referral-fee schemes... Congress conducted hearings and found that consumers across the country were being misled and harmed — steered to what were often higher-cost settlement and mortgage companies — solely because of backdoor payoffs among real-estate, lending, title insurance and other companies. The message to the industry should be equally clear," Montgomery said. "We will not only investigate those who give, but those who receive kickbacks."...Maybe the word finally will get out: Real-estate referral kickbacks are bad for consumers. They violate federal law, invite big financial penalties and could lead to jail time. |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Jury awards $11.5 million for loan fraud |
|
Friday, 02 December 2005 |
Texas jury rules against Ocwen
A jury in Galveston, Texas, has awarded $11.5 million to a customer of Ocwen Financial Corp. and its former Ocwen Federal Bank subsidiary, after determining they committed fraud in servicing her home equity loan. |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Builder Registration Revoked |
|
Wednesday, 30 November 2005 |
|
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
KHOU Ch.11 Houston Special Investigation |
|
Tuesday, 29 November 2005 |
KHOU Ch.11 News, Defenders Investigation
Are problem home builders your problem?
Fly-by-night contractors flock to Texas
Over the last few months, the 11 News Defenders have dug through every complaint ever filed with the state's construction commission about builders and remodelers. State authorities put out the welcome mat…â€This agency has fallen short on consumer complaints across the board.†Duane Wadill is the Executive Director of TRCC… The Defenders have discovered the commission has not fully investigated more than 80% of complaints against builders. |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
BBB Looking at Growing Trend of Defective Homes |
|
Saturday, 26 November 2005 |
Protecting consumers, promoting business
...BBB statistic claiming for every one complaint the organization receives, there are twenty problems never reported...From KB Homes to David Weekley to Royce and Perry, Parsons said the growing trend in building new, damaged and defective homes, however, is a problem which the BBB is looking at..."Something very bad is going on and for the first time, I am starting to wonder whether we are going to be able to keep homebuilders as members," Parsons said... In 2003, after homebuilders successfully lobbied the state legislator for a new state agency to protect them against lawsuits, the Texas Residential Construction Commission (TRCC) was formed. Since the TRCC's inception, Parsons said nothing but problems and issues arose..."Our mandate on the TRCC is that it is the law, but it is not a good law. We don't like laws like this; we want businesses to play fair."... "Half the builders hate that law. They saw some of the zealots start to affect their industry, not because they were bad but because other builders were bad," Parsons said. Furthermore, Parsons said the TRCC hurts the good builders left in the industry. "It is a terrible law. It is interesting that you look at the homebuilders who backed the TRCC law have gone south with us-Weekley, Royce and Perry." |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
ABC NEWS - $22 Milllion Settles for Moldy Lumber in Home |
|
Thursday, 10 November 2005 |
Moldy Wood Said to Have Caused Brain Damage in Child
The number of lawsuits involving mold have exploded in the past few years. But the settlement in a recent California case is the first of its kind. Experts told them that some of the lumber used to construct their house was moldy. That mold grew and seeped through the walls and the floors and exposed the family to an organic toxic mold they believe was responsible for damaging Kellen's brain. |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Washington Post - Builders suspected of deceit on levees |
|
Thursday, 03 November 2005 |
POSSIBLE NEW REASON FOR SOME NEW ORLEANS FLOODING
WASHINGTON - Investigators yesterday added a possible new explanation for some of the flooding that devastated New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina: deliberate misconduct by contractors who may have skimped on construction materials in building the city's floodwalls and levees. "What we have right now are stories of malfeasance and some field evidence that seems to correlate with those stories," said Raymond B. Seed, leader of one of three independent teams of experts investigating why the levees failed. |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Monday, 31 October 2005 |
NBC NEWS - Mortgage Fraud
WASHINGTON - In Detroit this week, the FBI arrested 20 people and charged them with bilking financial institutions out of $10 million. It was a mortgage fraud scheme that the FBI says has become all too common with the country’s explosion in home values — and it’s not just the banks that are getting taken. |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Jacksonvill Inspectors missing 40% |
|
Monday, 31 October 2005 |
City fails homeowners - Home inspectors missing 40%
At least four out of 10 homes built recently in Jacksonville have not been fully inspected by city officials responsible for assuring proper construction, an analysis of records by the Times-Union shows. |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Texas Watch Newsletter - Hurricans,Insurance & Abusive Practices |
|
Thursday, 27 October 2005 |
Housing Issues: Quarterly Update: Holding Wrongdoers Accountable
In the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, thousands of families turned to their insurance companies for help. At least one company -- Allstate -- has turned their backs on their policyholders by engaging in abusive practices. Texas Watch has helped bring to light a number of these abuses, leading to action by state regulators and the Attorney General. |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Philadelphia Contractor behind bars |
|
Saturday, 22 October 2005 |
Contractor gets jail time
A Quakertown contractor will have to rebuild his life from behind prison bars after deceiving 13 Montgomery County homeowners by taking more than $240‚000 for remodeling projects that were not completed. |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Contractor with an attitude |
|
Saturday, 22 October 2005 |
Investigation turns up violations for contractor
There was supposed to be a frameless shower, recessed lighting, new windows in the bathroom and kitchen – and new appliances. All of these things, Jackson says, were not done;and that was just for starters... with the floor not level, the toilet leans forward..."Her expectations are sky high, and there's no way to meet them.†He also said that Jackson got exactly what she paid for...Code Enforcement says there are complaints against Vickers on 41 projects in Jacksonville alone. |
|
Read more...
|
|
| << Start < Prev 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 Next > End >>
| | Results 1801 - 1815 of 2046 |
|
|
Home 
