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Latest News
ATTENTION: GREAT OPPORTUNITY! |
Sunday, 10 October 2004 |
Notice from NBC â A new reality show, NBCâs Home Intervention wants to hear from victims
NBCâs Home Intervention, a new NBC reality show is looking for victims of remodeling contractors and homebuilders. If you are interested, see instructions and contact NBC as soon as possible. |
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The legal bane of homebuilders |
Sunday, 26 September 2004 |
Lawyer Scott Sullan supports Amend. 34, which would lift limits on builders' liability Christine Tatum Denver Post Staff Writer Sunday, September 26, 2004 "Greedy," "rabid" and "scum-sucker" are among the nicest words they use to describe Sullan, perhaps the lawyer most despised by the state's building industry. He is the man hundreds of Colorado home and business owners called last year alone when roofs collapsed, basements flooded or foundations cracked, and they couldn't get the companies responsible for the work to fix them⦠Sullan's legal brawls are spilling from the courtroom onto the Nov. 2 Colorado ballot. Voters will be asked to decide the fate of proposed Amendment 34. That measure would lift some limits on the money property owners can collect in lawsuits against builders. It would also prohibit state lawmakers from capping some damage awards - a power they wielded last year over Sullan's protests with the passage of the bitterly contested House Bill 1161. |
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Lawmakers say builders are stacking dispute panel |
Thursday, 23 September 2004 |
Lawmakers say builders are stacking dispute panel 08/27/2004 Adolfo Pesquera Express-News Business Writer AUSTIN â A state Senate committee looking into arbitration reform had sharp criticism for the heads of the Texas Residential Construction Commission and demanded the director take steps to provide consumer and minority representation on its arbitration task force. See Senate Subcommittee on Binding Arbitration Video - August 25, 2004 - Jurisprudence Committee Go to: http://www.senate.state.tx.us/75r/senate/AVarch.htm - Advance forward the time of hearing on Binding Arbitration to: 4:01 |
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Star Community Newspapers/Frisco Enterprise |
Thursday, 23 September 2004 |
Star Community Newspapers/Frisco Enterprise Editorial Homebuyers' protections should be strengthened In a move that could set a state precedent, Dr. David Becka and his wife, Carol, are calling for changes in the Frisco city charter to strengthen protections for people who buy new houses⦠They want to ensure that homebuyers are as much informed about their purchases as is possible and that new-home builders should be required to file surety bonds with the city to help protect homebuyers when problems develop. http://takebackyourrights.com/ |
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Homebuilders may have constructed a fortress |
Sunday, 19 September 2004 |
Homebuilders may have constructed a fortress
Some say their political donations have cost consumers the right to file suit
San Antonio Express-News When Delores Rollins bought her dream home in the Hart Ranch subdivision off De Zavala Road seven years ago, she had no idea the purchase would draw her into the state and national political fray⦠Rollins believes she has wound up on the short end of a long-term effort by Texas homebuilders to protect themselves from paying for their mistakes... Hoagland said the broad reforms pushed through in Bush's first term â caps on punitive damages, restrictions on venue-shopping and limits on shared liability, among others â may have benefited the homebuilding industry⦠""How many times do they have to win?"" said James of the Consumers Union. ""I think the deal is that it's not about logic, it's not about justice, it's about muscle. And the business community has a ton of muscle, and they don't want to be liable for anything."" |
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ATTENTION:Individuals who have the new home warranty HBW and feel they have been treated unfairly or |
Wednesday, 01 September 2004 |
ATTENTION:Individuals who have the new home warranty HBW and feel they have been treated unfairly or been adversely affected by an unfair arbitration, please read and respond: Background: Home Builders Warranty (HBW) has a history of selling new homebuilder warranties and declining 86% of all homeowner claims. There is wonderful news out of Washington â Public Citizen founded by Ralph Nader has been investigating HBW and its conflict of interest with Construction Arbitration Services (CAS) and is calling for investigations in 12 States. |
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Looser lending leads to more foreclosures |
Saturday, 28 August 2004 |
Looser
lending leads to more foreclosures
Saturday, August 28,
By PAMELA YIP / The Dallas Morning News
""Over the last 10 to 12 years, underwriting guidelines have gotten much more
lax,"" said David Motley, an executive vice president at Colonial National Mortgage
in Fort Worth . "Today you can get a 100 percent loan on a purchase or a 106
percent loan on your purchase to cover the closing costs."
Critics say the looser standards contribute to high foreclosure rates nationwide
because owners with no equity in their homes find it easier to walk away from
mortgages if they get into financial difficulty â and can get approved for
another mortgage later.
Even with low mortgage rates, first-time buyers have strapped on so much
mortgage debt that ""roughly one-third now pay at least 30 percent of their
after-tax income on shelter, and half of the lowest-income households spend
at least 50 percent of their incomes on housing,"" according to a report published
this month by Merrill Lynch. |
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Star Community Newspapers/Frisco Enterprise |
Friday, 27 August 2004 |
Editorial Homebuyersâ protections should be strengthened In a move that could set a state precedent, Dr. David Becka and his wife, Carol, are calling for changes in the Frisco city charter to strengthen protections for people who buy new houses⦠They want to ensure that homebuyers are as much informed about their purchases as is possible and that new-home builders should be required to file surety bonds with the city to help protect homebuyers when problems develop. http://takebackyourrights.com/ |
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The Times – Mercer County |
Monday, 16 August 2004 |
The
Times â Mercer
County
Home builder probed
HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP - Under fire from local officials for unfinished work in
upscale neighborhoods he built here, developer Merrick Wilson's business practices
have landed him in hot water with the state as well.
The state Department of Community Affairs launched an investigation this month
into River Valley Heights Corp., a construction company believed to be headed
by the embattled builder. |
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Saturday, 14 August 2004 |
Pepperell
Free Press
Pepperell mold victim going national to back mold bill, Davis
takes her story to Washington
By Don Eriksson
Friday, August 13, 2004
PEPPERELL -- Mold victim Nancy Davis will carry her story to Washington ,
D.C. , and tell it to legislators during Mold Awareness Week, Sept. 19-24,
as part of a national consortium that is drumming up support for a bill filed
by Michigan Congressman John Conyers Jr. that would establish federal mold
regulations. |
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Saturday, 14 August 2004 |
FRISCO ENTERPRISE - Frisco Top Stories Group aims to remodel city charter The largest single investment most people make in their lifetimes is the purchase of a new home. It is part of the American dream. For Dr. David and Carol Becka of Frisco, however, that dream turned into what they described as a nightmare as the new custom home they built in Starwood became a ""money pit"" of problems. They blame shoddy construction and plumbing problems for rendering their ""dream home"" uninhabitable, and appeared before the Frisco City Council last year to share their fears over what they said was black mold that grew in the damp environment caused by water leaks in the house that began shortly before they closed on the home in June 1998⦠|
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Residential housing standards are in the works |
Friday, 13 August 2004 |
Residential housing standards are
in the works
Adolfo Pesquera
Express-News Business Writer
Skating between the public's skepticism and an industry increasingly sensitive
about its image, the Texas Residential Construction Commission rolled into
San Antonio late Wednesday to solicit comments on its draft for housing standardsâ¦
The existing draft is essentially a carbon copy of the limited warranties
that homeowners have found so troublesome over the past decade, said Janet
Ahmad, president of Homeowners for Better Building ⦠Despite Thomas' assurances,
Scott Emerson of Scott's Inspection Co. spoke for many in the audience when
he noted that the commission had a perception hurdle to overcome â eight of
its nine members earn their livelihood within the homebuilding industry. |
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Texas Commission - Perception of Impropriety |
Friday, 13 August 2004 |
Residential housing standards are in the works Skating between the public's skepticism and an industry increasingly sensitive about its image, the Texas Residential Construction Commission rolled into San Antonio late Wednesday to solicit comments on its draft for housing standards⦠The existing draft is essentially a carbon copy of the limited warranties that homeowners have found so troublesome over the past decade, said Janet Ahmad, president of Homeowners for Better Building⦠Despite Thomas' assurances, Scott Emerson of Scott's Inspection Co. spoke for many in the audience when he noted that the commission had a perception hurdle to overcome â eight of its nine members earn their livelihood within the homebuilding industry. |
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Consumer groups skeptical of new law |
Thursday, 12 August 2004 |
Consumer groups skeptical of new law
Industry-created legislation creates dispute resolution
By PURVA PATEL
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle
Texas builders received a little-noticed victory during last year's legislative session: the industry-drafted Texas Residential Construction Commission Act. ""Although it was touted as legislation that extends more homeowner protections with the creation of a commission to govern the industry, consumer advocates say the new law works more to protect builders than homeowners. Homeowners really don't have any rights at all,"" said Cheryl Turner, a consumer attorney in Dallas. |
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Crooked contractors leave clients in shambles |
Thursday, 12 August 2004 |
Crooked contractors
leave clients in shambles
'I feel like I have zero rights,' says a homeowner whose work
was left shoddy and unfinished
By PURVA PATEL
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle
â¢The state attorney general's office received about 750 complaints about contractors
in the last two years.
â¢The Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan Houston has received some 4,200 complaints
in the past three years.
â¢The Harris County district attorney office's consumer fraud division reports
receiving more complaints about contractors than any other profession since Tropical
Storm Allison struck the city in 2001. |
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