A message from Janet Ahmad - 10 Year Legal Ordeal with Bob Perry 

A message from Janet Ahmad  

Question: What good business man would want the same unhappy customers for 10 years?
Answer: Homebuilder Bob Perry. 
A Dallas Morning News article “Dream home becomes legal nightmare” describes a Supreme Court case involving a defective home that defies all logic, which could have a profound effect on homebuyer for years to come.  The Texas Supreme Court will soon decide one of its most important cases in years.

The next question: Will justice prevail in the court or in the private sector of binding arbitration, or does money buy justice?  It’s been 10 long punishing years since Bob and Jane Cull bought a defective home from Perry Homes, and that question has yet to be answered. The remarkable aspect of this story is Bob Perry – the nation's most generous individual political donor, as well as to the Texas Supreme Court Justices – could have quite easily been more compassionate by simply building a new home for his unhappy customers, Bob and Jane Cull.  Instead, when all is said and done the cost of legal expenses will far exceed the cost of a new defective free home.  See: Today’s Dallas Morning News, “Dream home becomes legal nightmare” as well as many exceptional articles in this week’s news.

Together we have and will continue to make a difference!  Help us to help you.

 Please take a few minutes to post your comments on the H O B B   F o r u m  and write you elected officials.  Your participation is vital.

Thank you,
Janet Ahmad, President
Home Owners for Better Building
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NEWS UPDATES:

Couples Agonizing 10 Year Legal Ordeal Is Builder Bob Perry's Supreme Court Contribution
Dream home becomes legal nightmare
A tortuous legal battle has carried the retirement-age couple through the courts, to arbitration and now through the courts again – all the way to the Texas Supreme Court. The Culls have won every round, but their home has not been fixed, legal costs have soared and the couple has postponed retirement plans. ..Particularly this builder: Mr. Perry is the nation's most generous individual political donor. He has been a leading advocate of laws to limit court awards against businesses and a financial benefactor to politicians and judges. And he has funded Republican candidates up and down the ballot in Texas, including more than $340,000 to the nine justices that will hear the Culls' case. Read more...

Ryan Homes Shatters Family’s American Dream
NVR Mortgage Gouges Family In Low Income Housing Program
A family of three, searching for the American dream as legal immigrants from China , came to the U.S. as father, mother and son in December of 1999...The Zhu's have since learned a costly lesson in mortgage financing. They had signed the mortgage paperwork not understanding the extent of what others, including professional bankers, consider to be exorbitant broker fees. Along with other abusive loan terms, this included a higher than average 30 year ARM that actually had a higher starting rate than most normal fixed rate mortgages. Read more...

Hearings on Homeowners' Bill of Rights
It's time for a Homeowners' Bill of Rights
Each year, hundreds of unsuspecting Washingtonian homeowners discover deficiencies with their new home. These problems include (but are not limited to) faulty design, code violations, cracked foundations, moisture problems that lead to toxic molds, substandard workmanship, and structural issues. Many have already suffered great losses: their life's savings, their physical and emotional health, and home value depreciation. Read more...

Marshal says house fire deliberate; owners suing over mold
Torched Frisco home was subject of lawsuits
A vacant house in Frisco that burned last weekend in a fire that has been ruled suspicious was the subject of several lawsuits over toxic black mold, and its owners reportedly had plans to demolish it. The fire Saturday night at No. 3 Riva Ridge destroyed the home's second story, where fire officials found that accelerant had been poured around a playroom. Read more...

Home Inspection Photos - This Old House Photos

KB Home residence fighting mad
KENS 5 - SAHA offers inspections to homeowners with faulty foundations 
Their dream of owning a home has now turned into a nightmare...Dozens of people in the San Antonio Housing program say their homes are falling apart..."This is a fire hazard and it's in the middle of my house, this is a bomb."  See Karen Grace Reports...

Codes official resigned in wake of report
Tempers flare in suburb
Problems with codes enforcement came to light in recent months when an inspection report conducted by an outside agency found some records were not being kept properly, data were incomplete and some employees lacked proper certification. In addition, field inspections indicated serious building-code violations at several homes in the Village Grande at Millers Run development. Those problems are what prompted supervisors to seek a review of department procedures. Read more...

Bob the Builder Perry Back-Door Tactics to Governor Perry
Builder denies he back-doored $1 million to Perry
As much as $1 million from controversial Houston homebuilder Bob Perry appears to have flowed into Gov. Rick Perry's re-election campaign last year indirectly through the Republican Governors Association Political Action Committee...In one instance, a $500,000 RGA donation was made to Gov. Perry's campaign one day after the RGA received a like amount of money from Bob Perry. Read more...

New Jersey takes action
Keansburg home-improvement contractor sued by the state
A Keansburg-based home-improvement contractor has been sued by New Jersey for allegedly operating without being registered and failing to complete projects after being paid by home owners, state authorities said today. The Shademaster, which does also does business as Renovation Experts, and its owner, Carmine Annunziata, were sued in Superior Court in Monmouth County. The lawsuit says the company violated the state's Consumer Fraud Act. Read more...

Insurance Rate Relief and Better Codes
Help residents harden homes
Floridians need rate relief now, but they also need to be encouraged to make their homes stronger and better able to withstand hurricane winds. That means a true statewide building code, incentives for adding storm shutters and other improvements, and clear reductions in premiums for homeowners' investments...Cutting premiums may provide immediate relief, but one of the long-term answers to the property insurance crisis is to ensure Florida homes are better able to withstand hurricane-force winds. Read more...

Construction Defects and Mold Can Be Costly
Family wins mold case
After three years, health problems persist. A family that bought a nearly $375,000 newly constructed home on a one-acre lot near Howell lived there for just 10 months before toxic mold forced them out. A poorly built roof allowed rain to seep into the walls and floors on all three levels of the home.  Last week -- nearly three years after the ordeal began -- Tom and Kimberly Szymczak were awarded a consent judgment of $775,000 against Brighton builder Andrew Tonkovich and his company, A&T Development Inc. Read more...

November’s Foreclosure Rate Highest of the Year
U.S. FORECLOSURES INCREASE 4 PERCENT IN NOVEMBER
A total of 120,334 properties nationwide entered some stage of foreclosure during November, an increase of 4 percent from the previous month and an increase of 68 percent from November 2005, according to the RealtyTrac U.S. Foreclosure Market Report. The report also shows a national foreclosure rate of one new foreclosure filing for every 961 U.S. households, the highest monthly foreclosure rate reported so far this year. Nevada, Colorado and Georgia posted the nation's highest state foreclosure rates during the month, and California, Texas and Florida documented the most new foreclosure filings. Greeley, Colo., Detroit and the Inland Empire area of Southern California documented the highest metropolitan foreclosure rates.
 Read more...