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Four Day Investigative Series |
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Friday, 07 October 2005 |
Columbus Dispatch Investigative Report
Ohio leads the nation in home foreclosure, a problem fueled by a weak economy, aggressive mortgage brokers, financial overreaching and tepid state oversight. |
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Wednesday, 05 October 2005 |
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Shoddy Construction Blamed for Mold |
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Wednesday, 05 October 2005 |
Mold: Landlords blame tenants, experts blame shoddy construction
The battle over mold increasingly is pitting landlords against tenants. Mold often is indicative of shoddy construction, experts say. But more landlords are looking to pass the buck on mold to tenants, said Ken Dobson, a Portland attorney specializing in mold complaints. |
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Complaint backlog in Charlotte |
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Wednesday, 05 October 2005 |
County pursues gripes about poor post-Charley work by contractors
Charlotte's investigation team is understaffed and overworked, but if it finds that a contractor did a substandard job, the county can force the company to go back and fix it... The Building Construction Services division has no official estimate of how many residents have complained to the county about bad Charley repairs, but division supervisor, Erin Mullen-Travis, said it must be "thousands upon thousands."
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Tuesday, 04 October 2005 |
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Home Builders Executives Bailing Out |
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Tuesday, 04 October 2005 |
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Home Builders' Stock Sales: Diversifying or Bailing Out?
Shedding Shares
Now they are cashing in. Executives and directors at many of the nation's largest development companies sold stock at a record pace this summer. Insiders at the 10 largest home builders by market value, including D. R. Horton, KB Home, Toll Brothers and M.D.C. Holdings, have sold nearly 11 million shares, worth $952 million, so far this year. That is a huge jump from the 6.8 million shares, worth $658 million, that insiders sold during all of last year, according to data compiled by Thomson Financial. Market specialists often view heavy stock sales by corporate insiders as a possible indicator that share prices are headed lower. Some analysts say that the share sales by home builders are reminiscent of the heavy dumping of stock by technology company executives just before the technology bubble burst in 2000. See related article 8/7/05: KB Home Stock Down $10.95 – Foreclosures are up - FTC & HUD’s Flood of Complaints Prompts Investigations
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When Life Gives You Lemons |
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Sunday, 25 September 2005 |
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New home a hazardous environment |
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Wednesday, 21 September 2005 |
No standards, poor information make household mold issue worse
AP business writer - The asbestos problem seemed pretty scary until the crew we hired to remove it from our new home pointed out the fuzzy black mold growing in the closet...The inescapable reality, however, was that I planned to move my family, including a newborn and a 3-year-old, into a potentially hazardous environment. |
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SUBURBAN BLIGHT & FHA Mortgage Defaults |
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Monday, 19 September 2005 |
Dominion Homes leads the state in FHA mortgage defaults
Bankers, credit counselors, appraisers, consumer advocates and others in real estate also blame some builders who act as mortgage brokers, because their control over much of the deal reduces checks and balances. Dominion’s two-year default rate is the highest in the nation among homebuilders with mortgage divisions that handled more than 1,000 Federal Housing Administrationbacked loans. It ranks fifth among all types of large lenders. |
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Charlotte Observer - Federal Reserve: Minorities pay more |
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Monday, 19 September 2005 |
Why do minorities pay more?
In a national report issued Tuesday, the Federal Reserve Board said blacks and Hispanics disproportionately receive high interest rates on mortgage loans, it does not know why, and it intends to find out. Regulators will examine lending by about 200 selected companies to see if discrimination affected pricing decisions, the report said...The Fed also said it will examine whether African Americans and Hispanics are sometimes steered to high-rate lenders when they could qualify for a market-rate loan. |
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Ft Worth Star-Telegram - Mortgage Series on disparities |
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Monday, 19 September 2005 |
Mortgage data show disparities
African-Americans and Hispanics continue to be denied mortgage loans more frequently than whites and tend to pay higher rates when their applications are accepted, according to new data released Tuesday. |
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Ft Worth Star-Telegram - 1st in Series - Higher Mortgage Rates for Minorities |
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Monday, 19 September 2005 |
In borrowing, some face a tougher climb
Blacks, Hispanics more likely to receive higher interest rates
Federal data provided by the 20 largest mortgage lenders show that African-American borrowers in the Fort Worth-Arlington and Dallas metropolitan areas were more than four times more likely to get a high-rate mortgage than Anglo borrowers. Such loans carry an interest rate at least 3 percentage points higher than the market rate. Hispanics are nearly three times more likely to get such loans.
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Ft Worth Star Telegram - Mortgage Series - Couple avoids being taken to the cleaners |
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Monday, 19 September 2005 |
Persistence helps couple cut rate
"If you were somebody who did not have a clue about buying and selling a home, you'd have gotten taken to the cleaners," Beard said. According to some studies, at least one in three borrowers who receive a high-rate loan could have qualified for a market-rate loan. |
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Mold, through the eyes of a 13-year-old. |
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Sunday, 18 September 2005 |
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Mold...The Destroyer
For five whole years, we didn't know what was making us ill. All my parents could say is it must be God's will. One doctor said one thing, one doctor said another. All I know is I almost lost my mother. |
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