Mandatory Arbitration Clauses Reduce Consumer Rights
When American consumers sign contracts — for credit cards, bank loans, mortgages or telephone service — language in the fine print often waives their right to employ the full extent of the law should the company violate the contract...The fine print of many contracts says consumers "waive the right to go to court" to resolve any disputes about a product or service. They are instead committed to binding arbitration... Claybrook says the system is flawed. "The process completely favors the corporation," she said. "The corporation does repeat business with the arbitration company and if the company routinely finds in favor of consumers or gives large awards to consumers, they don't get used again."

Homebuilding Industry Warranty Spending is Extremely Low
New homebuilder warranty claims are low, while homebuyer complaints are at an all-time high? 
When buying an airplane, helicopter, a car, a washer or dryer, computer, printer, desk or even an office chair, the percentage of dollars spent by the manufactures on customer warranty issues is greater than that spent by the homebuilding industry on defectively built new home warranty claims.  The percentage of earnings spent by a builder on warranty issues of a new home is as little as 0.3% while Gateway reported 6.2% and Lexmark International, a manufacturer of printers spent 9.7%.  Read the entire series: Warranty Week Six Part Series    

Amend HB730 – The Texas Residential Construction Commission Act

Homeowners storm Capitol
Janet Ahmad, president of HomeOwners for Better Building, said TRCC's Texas Star Builder Program is the main point of contention. The program allows builders to qualify as "star builders," demonstrating knowledge, experience and history of financial responsibility, Ahmad said. She said this must be made mandatory for builders instead of optional, as it is under the current system.

The Agency that Bob Perry Built
For nearly a decade, homebuilders had steadily eroded consumer rights in Texas: Buyers who moved into brand-new houses and found cracked foundations and leaky roofs had little recourse. Some couldn’t file a lawsuit even if they wanted. They had signed housing contracts that forced them to resolve complaints through binding arbitration hearings notorious for favoring builders... Homebuilders are some of the state’s heftiest contributors to political campaigns. Their interests so dominate the TRCC that the new agency is little more than a tool to help the industry win disputes against consumers...Since 2001, the industry has donated more than $8.9 million to candidates, parties, and political action committees, according to an analysis by the campaign watchdog group Campaigns for People. That includes $744,562 to Gov. Rick Perry...

Washington Post
Woman's life is looking up now that her abode isn't making her sick
By JEFF TURRENTINE
 The ordeal, she claimed, had left her with debilitating symptoms known collectively as multiple chemical sensitivity syndrome, or MCS. Currently, the medical community classifies MCS as a "syndrome of unknown origin," like Gulf War syndrome or chronic fatigue syndrome. By now, Lively-Diebold is used to cynicism about her condition. It's one of the reasons she wanted to find "the type of architect who would listen to your input, not just tell you what you need to have."

Poconos home builder is charged in real estate fraud investigation
District attorney's office says it is looking into six other firms
A day after announcing felony charges against a Poconos home builder, the Monroe County district attorney's office said it's aggressively investigating at least six other builders in a widening probe of real estate fraud.

Off the Kuff
Building influence
Here's an interesting article from the This Week section of the Chron regarding an acrimonious and public battle between a disgruntled homebuyer named Jordan Fogal and the builder who constructed her house, Tremont Homes... Let's start with the baseless attack on civil juries, something that I've noted before. Just once, I'd like to see a reporter ask someone who offers such an opinion if they hold similar feelings about juries in criminal trials... Attacking juries like this is cynical, dishonest, and really quite insulting, since after all everyone reading this is a potential juror. That this now seems to be a standard talking point for the homebuilding industry certainly doesn't give me any faith in their preferred system of arbitration...But what really gets me is the last quoted sentence. The lawyer for the builders is also an arbitrator for the AAA, which is the group used to rule on these builder/buyer disputes.