Ryland: No buybacks of Bridlewood Park homes Bridlewood Park-Ryland Homes, round two
Live Oak Mayor Henry Edwards made good on his vow to put the volatile Bridlewood Park subdivision-Ryland Homes issue at the top of the city's June 26 City Council meeting. "What I want is the truth to come out," Edwards said. "Since June 12, I've been working with the city manager about an agenda to inform citizens as well as council on the situation between Ryland Homes and the residents of Bridlewood Park. This kind of negative publicity doesn't do any good for Live Oak or Ryland Homes. Hopefully, some middle ground can be reached and we can put this issue to bed."  View: photos.

Buyers Beware
You've bought a dream home - or so you thought. Now the foundation is cracking, the basement has flooded and the roof sags. Not so dreamy anymore. County residents who have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on the biggest investment of their lives are sometimes left with a defective version of the American dream... County homeowners are experiencing a "national problem," said Janet Ahmad, president of the San Antonio-based Homeowners for Better Building. Binding arbitration issues and legislation passed to protect builders from legal retribution have made it hard for buyers to fight back, she said."It has affected the lack of quality homes and virtually made warranties absolutely worthless," she said.

 Loan predators remain safe
Guest perspective: Guidelines aren't rules, they're suggestions. If there was ever a time when federal regulators should be knocking heads it's now. The plain truth about the subprime meltdown is that investors got greedy and lenders began looking the other way. Final subprime underwriting guidelines were released recently by the patchwork of federal regulators charged with overseeing the soundness of our banking system. (See FDIC press release from June 29, 2007.) Guidelines aren't rules, they are suggestions.

Indoor Mold Exposure
Finally the victims of indoor mold exposure are being acknowledged... Thousands of stories all essentially the same... an epidemic nationwide resulting from poor construction, poor maintenance, new building materials, ignorance and greed... We live in paper building made of calk and paper… building that leak... Youtube presentation

If you're thinking of buying a brand-new house, answer Dirty Harry's question
Telling 10 families a week that they've picked out a good house is a nice way to make a living. But telling any family that their dream house is a leaking, creaking pile of moldering crap takes a fair bit of the shine off a day's work. It's like being the guy who feeds the doomed chickens to the neck saw at the chicken-processing plant. No matter how much effort you put in, no matter how much pride you take in your work, at the end of the day, your contribution to the universe is a pile of lifeless chicken heads... a lot of new houses are OK, but a pretty good percentage"€”I'd say as many as 20 percent"€”have problems. It's hard to know what's going to happen after somebody buys a house and moves in. It's like that scene in Dirty Harry where Harry's got the bad guy at his mercy. Anybody who's thinking about buying a new house needs to ask himself one question: "Do I feel lucky?'

Some Sun City homes were approved for occupancy despite flaws, records show
Homes in Sun City Hilton Head with roof truss problems were checked during construction by Beaufort County building inspectors and approved for occupancy despite flaws, according to building code records. In some cases inspectors approved the homes after noting no deficiencies with the trusses, which are triangular wooden frames that support roofs. In other cases, problems with trusses were identified and repairs ordered, yet the trusses still have problems today, records show. "Obviously it was something that was overlooked," said county building codes director Arthur Cummings.

Fall of the House of Beazer
The homebuilder is under suspicion for steering buyers to homes in North Carolina that they couldn't afford. The FBI is conducting an informal inquiry into whether low-income buyers were issued mortgages based on their incomes rising in the future. The Federal Housing Administration prohibits such loans from being granted. This is not the first time Beazer has knocked down one of its executives this year. In February it fired its general counsel for a violation of company ethics regarding a "pattern of personal conduct." Yet this is far more troubling, as it certainly lends credence to the appearance of impropriety. According to The Charlotte Observer, which broke the original story,..

Live Oak City Council hears Ryland gripes 
 They came with photos and horror stories of cracked walls, nails popping from ceilings and drainage problems so severe that foundations have started shifting. For more than four hours Tuesday night, residents of the Bridlewood Park neighborhood told the Live Oak City Council about watching their new homes deteriorate around them. As a result, city officials say they will review the city's building permit and subdivision planning process. And City Council members promised to monitor efforts by the builder, Ryland Homes, to negotiate repairs with the homeowners. View: photos.

Special Report: Mortgage Fraud Scheme Gets Cash Through Fraud
The State has made a mortgage fraud scheme which tacks extra money onto a mortgage illegal, because it defrauds lenders and endangers home ownership.  Gov Crist has signed a bill into law that makes mortgage fraud a felony crime.  The following video is 4 ½ minutes summarizing this bill and the FBI's efforts in following the massive paper trails of fraud in the State of Florida.  View CBS4 Report

Live Oak residents appeal to mayor, council for help in addressing problematic homes
The Live Oak City Council's regular agenda June 12 quickly became anything but regular, as dozens of disenchanted homeowners and their supporters packed into council chambers to have their voices heard... Armed with high emotions and photos of homes deteriorating from the inside-out, residents showed or described two-inch cracks along the walls, doors and windows unable to be opened or closed, and garages and yards ruined from the damage caused by flooding as a result of their homes being built in a floodplain. Residents pleaded with the city to come to their rescue... Homeowners are getting more accomplished taking their problems to their publicly elected officials. This includes the local, state and federally elected officials," Ahmad said. "The point is to apply direct pressure to the builders rather than become inundated with lawsuits," she added. View: photos

Live Oak City Council Special Consideration of Ryland Homeowners
Discussion, Presentation, and possible action concerning Bridlewood and Ryland Homes by City Manager, City Attorney, City Engineer, other Staff Members, Representatives of Bexar County Appraisal District (BAD) and Ryland Homes. See: City Council Agenda -  View: photos.  More photo: View Photos

Ryland Trouble Too.com
 Features they won;t tessl you about. Before you purchase your new Ryland Home view the images and video on this website. See homeowner website

Governments May be Owed Over One Hundred Billion Dollars
For over two years, Americas Watchdog has been conducting a nationwide investigation involving regional and local homebuilders using cheap undocumented workers to build much of our nations new housing stock. In the majority of cases examined, no taxes were paid on potentially millions of undocumented residential construction workers. From the coyotes who smuggle the workers into the country, to the homebuilders, to our elected officials, every aspect of this fraud contains corruption and a disregard for the law. It may now be the right time for organized labor to step in to protect these workers.

Home Lemon Law Amendment Debated in Texas House
In an unprecedented, history-making event State Representative Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, introduced a Home Lemon Law Amendment sparking a spirited debate on the Texas House floor, in which legislators defended Texas homeowners who have been sold defective homes by shoddy builders. The amendment was tabled by a vote of 83 to 60.  However, 60 lawmakers, including 10 Republicans, had voted in support of a Home Lemon Law, the first ever to be considered or debated by any State Legislature in the nation. Read more...

Homeowner seeks help in renovation dispute
A local man is facing a remodeling nightmare after a disagreement with his contractor put the entire renovation project on hold. Now the homeowner is looking for help to end the dispute.There's not much to show for a remodeling project that was started back in April: a concrete slab collects rainwater, lumber sits stacked unused in the backyard, a trench is exposed and demolition to the back of the house is incomplete...Currently the agency covers remodeling projects of more $20,000. However, that amount will drop to $10,000 beginning September 1, 2007.However, TRCC has its limits. The state agency only mediates finished renovation projects, not those which are incomplete.