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Washington Post - Subsidizing the well-to-do |
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Sunday, 18 September 2005 |
Homes As Hummers Since 1970 the size of the average home has increased 55 percent (to 2,330 square feet), while the size of the average family has decreased 13 percent. Especially among the upper crust, homes have more space and fewer people...In 2005, about 80 percent of the estimated $200 billion of federal housing subsidies consists of tax breaks (mainly deductions for mortgage interest payments and preferential treatment for profits on home sales), reports an Urban Institute study. These tax breaks go heavily to upscale Americans, who are thereby encouraged to buy bigger homes. Federal housing benefits average $8,268 for those with incomes between $200,000 and $500,000, estimates the study; by contrast, they're only $365 for those with incomes of $40,000 to $50,000. It's nutty for government to subsidize bigger homes for the well-to-do. |
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The Boston Globe - Tell Your Mold Story |
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Wednesday, 14 September 2005 |
The Boston Globe wants to hear your mold story
The next menace: Mold
What Katrina's wind and waters haven't claimed, fungi are now starting to devour
Hurricane Katrina victims who haven't lost their homes still must confront some truly horrific mold...mold has been spotted in the apartments, college dorms and even offices of greater Boston. Tell us your mold story: What caused it? Where was it? What did you do about it?  Tell your mold stories |
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Mother Jones: Houses Keep Growing |
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Saturday, 10 September 2005 |
This New House
The American Dream just keeps growing. Since 1970 the size of the average new home has ballooned by 50 percent. “Great rooms,†Viking ranges, 10-acre lots—can moats and turrets be far behind? |
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Dallas Morning News - Guest Commentary |
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Friday, 09 September 2005 |
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Heidi Wanken: Home buyers, beware
The moral of our story is this: Your home builder is not your friend, and the company isn't looking out for you. The builder will woo and court you while you're looking at the model homes and floor plans. It is an entirely different story once you own the house... And if you have any doubt about the potential for problems, consider this: To be a builder in the state of Texas, you need only fill out a two-page form and submit a check for $125 to the TRCC. If we had known then what we know now, we would have walked away and never looked back. |
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Juliet Home - Building Status has been Canceled |
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Thursday, 08 September 2005 |
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TRCC CANCELED - Juliet Home
Juliet Homes to begin work on new residential community
See: Tremont & Juliet Homes |
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Realtors and Forclosure Sharks are Salivating |
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Thursday, 08 September 2005 |
Lobbyists decimate Homeowner protection bill
This year, Senator Denise Ducheny introduced SB 137 - the stripped down version that Schwarzenegger had vetoed. It was sailing along in the California legislature until the lobbyists geared up again, and like a pack of ravenous wolves tearing at a carcass, they decimated the bill even more. Senator Duchney was forced to drop the $2,500 ceiling to $1,800, and finally, to strip the equity provision from the bill at the demand of the realtors. A home can now be sold for any price after 12 months - even for a $1. The realtors and other foreclosure sharks are salivating all the way to the bank.
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Monday, 05 September 2005 |
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Monday Morning Mold Septebmer 6, 2004 |
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Mold victim heard in Brankruptcy Court |
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Saturday, 03 September 2005 |
Pepperell mold house victim to testify against owner's bankruptcy
Mold house victim Nancy Davis is getting her day in court -- or at least some of it -- at U.S. Bankruptcy Court, New Hampshire District,...the Shawnee Road house was sold in April for $136,500 after three failed auction attempts and after the mortgagor had excused the Davises' $234,000 note and boarded the house up. |
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Dallas:Ch 11 Investigative Team Reports on FBI Investigation of Affordable Housing & Corruption |
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Wednesday, 31 August 2005 |
CBS Channel 11 Dallas continues investigative reports
ETHICS QUESTIONS MOUNT: PLAN COMMISSIONER HAD UNDISCLOSED STAKE IN LAND DEAL FUNDED BY UNAWARE CITY COUNCIL
The Dallas City Council earlier this year approved a million dollar grant to build a housing project in which Dallas Plan Commissioner D'Angelo Lee apparently held a secret financial interest, CBS-11 News has learned...The deal apparently fell through since the onset of intense publicity detailing an FBI corruption investigation that has scrutinized Commissioner Lee and his two business partners. The development plan obtained by CBS 11 lists as primary developers Denton Contractor Ron Slovacek and Andrea Spencer, who have been linked in at least one other business development deal to the Plan Commissioner. All three are among a long and growing list of people of interest to an FBI public corruption investigation of how Dallas City Hall, council members, and plan commissioners have handled an affordable housing construction boom in the city's southern sectors.
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Houston-area foreclosures rise |
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Sunday, 28 August 2005 |
Disturbing wake-up call in American dream
FOR thousands of Houstonians, the American dream of owning a home has become a financial nightmare. In 2004, lenders foreclosed on 8,300 homes in Harris, Montgomery and Fort Bend counties — more than double the number five years before... More homeowners are also getting right to the brink of foreclosure. The number of homes posted for foreclosure — a warning that the bank can foreclose in 21 days — totaled 19,866 in Harris County last year, the highest since 1989...Texas leads the nation in home foreclosures, according to the Foreclosure Economic Advisory Council |
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Canada's poorly built homes |
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Sunday, 28 August 2005 |
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Canada, Sandra Bullock & Texas |
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Sunday, 28 August 2005 |
Hollywood star's court win a victory for homeowners
"A victory for Sandra Bullock brings to an end a long, grueling trial that sends a loud message to lawmakers, the home-building industry and a message of hope for homebuyers of defective homes across the nation,'' said Jane Ahmad, president of Home Owners For Better Building, based in San Antonio, Texas. |
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Thursday, 18 August 2005 |
MSN Money
Insurers Keep A Secret History Of Your Home
A huge database not only tracks claims, it also looks for risks such as toxic mold. That's why homeowners with even minor water damage are being canceled -- and are sometimes unable to sell.
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New York Times - That Hissing Sound |
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Tuesday, 16 August 2005 |
That Hissing Sound
ABSTRACT - Paul Krugman Op-Ed column on signs that United States housing bubble has started to deflate. Housing prices move much more slowly than stock prices. There are no Black Mondays, when prices fall 23 percent in a day. In fact, prices often keep rising for a while even after a housing boom goes bust. So the news that the U.S. housing bubble is over won't come in the form of plunging prices; it will come in the form of falling sales and rising inventory, as sellers try to get prices that buyers are no longer willing to pay. And the process may already have started. |
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Tuesday, 16 August 2005 |
Monday Morning Mold August 15, 2005
In tracking mold stories over the last three years, I've realized that the job with the highest percentage of documented mold exposure is being a Governor of a state. To date, 8% of all governors (Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina and Louisianna) have had to be relocated from their Governor's Mansions because of mold. |
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