LULAC Calls for Abolishment of TRCC to Assured New Homes are Built Correctly
It is LULAC’s intention to call on all Texas Legislators to abolish the TRCC and support legislation to regulate the homebuilding industry and assure all future new homebuyers that a home is built in compliance with HUD minimum property standards and the state adopted International Residential Code before it is sold. As National President of LULAC I stand in support of the rights all Americans to be assured that new homes are built correctly and protected by adequate consumer protection laws.  Be assured that new homebuyers will not be denied something so basis as decent housing for their hard earned dollars.

HomeOweners for Better Building Response to Sunset Report -TRCC Historic Hallmark for Bad State Policy
The Sunset review confirms what Home Owners for Better Building has asserted since the establishment of TRCC in 2003, that there is no incentive for builders to construct homes with care or to get it right the first time. By establishing TRCC as a burdensome process daunted with bureaucratic roadblocks for homeowners; fearless and confident bad builders simply ignored their customers.  To that end TRCC aided in pushing 88% of aggrieved homeowners into costly binding mandatory arbitration, protracted legal disputes or to simply give up in submission; setting an historic hallmark for bad state policy.

Texas Watch responds to Sunset Report - TRCC Must be Abolished
Texas Watch agrees wholeheartedly and enthusiastically with the Sunset staff’s recommendation to abolish the Texas Residential Construction Commission (TRCC).  The staff’s review of the agency has verified the complaints homeowners have made since the agency was established in 2003 – that the agency is not only an unnecessary barrier to the resolution of disputes between homeowners and builders, but is also a stacked process that does more to protect the interests of the homebuilding industry than those of Texas taxpayers, homeowners, and consumers...We agree with Sunset staff that the TRCC is beyond repair.  Homeowners are better served by simply abolishing the agency.

Facing closure, TRCC makes some changes
The governing board of a state agency criticized for being too easy on shoddy home builders adopted proposals on Thursday to make the agency more consumer-friendly but declined to require builders to be licensed and bonded. The Texas Residential Construction Commission also voted down a proposal to modify the commission's makeup to have more public members than builder members. The commission now has four builder members, three public members, one engineer and one inspector. The commission was responding to a sunset staff review report that said the 5-year-old agency is ineffective and should be abolished.

Inspection fees waived for home complaints
...On hand at the meeting were investigators from Taylor PD and the sheriff’s department as well as lawyers representing the Sonterra Homeowners Assoiciation, the Sonterra Municipal Utility District and TRCC. Gravel led the meeting, making sure it did not deteriorate into attacks on Stucky. Gravel shared some of the more sordid stories surrounding homes built by Stucky, including one involving Karen Carter, a wheelchair-bound woman who purchased a house from First Home in Jarrell. Carter bought her home under the condition that her doorways would be widened for her wheelchair.

John Henneberger co-director Texas Low Income Housing Information Service
The hopelessly flawed Texas Residential Construction Commission (TRCC) has been recommended for abolition by the Texas Sunset Commission staff.  The Sunset staff report on the TRCC concludes, “Current regulation of the residential construction industry is fundamentally flawed and does more harm than good.” I reluctantly concur.

KB Home's Toughest Market Competition May be Its Owner
This is really remarkable!  Let me see if I have this right, KB is in using this very odd promotional spin to compete with the “highly competitive foreclosure marketplace.”  A foreclosure market that most likely is glutted with the very same KB cookie cuter models, cheap!  If the housing and financial market collapse wasn’t such a far-reaching disaster I might fall off my chair in laugher reading this article.  If I understand this unique advertising angle it sounds like KB Home is desperate to effectively compete with this giant competitor (85 percent of the market); the very same predatory lending foreclosure scam it was highly instrumental in creating. My… my…KB’s creation is now its strongest competition?

Consumer Watch : Opinions mixed on the fate of TRCC
Jeryl Bennett paid about $130,000 for her new home four years ago. The appraised value now: $77,000. That dramatic decrease resulted from what Bennett says is a foundation problem, symptoms of which she started noticing shortly after she moved in. But the builder, Lennar Homes, and the Texas Residential Construction Commission have told her the foundation is solid. Consumer advocates and some lawmakers contend that situations like Bennett's highlight their contention that the TRCC is an anti-consumer agency.  Nearly two weeks ago, the Sunset Advisory Commission said what TRCC opponents have been wanting to hear: The agency should be abolished because it is "fundamentally flawed."...Alex Winslow, executive director of Texas Watch, said he will encourage the sunset commission to go a step further to create a new agency that will "impose real protection for homeowners that ensures builder accountability, quality building standards and real oversight of the home-building industry."

Homeowners losing fights with builders
The Texas Residential Construction Commission agreed the builder is responsible for the plumbing fiasco, but the agency can't force the company to fix it. That disconnect is one reason the Sunset Advisory Commission staff this month recommended abolishing the agency... The Texas Residential Construction Commission agreed the builder is responsible for the plumbing fiasco, but the agency can't force the company to fix it. That disconnect is one reason the Sunset Advisory Commission staff this month recommended abolishing the agency... “The remaining 88 percent of reported cases are pursued by one party or the other using the legal system — the very outcome the process was enacted to prevent,” the report said.“

Builders Foolishly Claim Industry Understands what is Best for Consumers
Mr. Binash (President, Greater Houston Builders Association and Wilshire Homes) and any builder that is against abolishment of TRCC and claims the agency is good for consumers are selfishly incorrect.  No one is buying the industry (Binash) smoke and mirrors spin, that without TRCC homeowners will end up in "time-consuming and expensive litigation."  The true fact is Sunset concluded that of the homeowners with construction defects who were forced into TRCC, 88% were driven to “time-consuming and expensive litigation.”  Sunset further concluded TRCC is bad for homeowners and failed to protect them from the bad actors of the building industry.  Shame on the industry that claims an agency that they bought and paid for is somehow good for the consumer. The industry’s attempt to claim to be experts on the subject of what is good for consumers is a hoax. They had their chances and failed miserably while making our Texas legislators look incompetent for listening to the industry for its legislative wisdom. Abolish TRCC! It’s bad for consumers and it’s an embarrassment to the industry and Texas .  Janet Ahmad
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Huttoparke Problems Continue, Values Suffer
It is with great fascination that I first saw last year Huttoparke home owners made sure that everyone knew how poorly their homes were built. They may have had no choice but to bring public attention to the problems they were having. In 2006/2007, when our phones rang daily with investors calling to buy in Austin, many didn’t like what I had to say when I told them I wasn’t interested in helping them buy a home in Hutto, Kyle or any other starter home area with supposed better cash flow. “It’s a bad idea” I would say...I hope the owners in Huttoparke find resolution and all problems are resolved. I feel sorry for them. First time buyers have enough to think about without having to do legal battle with builders.

State Representative Garnet Coleman
This past week the Houston Chronicle editorialized in favor of abolishing the Texas Residential Construction Commission (TRCC), following the recommendation of the Sunset Advisory Commission from a report they issued last week... Texas homeowners deserve to have a state government on their side when they need it.

Local 2 Investigates Texas' Top Political Donor
Gov. Rick Perry and the top statewide elected officials in Texas have more than just politics in common. When it comes to padding their political campaigns, one man gives them far more than any other donor. "Bob Perry's automatic checkbook raises the eyebrows of what used to be high-rollers in Texas," said Craig McDonald of Texans for Public Justice, a non-profit policy and research organization, which tracks the influence of money in Texas politics. "He (Perry) is just off the charts." Local 2 investigative reporter Amy Davis unmasked the top donor and explains why some say he's giving so much. While Perry's donations are legal and part of the public record, his critics claim his "off the chart" spending is buying influence and even political favors.

Homeowners file house complaints with BBB
Copperfield area homeowner Imran Moola had problems with vents tilting and bending, then giving way to water leaks in the house he had built and had lived in for less than two years, but a roof leak around the stove exhaust was of particular concern to him. Several inspections showed that the roof wasn’t properly installed, and though it was under warranty for 10 years, a company representative told him that the repair was his responsibility, not Lennar Homes, the builder... Lennar has an unsatisfactory rating with the BBB, partly due to outstanding unresolved complaints or outstanding unanswered complaints,...

Woman has been fighting home builders for 4 years
Jeryl Bennett purchased her brand-new three-bedroom, two-bathroom house in August of 2004. The home, located in Hanover Forest subdivision near Interstate 45 in Spring, was built by Lennar Homes, Inc. and was documented to be worth $134,000 when Bennett bought it. But in October of 2007, the Appraisal Review Board of Harris County Appraisal District said the home was worth $70,000.  Bennett believes poor construction by the builders is the reason for the drop in value of a home that Bennett now refers to as “a piece of junk.”...Bennett said she’s been in a battle with Lennar and TRCC since she purchased her home and said Lennar has given her the run-around and taken advantage of her.