Home warranty bill misguided
A bill working its way through the Colorado House would retroactively alter thousands of existing contracts for recently built homes to give additional rights to homeowners at the expense of homebuilders...HB 1338 would preserve all such specific guarantees but also would restore the vague general rights normally signed away in favor of those specific rules. That would give homebuyers - years after the fact - two bites at the legal apple. It also would violate Section 11, Article II of the Colorado Constitution, which says: "No ex post facto law, nor law impairing the obligation of contracts, or retrospective in its operation & shall be passed by the General Assembly."

As adjustable mortgage rates click upward, a Kentucky family is one of thousands forced from their dream homes and into the nightmare of foreclosure
How did the Howells' dream home turn into a financial nightmare? They are just two of thousands of homeowners caught in the double bind of rising adjustable mortgage rates and falling home values. For this family, like many others, the numbers got bleak fast. The monthly payments on the Howells' two adjustable-rate mortgages started at $1,100, with a 5.4 percent interest rate (Howell says he needed two mortgages to qualify for the amount necessary to buy the house). But after Shawn returned from Iraq in 2006, the family's interest rate jumped to 9.9 percent"€”a surge he says he knew was possible but nonetheless took him by surprise...according to RealtyTrac's data. That's one foreclosure filing for every 92 U.S. households.

Senators tear into homebuilders
The Texas Association of Builders and the Homebuilders Association of Greater Austin found their testimony Wednesday less than well-received at the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee. The builders oppose three bills expanding land use control for cities and counties along Texas 130. Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, who sponsored the bills (SB 1688, 1689, 1690), criticized the groups for not working with him earlier to try to address their concerns. He also accused the Austin homebuilders group of sending inflammatory e-mails to its members containing erroneous information about the proposed legislation.

Beazer hit with suit seeking class action
The suit names as defendants certain company officers and directors, alleging that between July 27, 2006 and March 27, 2007, the defendants "issued false and misleading statements" about the company's business and prospects and failed to disclose to the investing public several "adverse facts." First, the suit alleges Atlanta-based Beazer (NYSE: BZH) did not have required internal controls over its lending practices and that because of alleged improper lending practices prior to and during the class period, it lead to foreclosures and other problems.

Beazer probe spotlights builder financing
While federal agencies scrutinize the lending practices of Atlanta-based Beazer Homes, other national home builders continue to promote financing incentives through the affiliated lending programs they have offered for decades. Critics say relaxed lending standards and a go-go housing market have created a system ripe for abuse. People in the industry defend builder mortgage services as convenient and safe for consumers.

FBI Investigating Charlotte Home Builder; Company Denies Wrongdoing
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into a Charlotte home builder. Agents are checking out the business practices of Beazer Homes, including the arrangement of mortgage loans for buyers in its subdivisions... In just the past five years, foreclosures have climbed 62 percent in Mecklenburg County, and those foreclosures are frustrating residents.

From feds on down, no one keeps close track of foreclosures, limiting oversight
The city of Charlotte does not count foreclosures. Neither does Mecklenburg County. Nor the state of North Carolina. Nor the federal government. As a result, authorities did not notice an emerging pattern: Foreclosures increasingly were concentrating in starter home neighborhoods.

10 Beazer developments in Mecklenburg riddled by foreclosures
In the past decade, Beazer Homes USA built more houses in Mecklenburg County that have since foreclosed than any other builder. Beazer built about 2,900 homes in Mecklenburg between 1997 and 2006. At least 388 have foreclosed. That is a rate above 13 percent, the highest among the county's 10 most prolific builders during that period, an Observer investigation found.

Number of foreclosures climbs as 1st-time buyers lose low-priced houses
A wave of loan defaults in starter-home developments is pushing the foreclosure count in Mecklenburg County to record heights, an Observer analysis shows. Lenders foreclosed last year on more than 900 Mecklenburg starter homes, up more than 150 percent since 2003. Foreclosures of older or more expensive homes rose by only 18 percent during the same period.

PART ONE - CHARLOTTE OBSERVER INVESTIGATION
Concord subdivision proves lucrative for builder and costly for 1st-time owners. Mark and Lea Tingley bought a new home in 2001 in a subdivision called Southern Chase. Photos on the family computer show a smiling young couple holding a baby girl in a bare room. They recall feeling surprised they could afford a house. And thrilled. It was their first home, their largest investment, in the neighborhood where they planned to raise a family...Seventy-seven buyers have lost homes to foreclosure in a subdivision of 406 homes. That's about one in five, more than six times the national rate.

Sold a Nightmare
Beazer Homes USA said Wednesday it is cooperating with a federal investigation of its mortgage business. A subsidiary of the builder, Beazer Mortgage, arranges loans for many buyers in its subdivisions.

Editorial: Lemon Law for Homes
State Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, offers a good fix. She's introduced HB 2721, which amounts to a lemon law for new homes. The bill would force builders, under certain circumstances, to buy back a home if they fail to make repairs recommended by the commission. In addition, if the builder decided to put the house back on the market, it would be required to disclose that the home was "bought back" and why. This seems reasonable, although we're sure that some builders would disagree. Ms. Thompson's measure would put some muscle behind the commission and leave ample room for homeowners and homebuilders to pursue other legal actions if they wish. It sends the strong message that shoddy construction will not be tolerated.

Homebuilders Sinking Into the Subprime Mess
The news of an FBI probe into Beazer is a reminder that as the mortgage mess spreads, Beazer isn't the only builder to have a captive mortgage company to provide incentives so people can get into homes. (Though, as appears to be the case with the foreclosures in question at Beazer, not necessarily afford them.) KB Homes, for example, teamed with Countrywide in a joint venture that was created in 2005.

BusinessWeek has learned that the nation's sixth-largest residential builder is being probed in connection with potential mortgage fraud
Amid the meltdown of the subprime housing sector, mortgage lenders and brokers have come under fire from state and federal officials for predatory lending practices with those risky borrowers. Now one national homebuilder is feeling the heat. BusinessWeek has learned that federal investigators have opened a broad criminal probe into lending practices, some financial transactions, and other dealings at Beazer Homes USA.

FBI investigating Beazer Homes -report
Shares of Beazer Homes USA Inc. plunged in Tuesday's aftermarket trading session following a report from BusinessWeek magazine that federal investigators have opened a broad criminal probe of the homebuilder's lending practices, a number of financial transactions, and other matters....FBI spokesman Ken Lucas told the magazine Beazer is being investigated for "all types of (potential) fraud associated with Beazer -- corporate, mortgage, investments."