For New Homebuyers: New Home Buyers Guide Protect Your Investment!

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Corporate Coruption in the Ohio Homebulding Industry:

Jul 10 2002 As President Bush calls for an end to Corporate Corruption, homebuilding corruption looms in Ohio Homebuilder case. "Erpenbeck Builder Saga" that now includes Erpenbeck Co. of Edgewood; its former president, Bill Erpenbeck; 200+ new homeowners, 20 Erpenbeck affiliates; 15 banks and 19 title companies.   Also included are up to 100 ''John Doe lenders'' who may have been involved in the banking scandal, but who have not yet been identified. Economic Impact: $114 Million.

Erpenbeck Archive  Cincinnati Post. While it took Bill Erpenbeck less than a decade to build Erpenbeck Co. into one of the area's largest homebuilders, allegations of bank fraud and hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid bills are threatening to bring it down even faster. 

Under investigation  Cincinnati Enquirer. A. William Erpenbeck spent years building a company that appears to be crumbling. One of the Tristate's biggest home builders, the Erpenbeck Co., is under federal investigation for a suspected bank fraud that is affecting lenders, subcontractors and home owners. 
NOTE: The above links is a complete set of articles on this homebuilder and the investigation by the FBI in the Cinncinati Enquirer and Post. This is a HUGE investigation.

NBC Dateline:

• April 17, 2001 Dateline NBC:"Reading the fine print" Do home warranties offer protection for buyers?. Dateline NBC April 17, 2001. With warranties like this, a Lemon Law is needed!
• May 27, 2001 Pulte's Zeumer (appeared on Dateline) writes concerning Jim Blackstones' house (home eventually bought back). Notice has the highlighted text is similiar to  the CEO's response to Datelines story. Insuring homeowners are "satisfied and delighted" seems to be a theme in these letters.
• May 24, 2001 Pulte CEO Responds to NBC's Dateline Story   Erik Gabrielson, HousingZone.com Editor "Among some of the important facts presented to Dateline, but omitted from  their story, is that Pulte Homes has one of, if not the best, warranties in  the industry." Read the entire statement with commentary.
• May 17, 2001 NAHB Blasts Datelineís Report On New Home Warranties. "Datelineís April 17 report was a one-sided and unfair portrayal of the home building industry and 10-year insured warranties on new homes. It sensationalized the issue and served only to needlessly alarm prospective home buying consumers."

Arizona Republic's Special Report on Arizona homebuilders: 
 
• Construction quality varies widely Builders balance demands of workmanship, speed, profit 
• Builders apt to lobby legislature
• How Phoenix compares with other hot home markets 
• Complaints follow building boom 
• Skilled labor, oversight stretched thin
• Costs of home-deficit suits add up
• Competition makes builders better 
• High-end buyers file more complaints
• New-home flaws fertile ground for attorneys
• New houses inspected on the fly 
• Cities struggle to keep up with boom
• Some builders hold multiple licenses
• State registrar serves as mediator; buyers, builders differ on effectiveness
• Complaints by zip code 
• A home buyer's guide to potential problems 
• Complaint records of Arizona's top 50 builders 

Boston Globe Special on Homebuilders: 
 
Luxury by Design, Quality by Chance. A 4 part series concerning the building industry. "The Spotlight Team also found that substandard home construction is a growing national problem, and that many national home building firms have taken advantage of a lack of government oversight. "

DAY ONE
Home builder leaves trail of bitter buyers
Problems undermine Hopkinton subdivision
Cost-saving practices a hit with Wall Street

Web-only
It would be less expensive ... to start over'
For both sides, a long-running nightmare
A seventh-grade shop project gone wrong'
They simply cannot do the job'

DAY TWO
Questionable sales practices 

DAY THREE
Sub-par materials used 

DAY FOUR
A national surge in buyer complaints 

St. Petersburg Times:

Nightmare Dream Home. In 1998, he and his family moved into a new house built by U.S. Home Corp.  in the Hunter's Green subdivision of Tampa.  According to Preslar, they had no hot water downstairs for almost three months. One bedroom had no air-conditioning ducts. The kitchen floor  molded. The foundation cracked. Wallpaper turned black. Soffits turned green. The carpet frayed. The banister fell down. Kitchen lights dropped from the ceiling. Including sidebars:
• Hidden flaws By COLLINS CONNER © St. Petersburg Times, published March 12, 2000 In looking at new home construction, the St. Petersburg Times found plenty of evidence that work had deteriorated. Some defects are easy to see. But industry insiders described commonplace problems that are difficult to detect or that occur during phases of construction that are virtually unexamined. These flaws affect a home's strength, wind resistance, durability or efficiency. 
• Riding on its reputation Suarez Housing sells the nuts and bolts of construction quality and, according to a Times poll of Tampa Bay area buyers, it delivers on its promises.
• Industry regulation lacking. Jack and Ruth Dunn of Hernando County learn there is little recourse when a home is constructed improperly.
• Home buyers say quality fell through the cracks. Buying a new home was exactly what a couple wanted to do. But when they moved into their $100,000 house, they didn't get exactly what they were looking for.
• So many new homes, so few skilled workers. Ask builders about construction defects and they will point to the labor shortage as the cause. "It's the No. 1 problem across the nation," said Ron Coppenbarger of Jacksonville, who spearheads the worker recruitment effort of the Florida Home Builders Association.
• U.S. Home: Survey by Times is not accurate. A U.S. Home Corp. customer-satisfaction survey proves that a scientific poll conducted by the St. Petersburg Times is inaccurate, according to Gene Lanton, president of the builder's Central Florida division.

USA Weekend:
 
MOLD: A Health Alert.  Included in this report:

• Stachybotrys atra
• How common are these molds
• Why new homes are moldier 
• How to protect your home from unhealthful molds 

SPECIAL REPORT: It could happen here.  St. Petersburg Times
 
Although Hurricane Andrew exposed the vulnerability of gable roofs, many homes outside South Florida still don't meet wind-load standards. By COLLINS CONNER St. Petersburg Times, published June 27, 1999. (Homebuilders referenced: Ryland Homes, US Homes, Lennar, Holiday Builders, Hoyt Homes, Winward Homes, Pulte Homes, Richard Van Orden Homes, Cozy Homes Inc. , Mitch Underwood Homes.) Including sidbars or:
• The Long Lonely Fight
• Insurance companies will still pay
• Repairs can cost thousands
• What you can do about your own house
• The Experts
• How the Times study was done
• Letter from Lennar Homes
• Summary of engineer, builder responses.