|
Express-News Commentary by Janet Ahmad |
|
Monday, 13 February 2006 |
Comment: Homebuyers deserve better protection
In early 2003 the building industry contrived convincing tales of woe, along with millions in political action committee contributions, that persuaded some Texas lawmakers to help create the unprecedented experimental state agency... In the comptroller's report, there is compelling evidence that lawmakers made a mistake and were duped into going along with the building industry's long-term plan to thwart homeowners. The report gives failing grades to TRCC, and the revelations are reprehensible... despite the requirement for a criminal background check, "TRCC files show that a currently registered builder was convicted of burglary of a vehicle, burglary of a building and attempted homicide. Another builder was convicted of a sex crime and registered as a sex offender just months before he was allowed to register as a homebuilder." |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Slums & Foreclosures of Tomorrow |
|
Thursday, 19 January 2006 |
Disposable Housing today, are the Slums and Foreclosures of tomorrow
The home building industry is unregulated and out of control. Homes are not built to even minimum HUD or State standards, warranties give a false sense of security and are unenforceable. |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Boston Globe - Lemon Law Sought |
|
Wednesday, 21 September 2005 |
|
'Lemon' law sought for home buyers |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Wednesday, 08 June 2005 |
|
KB Profits will be Greater
They have gone where no one would dare to go --- the swamplands, the corn fields, the fertile cow pastures and the water-laden stock tank areas of rural America
. They have stripped the lands of trees and sowed their unsightly-cookie-cutter box shaped homes, blighting the countryside with what many critics refer to as disposable housing...When it comes to defying all good business principles of producing a durable and lasting product, KB has truly excelled. While most companies fail due to a bad product, negative press and their infamous reputations, KB Home has thrived on the idea that if you make it easy for customers or just build it, they will come, regardless of quality. |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Editorial- Avoiding Builder Contracts |
|
Sunday, 10 April 2005 |
|
Warning! Avoiding Builder Contracts that Harm New Home Buyers
How to minimize the risks
A message from Janet Ahmad |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Friday, 08 April 2005 |
|
Jordan Fogal, commenting on what her builder, Tremont Homes has done to her family
I always wondered what we would do in our sixties... I never invisioned that we would have restraining orders against us
... be homeless, going to court, sued in AAA. and have to share a closet. Welcome to the great state of Texas! The laws of Texas are against you... |
|
|
Sunday, 30 January 2005 |
|
Cincinnati Enquirer
Hammer home-builder fraud
Two pairs of local white-collar criminals are prison-bound for similar fraud schemes that ripped off banks and home buyers. Bankers John Finnan and Marc Menne were sentenced Tuesday in federal court in Covington to 63 and 54 months respectively for their roles in the $30 million Erpenbeck home-building fraud. Eleven days earlier, Fairfield home builder Chester Calkins and his wife, Antonette, pleaded guilty to a similar $5 million scam. |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Negative Web postings depict builders as unscrupulous businesspeople |
|
Monday, 24 January 2005 |
|
Builder
The Magazine of the National Association of Home Builders
Parallel Universe
The worldview of Home Builders versus that of the people who post negative web sites about them is so different that some might wonder whether the two groups live on the same planet.
The negative Web postings depict builders as unscrupulous businesspeople who market shoddy, hastily built products and force people into binding arbitration agreements that forfeit the legal rights of home buyers. |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Be careful what you ask for in Texas |
|
Thursday, 16 December 2004 |
|
Texas Homeowners with defective homes ask for consumer protection and this is what they got A Homeowner’s Nightmare: No Protection from Money Pits. The Legislature passed in 2003 HB730, which greatly restricts the rights of homeowners to get their builder to fix major construction problems. Under this new law, homeowners no longer have common law rights to an implied warranty of good and workmanlike construction, nor can they sue for Deceptive Trade Practices. These important rights, once taken for granted, have been replaced by a very limited state-mandated warranty that covers few defects. In addition, a homeowner can’t go to court without first going through a lengthy, bureaucratic process and paying for expensive inspection fees. In short, fewer homeowners’ rights, lots more bureaucracy. Homebuilders are among the state’s biggest donors. They gave over $5.2 million in our 2002 state elections. The biggest donor in Texas, Bob Perry of Perry Homes, alone gave over $3.8 million. Perry Homes’ general counsel was appointed to the board of the new Residential Construction Commission, which will enforce the new home construction law. |
|
|
Home 
