Federal probe into valley HOAs broadens
Federal prosecutors have identified 75 to 100 co-conspirators, including judges, attorneys and former police officers, at various levels of a massive fraud scheme involving Las Vegas Valley home­owners associations, the Las Vegas Review-Journal has learned. Some 25 to 30 targets of the investigation are taking plea deals that will ensure their cooperation in the prosecution of as many as two dozen high-level players in the scheme.

Immigration Ignites Grand Prairie Mobile Home Park
Some residents angry over policy to check immigration status on prospective buyers. The property owners’ association board is demanding proof of legal residency from buyers who want to live at the park on Shady Grove Road near Belt Line. "It’s just not right," said property owner Ramona Bledsoe.  "They didn’t ask it from white people.  But they’re asking it from Latino people." Board Vice President Nola Wolfe denied the policy is enforced only for Latinos.

Homeowners Take Plea to Lawmakers
These homeowners say they are fed up with abuses by Home Owner Association.  What we’re trying do is reign in some of these abusive powers.  So that it’s clear that government bureaucrats shouldn’t be telling people how to use their homes and lose it when they've been taxed inappropriately.  HOA Management Companies fired back today with this counter rally, bussing in HOA Board Members from across the state.  Members of the HOA Reform groups say they know they have an uphill battle sighting thousands of dollars in donations to influential lawmakers here, including Senator John Caron from Dallas who owns the largest HOA Management Company in the Country.

Brian Collister Reports

Military families battle home builder over problems
Military families in Kentucky are trying to protect their home front after they paid a local home builder hundreds of thousands of dollars for new homes. But they say those homes are filled with problems. The builders aren't backing down, standing behind their homes and their response to the concerns of the military families. But the soldiers we've talked with say they've fought these issues for months, and can't afford to stay quiet any longer.

Marine sued by HOA over flagpole
"They're suing me for $200 a day and lawyers' fees and everything," Michael Merola said. Merola said he went through the proper channels to ask for permission to put up a 20-foot flag pole, but permission was denied.  The HOA told him he was welcome to attach a small flagpole to his house.

On the Commons with Janet Ahmad
The American dream of homeownership seems to be falling apart.  First the heavy handed HOAs and all the many problem associated with that largely unregulated layer of government reducing the dream to a nightmare, followed by the massive mortgage fraud that has stripped housing consumers of their homes and now we hear about the problems with the actual physical product, the building itself.  Is the American dream of homeownership all it is cracked up to be?  What are the dangers of owning a piece of the dream?  On The Commons this week we are joined by Janet Ahmad. Janet is the founder and President of the Texas based Home Owners for Better Building.  Their web page hobb.org is full of information and stories about the issues HOBB gets involved with.  Please join us On The Commons.  We'll find out what prompted Janet to take on this huge issue and what pitfalls of ownership we should look for. On The Commons is a weekly radio show, dedicated to discussing the many issues surrounding mandatory membership common ownership developments.  It is broadcast live from WEBR, Fairfax, Virginia. 

 Listen to, On The Commons Podcast

Why Couple's Dream Home Is Making Them Sick
The Defenders show you what's making a local family so sick, they can't even live in their own house. Could it be in your home?  See News 4 Report  See related links: Our Toll Brothers Experience,  Toll Mold in New Jersey and Austin Texas,   Boston Globe: Special Report on Toll Brothers

Wichita Homeowners Warn Prospective Buyers
Beware. Do your own homework because in the under-regulated homebuilding business in Wichita, you're on your own if you buy a new home, the homeowners say. "You buy a $140,000 house that you think is OK and the seller's just gone, never to be heard from again. And that's OK," said Will Thomas, an Air Force pilot whose $140,000 home is cracking apart in the Maple Shade development near Webb and Harry. There are gaps in the way the city building codes protect new home buyers — a lack of basic soil testing and slab foundation inspections, a city inspection department influenced by the builders, an arbitration system with builders hearing complaints about other builders. That's the largest of many frustrations before a group of people who've lost most of their money in the crumbling homes.  See related reports

Broken Homes, Broken System
Some patio homes in the Maple Shade gated community in southeast Wichita are falling apart, their foundations cracking and shifting atop poorly drained soil. Wichita building codes lack provisions to test soil before building and also don't give city stormwater officials the authority to settle drainage disputes. 

Read series of reports

Minority Homeowners Charge the City of Yonkers and Others With Housing Discrimination and Construction of Defective and Substandard Homes
The lawsuit alleges that the plaintiffs, minority home owners, purchased what they were led to believe were new well constructed, safe and affordable homes. However, after the plaintiffs moved into their homes, they discovered that the weed-filled and barren land that made up their backyards and common grounds were filled with buried waste, including garbage, automobile tires, automobile batteries, pipes, glass and construction and demolition debris. Additionally, the siding on the buildings, the window frames and doors were installed improperly, resulting in severe water damage to the homes. The homes were also poorly insulated and the heating systems were inadequate and inefficient, which led to increased heating costs and poorly heated rooms. Despite their complaints about these and other conditions, little was done to correct the numerous defects.