Ryland Homeowners Protest Ryland Homes
Unhappy San Antonio homeowners protest construction defects in their new homes. See Ryland TroublesToo.com plus protest photos

Not So Impressive Pulte Model Home
When potential buyers ask the sales agents what is going on with that particular model, agents reply, "It is undergoing routine maintenance."  Routine maintenance?  Chain link fence with black tarps installed around home during the process to conceal foundation repairs. See Pulte Featured Model Home

Troubles At The Bekeley Housing Authority Result In The Proposal Of Mass Firings!
Problems at the Berkeley Housing Authority are so severe that city officials reached the conclusion that it cannot be properly managed by the city, and that the employees at the BHA need to be fired and replaced. The latest reports coming out of the Berkeley Housing Authority (BHA) confirm years of blatant corruption, incompetence and a huge struggle within the agency being led by those that wanted to conceal the past and current wrongdoing going on in the BHA.

Foundations and Empire
After four years of Republican dominance in Austin, you can throw a dart at the organizational chart of Texas government and reliably hit a state agency corrupted by influence peddling of some sort. There's no better example of the pay-to-play culture that has infected Texas politics in recent years than the brief history of the Texas Residential Construction Commission.

Fake contractors ordered to shut down
Each one told us a different story when we confronted them. Now, 11 News has learned unlicensed contractors recently caught in a state sting are getting shut down.  "A person that is unlicensed is operating outside the law," explained William Kuntz, Executive Director, Texas Department of Licensing and regulation. "What we found in some of these stings is that they were installing stolen equipment. Installing equipment improperly."  11 News exposed unlicensed contractors a couple weeks ago; men trying to perform air conditioning and electrical work -  illegally.

Senate Approves Bill Give Homebuilders Commission Sharper Teeth
The Texas Residential Construction Commission would have more power to discipline problem homebuilders under a bill the Texas Senate approved Monday. Consumer advocates have criticized the four-year-old commission, saying it limits home buyers' legal recourse and lacks the power to enforce its own rules. survey released last year by former Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn found that 86 percent of homeowners said their builders failed to repair home construction defects, even after going through the state inspection and resolution process.

New York State Public Hearing
Urgent!  For New Yorkers, don't miss one last opportunity to speak before the Consumer Protection Board Wednesday, May 30, 2007 to help determine how the State can better protect consumers who contract for home improvements.  It is important that everyone concerned with consumer protection attend or give written testimony, even if you do not reside in New York.

TEXAS WATCH provides link
With less than two weeks left in the legislative session, it is crucial that lawmakers hear from you about the need to dramatically reform the Texas Residential Construction Commission. House Bill 1038 was originally crafted to rein in the homebuilding industry and give the Texas Residential Construction Commission more teeth.

Texas Government's Potemkin Village
Many other builders are deciding TRCC registration isn't worth the money and are blatantly building without one, according to an Observer investigation. More problematically, some builders whose registrations have been revoked are still working on homes as well. The Observer found that, of the 71 builders whose registrations the agency revoked or canceled last fall, nearly a third were still in business this spring. Moreover, the agency"€”which has little enforcement power"€”can't do much about it. It's further evidence that the feeble agency, created to protect consumers and regulate builders, isn't doing very much of either... Lawmakers filed numerous bills this session to reform the TRCC. Consumer groups backed legislation by Rep. Senfronia Thompson, a Houston Democrat, that she dubbed a Home Lemon Law. It would provide home buyers more protections, and it is withering in the House. Instead, the House passed House Bill 1038 by Nederland Democrat, Allan Ritter, who sponsored the original legislation in 2003 that created the TRCC.

Same Pig. Uglier Lipstick
Texas Residential Construction Commission, which exists to protect Bob Perry, David and Dick Weekley, and other well connected homebuilders from lawsuits that previously could have been brought by disgruntled buyers. Apparently one loophole was left open that could have subjected a builder to disciplinary action. Not to worry. The Senate has closed it. Adding the word "court" means that failure to pay a final arbitration judgment would not be grounds for discipline by the TRCC. As far as I know, Perry Homes is the only builder that has been ordered by an arbitration panel to pay a homeowner. He has appealed the decision to the Texas Supreme Court. Oral arguments were heard n March and we are awaiting the Court's decision.  See Related Texas Monthly article: Lipstick on a Pig

Three indicted in McKinney mortgage fraud
Last fall, a News 8 investigation revealed questionable real estate transactions in the Hills Creek neighborhood of McKinney. Yesterday, a Collin County grand jury indicted three men for allegedly lying on deeds on three different homes in the neighborhood. On Hills Creek in McKinney, a house went from $315,000 to a sale price of $625,000 in four years. Now the Collin County Grand Jury has indicted three men for lying on deeds to homes on Hills Creek. Not one lives in the neighborhood. All allegedly told their mortgage lenders they were.

S.L.E.D. Contacts Lennar Homeowners
Two homeowners we talked to say that S.L.E.D. agent Pete Logan contacted them about the recent complaints against the homebuilder. Lennar has been under fire accused of violating building codes...and the city of North Charleston for approving those homes.

Former Lennar Homes Employee Speaks Out
Charleston, SC - One of the nation's largest home builders continues to steal the spotlight here at home as allegations of bad building surround Lennar Homes.  Now, a former employee is speaking out.  He says some of these big builders like Lennar Homes, who he once worked for, cut corners just to meet their quotas.  That's because he says it's the number of homes they're after, not the quality.  But he says the City is also at fault.

Lipstick on a Pig
It is undoubtedly a good-faith effort to improve the process by which home buyers are prevented from recovering money from unscrupulous and/or incompetent builders, and Dan Gattis, who has had buyers' remorse about the TRCC for four years now, put his best efforts into putting still more teeth into the law, and so did Ruth McClendon. In the end, however, it still added up to lipstick on a pig, and not just any pig, but the ugliest, dirtiest pig the Texas Legislature has brought into existence in all the years I have been covering it. There is only one remedy for the TRCC, and that is to send it into oblivion.

Homebuilder Buys Back Problem Home
A homebuilder buys back a home in a North Side subdivision after flooding destroys the back yard. It's turning into a home horror story. When I bought it I was told water would never come over this wall.  In the driest days of summer, I still had water coming down.  Still water continues to build up with devastating results… Rebecca - I'm not looking for a fight, I can't rent my home out in the condition it's in nor sell it. View: Homebuilder Buys Back Problem Home