New Home Woes: Shoddy Construction - Elizabeth Leamy reporting
Complaints about home builders increased more than 50 percent in five years Two million brand new homes built a year and 90% of buyers say they are happy; but if you do the math that means that 200,000 new homeowners are not happy. Jerry Howard with the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) said and few as 80% of homeowners are happy. Doing the math that would mean that  as many as 400,000 new homeowners are not happy.  Consumer complaints about builders have gone up by 50% according to the Better Business Bureau.  Structurally unsound, leaking water, undersized, are examples on problems... Cross out Mandatory Binding Arbitration Clauses in the contract they deny you the right to sue your builder in a court of law. 

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House Democrats reshape bill to help more homeowners
House Democrats, opposed to the Senate's focus on helping homebuilders, moved Tuesday to reshape housing legislation to help more homeowners. "We need to provide relief to the buyers and families themselves, not just the banks and builders," said Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y. House Democrats, he said, intend to put "families first."...Also today, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., will hold a hearing on his bill to provide $300 billion for federal guarantees of mortgages for troubled borrowers if lenders make them more affordable.

Looming Deficit Impedes Federal Housing Agency
Housing officials say the agency will face a deficit for the first time in its 74-year history, starting in the fiscal year that begins in October. And they blame a rapidly growing and increasingly troubled sector of the F.H.A.’s mortgage portfolio, known as the seller-financed down payment loan program, which has suffered from high delinquency and foreclosure rates in recent years... In 2000, such mortgages made up less than 2 percent of F.H.A.-insured loans, officials say. By 2007, statistics show, they accounted for 35 percent of F.H.A. loans...“These types of loans have pushed F.H.A. to the brink of insolvency,”  Alphonso R. Jackson, the housing secretary, told senators recently. “They are costing hard-working Americans their homes.” Mr. Jackson announced last week that he would resign his post as of April 18...But HUD is not the only agency to raise concerns about seller down payment loans. In 2005, the Government Accountability Office raised concerns that were echoed by the Internal Revenue Service a year later.

TRCC Sunset Commission Hearing 
Watch activists will have the unique opportunity to get involved in the TRCC sunset process.The agency will be undergoing a top to bottom review by the Sunset Commission, a panel of legislators and citizens.  Activists can provide input in the process by testifying at hearings and sending letters.  Texas Watch will also have a hand in this process, ensuring that the agency is streamlined and improved for homeowners. THE REAL IMPACT OF THE TRCC

Texans Abused by Builders, Abandoned by the TRCC
With the creation of the Texas Residential Construction Commission in 2003, Texas homebuilders were shielded from liability and given a free pass to build shoddy homes.  The following stories are true accounts of homeowners who are now left with nothing and no way to hold their homebuilders accountable.

Spending public money to shore up real estate prices won't make housing more affordable
The Senate bill hashed out Wednesday, in rare bipartisan haste, typifies Black's frustration. In its current form, the bill would provide $10 billion in tax-exempt bonds to local governments and housing agencies so that they can refinance sub-prime loans. In other words, public dollars would be used to reduce the amount of money troubled borrowers owe on their mortgages.

U.S. Chamber shields corporations, rigs legal system at consumers' expense
"U.S. Chamber and its corporate financers are lobbying to keep abusive, binding mandatory arbitration clauses as the status quo.  Just ask Jamie Leigh Jones what she thinks of the status quo. "Jamie was raped, drugged, beaten, and then confined to a shipping container by KBR/Halliburton employees while working in Iraq.  Because of a clause placed in her employment contract, KBR is trying to force Jamie to submit to a binding, secret, non-appealable arbitration.  These are the types of corporations U.S. Chamber is trying to protect.

A message from Janet Ahmad - HUD Sec. Jackson Resigns & Home Builders "Death Sprial" give Hope for Tomorrow

HUD in turmoil as secretary resigns
The Bush administration's top housing official, under criminal investigation and intense pressure from Democratic critics, announced Monday he is quitting. Jackson, 62, has been fending off allegations of cronyism and favoritism involving HUD contractors for the past two years. The FBI has been examining the ties between Jackson and a friend who was paid $392,000 by Jackson's department as a construction manager in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Democratic Precinct Caucus passes Resolutions to Establish a Home Lemon Law and Amend The Federal Arbitration Act 
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED: That the Democratic Party in order to protect consumers when purchasing a new home has the same rights afforded new car buyers and supports passage of a Home Lemon Law...That the Democratic Party in order to protect consumers and their constitutional rights supports and recommends the amendment of the Federal Arbitration Act. Use examples to submit Resolutions to your Democrat or Republican Caucuses

Associated Press Reports: Feds investigating Countrywide lender
Federal authorities are investigating Countrywide Financial Corp. for securities fraud, according to media reports. The FBI is in the early stages of an inquiry into whether officials misrepresented the company's financial position and the quality of its mortgage loans, the Wall Street Journal first reported on Saturday, citing law enforcement officials and finance executives. The Justice Department is also involved in the investigation into the nation's largest mortgage lender, said the New York Times, which also cited anonymous sources who said they were not authorized to discuss ongoing criminal matters.

Illinois Subpoenas Countrywide, Wells Fargo
Attorney General Lisa Madigan has issued subpoenas to Countrywide Home Loans, Inc., and Wells Fargo Financial Illinois, Inc., to determine whether the lenders unfairly steered African American and Latino borrowers into higher cost home loans in violation of fair lending and civil rights laws. The study also found marked disparities in loan pricing between white and non-white borrowers, with African American borrowers three times as likely as white borrowers to receive a high-cost home loan and Latino borrowers twice as likely...According to the Chicago Reporter study, the wealthiest African American homeowners are still more likely than the poorest white borrowers to get placed in high-cost loans.

Fannie, Freddie agree to new appraisal standards
The two largest sources of U.S. mortgage financing agreed on Monday to sponsor a new home appraisal watchdog to prevent inflated home values...Since Wall Street gladly bought and bundled home loans for investors during the housing boom, lenders may have felt more comfortable inflating loan amounts. Cuomo filed subpoenas against Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to determine whether the companies stood by as that happened.

One in 10 home loans is under water: Economy.com
One-tenth of U.S. homeowners hold mortgages that are larger than the worth of their homes, Moody's Economy.com said on Friday.Nearly 8.8 million homeowners, or 10.3 percent, are in over their heads, its chief economist, Mark Zandi, estimates...