Senate Hearing on HUD Budget and Housing Defects |
Friday, 02 March 2012 |
Housing and Urban Development Subcommittee (Chairman Murray)
22% of homeowners are under water. Oversight by HUD is important. Senator Collins: Homelessness is a priority is a top priority. Troubling Codes, cases of code violations, substandard property... HUD has an obligation to oversee the use of federal funds... It's appalling...
View Hearing - March 1, 2012 Hearing on FY13 HUD Budget
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Home prices fell to fresh lows |
Friday, 02 March 2012 |
Home Prices Hit New Depths
Home prices fell to fresh lows in December, but
economists say that a drop in the number of homes listed for sale could
help stabilize prices in parts of the country this year. Home prices
fell by 4% last year, according to the Standard &
Poor's/Case-Shiller index that tracks 20 metro areas. Prices dropped by
1.1% for the three-month period ending in December compared with the
same period ending in November.That was slightly better than November's
reading, when prices were down 1.3% from October. |
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Unregulated and Uncontrolled Development the Freedom to Rob Someone |
Thursday, 26 January 2012 |
$200,000 bought nothing but trouble
Dominguez and two dozen other buyers shelled out more than $200,000 apiece for spacious, 11-acre-plus residential lots. They had big plans to start building custom homes quickly on their rustic properties near Leon Creek and move in. That was seven years ago. Today, the dream homes are just that â a dream...Clearwater Ranch totaled $4.3 million, according to deeds filed at the Bexar County Courthouse. |
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BEWARE OF HOA PAYMENT PLANS |
Thursday, 29 December 2011 |
New laws affect HOAs and homeowners starting Jan. 1
In years past in Texas, HOAs could foreclose on a property owner in as little as a month for non-payment of its assessments. âYou can get yourself caught up in a credit payment plan that makes payday loans look good, if you arenât careful,â said Janet Ahmad, president of Homeowners for Better Building. And if youâre wondering how the HOA is spending your assessments, you can now request a copy of the agencyâs recordkeeping. But beware, even that may cost you in copying costs and employee hours to procure it. âThis open records request is extremely lucrative for -- again -- the management companies,â added Ahmad. |
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Bexar County's 121 Substandard Streets and County Engineer Green Feel No Pressure |
Saturday, 17 December 2011 |
Quail Run developer goes bankrupt
Just 70 lots, but lots of headaches. Residents also blame the county, saying it's holding them hostage... Quail Run's roads still have not gotten needed repairs nor passed inspection with Bexar County engineers, steps required before the county will accept the roads for maintenance. ... âAt this point, he's still a viable developer with a presence in the community,â said County Engineer Renee Green. âThe street issues in Quail Run came to light as part of a review in the spring of 2010, when the county identified 121 subdivisions in unincorporated areas whose streets and drains had been out of warranty for at least two years. ... Green said county officials have not made a policy decision about how to deal with street problems... Green said the county does not feel pressured to decide immediately how to deal with Quail Run's streets. âThe streets are what they are,â Green said. âThey're not going anywhere.â |
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SEC: Fannie & Freddie Mortgage Fraud |
Friday, 16 December 2011 |
SEC sues former top execs at Fannie, Freddie
Six former top executives of housing finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were accused of securities fraud Friday by federal regulators for allegedly misleading investors about the size of the companies' risky subprime mortgage holdings. Among those in the SEC's civil action were former Fannie Mae Chief Executive Daniel H. Mudd and former Freddie Mac Chief Executive and Chairman Richard F. Syron. They are two of the highest-ranking figures to face charges in the wake of the financial crisis.
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NACA - The Consumer Advocate Blog |
Tuesday, 11 October 2011 |
Lets ensure that Forced Arbitration does not fall off the radar!
As previously announced, the Senate Judiciary Committee will be holding a hearing on the Arbitration Fairness Act next Thursday October 13th at 2pm in Dirksen 226. Democratic witnesses include NACA Member Paul Bland, Minnesota AG Lori Swanson and consumer witness, Dr. Deborah Pierce. Republican Witnesses will include: Christopher Drahozel (click here to see his take on Concepcion and the Arbitration Fairness Act) and Victor Schwartz. |
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Lashing out at Gov. Rick Perry |
Friday, 23 September 2011 |
Medina calls Perry a 'capital crony'
An old foe is lashing out at Gov. Rick Perry, as he continues his campaign for president. Debra Medina - a GOP opponent in 2011's gubernatorial race - and a handful of tea party activists pointed out what they call âcrony capitalismâ formed under Perry's reign in Texas. ...âWe want to take the opportunity and say it's not an HPV mandate but across all areas of public policy in Texas we've seen those sorts of practices,â Medina said. "We do all we can to inform the public about what's going on politically.â... "The stagnant economy is a predictable outcome of government picking winners and losers in businesses and industries that they will favor," Medina said. |
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Feds Take First Steps to Hold Bank Exectuives Accountable |
Saturday, 10 September 2011 |
Editorial: Bold move to hold banks accountable
Just as Americans kicked off the long Labor Day weekend, a little-known federal agency took a bold step to hold the banking industry -- including individual executives -- accountable for the mortgage meltdown still plaguing the nation's ailing economy. The lawsuit against JP Morgan, for example, names 38 individual defendants. Twelve execs are named in the Bank of America suit, while seven merit a mention in the Morgan Stanley filing. The lawsuits allege that these individuals, most of whom are not well-known but still work in this highly paid industry, signed off or were responsible for providing misleading information... FHFA's gutsy move won't help homeowners with underwater mortgages who are still being jerked around by the banking industry. Nor does it hold accountable the Fannie and Freddie executives whose ruinous leadership -- including Minnesota native and Democratic political operative James Johnson -- led to a massive taxpayer bailout. |
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FHFA Litigation names individual banking executives |
Saturday, 10 September 2011 |
Analysis: Mortgage cases target people, not just banks
By suing 131 individuals in its effort to recover losses on $200 billion of mortgage debt that went sour, the federal agency overseeing mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is doing one thing that the government has largely left alone. It is trying to hold actual people, not just companies, responsible for their roles in the global financial crisis. The 18 lawsuits by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, including 17 filed last week and one in July, signal a change from prior federal efforts to punish banks and bankers for their roles in the financial crisis. Most of the higher-profile financial crisis cases brought by the Department of Justice, such as its civil fraud against Deutsche Bank AG, or the Securities and Exchange Commission have named few or no individual defendants. So far, no top executives at major banks have been criminally charged. |
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Nevada Attorney General Masto Stands Strong |
Thursday, 08 September 2011 |
Nevada Says Bank Broke Mortgage Settlement
The attorney general of Nevada is accusing Bank of America of repeatedly violating a broad loan modification agreement it struck with state officials in October 2008 and is seeking to rip up the deal so that the state can proceed with a suit against the bank over allegations of deceptive lending, marketing and loan servicing practices. In a complaint filed Tuesday in United States District Court in Reno, Catherine Cortez Masto, the Nevada attorney general, asked a judge for permission to end Nevadaâs participation in the settlement agreement. This would allow her to sue the bank over what the complaint says were dubious practices uncovered by her office in an investigation that began in 2009. |
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VA Action Poor - Same Guys, Different Name |
Tuesday, 06 September 2011 |
VA takes action against builder in WAVE 3 Troubleshooter report
Mike Jones Built Homes is still pushing forward with new construction projects despite losing its approval from the VA and getting hit with two different lawsuits from angry customers... In February, a WAVE 3 Troubleshooter investigation uncovered at least four military families in the same neighborhood who complained of shoddy workmanship with their Mike Jones Built Homes.Jones had transferred the properties he was working on at that time to Hardesty Built Homes. That company is owned by Jimmy Hardesty, the same guy who helped Jones build the homes the soldiers are having problems with now. |
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Call and Write Congress and President Oboma - Demand Accountability - NO DEAL |
Friday, 26 August 2011 |
Amnesty for the Indefensible
âTheyâ are the Wall Street usurers, people of a sort condemned in Scripture, who have brought more misery to this nation than we have known since the Great Depression. âTheyâ will not suffer for their crimes because they have a majority ownership position in our political system. That is the meaning of the banking plea bargain that the Obama administration is pressuring state attorneys general to negotiate with the titans of the financial world. ...The $20 billion or so that the banks would pony up is chump change to them compared with the trillions that the Fed and other public agencies spent to bail them out. The banks were given direct cash subsidies, virtually zero-interest loans, and the Fed took $2 trillion in bad paper off their hands while the banks exacerbated the banking crisis they had created through additional shady practices, including fraudulent mortgage foreclosures. |
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Bunch of Texas Smalltime Mortgage Fraud Thugs Rounded Up, Charged and Prosecuted |
Thursday, 25 August 2011 |
Metroplex homebuilder pleads guilty in widespread mortgage fraud scheme
Davon Willis, who oversaw a mortgage broker business that processed loan applications involved in the mortgage fraud, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering on July 18, 2011. Two recruiters of homebuyers, Julila Nicole Allen, 38, of Grand Heights, Texas, and Kimoni Jackson, 34, of Desoto, .... Another homebuilder, Yunus Mandli, 63, of Rockwall, Texas, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud... A mortgage broker, Quincy Dynell Harrington, 41, of Corinth, Texas, ... One loan processor, Natasha Manley, 39 of Sherman Oaks, California, ... One home seller, Keith Ezell, 46, of Cedar Hill, Texas, ...Sharetha Jackson, 41, of Desoto, Texas, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering ... Willis Raymond McMurran, 37, of Middleton, Delaware, ... and Edward Rogers, 41, of Midlothian, Texas.,Rodney Lavann Giles, Sr., 44, of Dallas, Renetta Yvonne Jones, 40, of Plano, Texas...M.D. Habibur Rahman, 52, of Garland, Texas, ...Jon Ruliffson, 31, of Plano, Texas, ...Larry Reisman, 49, of Dallas, a homebuilder, was indicted for conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to commit bank fraud. |
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