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ABC Special Report
Investigation: New Home Heartbreak
Trump - NAHB Homebuilders Shoddy Construction and Forced Arbitration
Texas Residential Construction Commission (TRCC) Abolished
A Writers Regrets and Apology
Sunday, 30 August 2009

The news you don't get can hurt like a______
Greg Mikesell, a local custom homebuilder, got indicted this week on a felony charge of stealing $100,000 from an 81-year-old man.  The San Antonio Express-News, anticipating action from the Bexar County District Attorney's office, ran a lengthy Page 1A feature Wednesday. There were a few things the newspaper left out, though. Such as, I was the reporter who wrote that glowing article in 2004, and staff at the newspaper had been aware of problems with Definitive Custom Homes for some time...There was enough information about him lying around for the media to come after him sooner.  We should have. As for my part in all this, I am sorry.

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Builder Indicted
Friday, 21 August 2009

KSAT 12:Homebuilder Indicted On Fraud Charges
Greg Mikesell Faces Maximum Of Life In Prison If Convicted

SAN ANTONIO -- A homebuilder accused of fraud by multiple victims has now been indicted on elderly fraud charges, according to the Bexar County District Attorney's office. Greg Mikesell, indicted on charges of elderly fraud, allegedly scammed hundreds of thousands of dollars from multiple victims, said the DA's office. Mikesell was the subject of a KSAT 12 Defenders investigation in March of this year. "He's going to be held accountable on elder fraud for taking $100,000 from a World War II veteran," said District Attorney Susan Reed. "It hurts my heart when I see that happen, so by golly, if I can do something about it. I am and I'm the lady who can." If successfully prosecuted, Mikesell could face five to 99 years in prison or receive a life sentence. Attempts to reach Mikesell as well as his attorney have been unsuccessful. See KSAT Report

 
Texas, Crimes and Unregulated Building Industry
Thursday, 20 August 2009
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Texas, Crimes and Unregulated Building Industry
Thursday, 20 August 2009

Roof falls in on a promising builder
Three homeowners sued Mikesell, claiming shoddy construction, unfinished homes and theft of construction funds. Creditors — including his painting, concrete, tile, framing, roofing and plumbing subcontractors — claim they are owed several hundred thousand dollars in unpaid bills. Altogether, judgments of about $700,000 are on file in Bexar County. ...they use words like con man, cheat and a man without a conscience. “He built my house and cost me a half-million,” said Michael Alisanski, who sued Mikesell last year over numerous problems with an $800,000 house in The Dominion.“He put the wrong roof on my house, we had extensive water damage, my mahogany wood floors were ruined, my drainage is screwed up and I never got a warranty on the house,” Alisanski said. Read comments

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TRCC a lingering disease Not dead Yet
Sunday, 14 June 2009

ExpressNews: TRCC reveals its plan to close down
The agency that oversees home building in Texas will be dismantled over the next 14 months ... l Aug. 31... the agency starts a yearlong wind down of its operations. The Sunset Advisory Commission staff last year recommended abolishing the agency, in part because of the inability of the agency to force builders to repair shoddy construction work. Homeowners were forced to go through the agency before going to court, but didn't trust it, the staff report said. “No other regulatory agency has a program with such a potentially devastating effect on consumers' ability to seek their own remedies,” it said.In September, Texas reverts to the pre-TRCC law, the Residential Construction Liability Act, which limited damages homeowners could seek and gave builders the right to repair poor construction.

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Houston Chronicle: Department that regulates construction will be phased out
Friday, 12 June 2009

End mapped out for Texas construction agency
The agency that oversees home building in Texas will be dismantled over the next 14 months under a plan announced Friday. But it will be business as usual for builders and homeowners dealing with the Texas Residential Construction Commission until Aug. 31. After that, the agency starts a one-year wind down of its operations. The TRCC is outlining its demise after lawmakers did not act to save the beleaguered agency from the state’s “sunset” process.

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Under designed foundations and wasted water
Saturday, 06 June 2009

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Express News: Starting All Over
Friday, 05 June 2009

TRCC dies, leaving questions
The often-criticized agency that oversees home building in Texas will be dismantled.As the legislative session wound down this week, lawmakers did not act to save the beleaguered Texas Residential Construction Commission from the state's Sunset process. Now the decision — which many say is unlikely to be reversed in a special session — has consumer advocates, builders' groups, attorneys and even agency officials themselves scratching their heads over how the agency's death will occur... Alex Winslow“We got the agency out of the way and now can start with a fresh slate in the next session,” he said. “We can create a process or agency so that builders are held accountable and homes are built right the first time. The TRCC never really served those goals,” he said.

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Builder Bob Perry Wrote the Doomed TRCC
Tuesday, 02 June 2009

Homebuilder watchdog agency could close next year
The Texas Residential Construction Commission appears to be doomed. The agency was supposed to be a way for thousands of Texas homeowners to get their complaints against builders resolved. Instead, many homeowners felt they were being regulated instead of the builders. View Video Report

 
OUTSTANDING: The Big Lie
Saturday, 30 May 2009

The Examiner: Timely Demise
TRCC is currently at death's door in Austin as lawmakers in the Senate showed little appetite for extending the life of the controversial organization created by the legislature in 2003 at the behest of Bob Perry and other home builders...A significant contributing factor in TRCC's demise was the persistent testimony of homeowners who ran into serious problems after they had purchased new homes, only to find that TRCC consistently took the side of the builders over the buyers... Two women from Southeast Texas - Marcia Kushner of Jersey Village and Dorina Corrente of Sugarland - became regular visitors to the state capitol in Austin over a period of years to tell their horror stories about the builders they believe hid behind the TRCC to avoid fixing the defects that plagued their not-inexpensive new houses...Corrente in particular was singled out for harsh treatment, first from homebuilder D.R. Horton and most egregiously by Duane Waddill, executive director of TRCC. When she testified at a hearing in Austin before the House Building and Industry Committee on March 23 of this year about her on-going struggle with the homebuilder, Waddill sought to dismiss her complaints and assailed her credibility by suggesting from the. podium that she was mentally unstable and that D.R. Horton had to obtain "a restraining order against Mrs. Corrente to keep her off their property."...the charge he leveled against Corrente was a lie.

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Still Hurdles to Kill the Builders TRCC
Sunday, 24 May 2009

Dallas Morning News: Senate adds amendment that would kill Texas Residential Construction Commission
The Senate just passed 31-0 its so-called safety net bill that will allow agencies subject to sunset review this session to continue for two years, even if their bill authorizing a bill continuation does not pass. Of the 25 or so agencies under review, only a handful have seen their continuation bills pass both chambers. Under law, if those bills don't pass, they go out of business -- include another bill provides them a temporary lifeline. But the Texas Residential Construction Commission won't be among the agencies afforded that extension, at least not according to the bill that just passed the Senate. Sen. Glenn Hegar, R-Katy, added an amendment that would leave out of the safety net that commission, and instead shut it down after this session.

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