Homebuilder Bob Perry nation's biggest political donor
Houston homebuilder Bob Perry was the largest political donor in Texas _ and the nation _ in the recent election cycle, according to a group that tracks campaign donations. Perry spent $6.7 million in statewide and legislative campaigns and $9.3 million on national candidates and committees seeking to elect Republicans to Congress, Texans for Public Justice said in its report. The group supports campaign finance restrictions. The spending produced mixed results: Perry's money backed more losers than winners in state legislative races and nationwide, but the group of Texas statewide candidates he supported won. See more related news on Bob Perry and his money.

Who is Bob Perry and why does he care about Minnesota politics?
Why would a Texan, who has no business interests in Minnesota, spend $500,000 on Minnesota's governor's race? Bob Perry, a Houston based home builder, did just that, when he contributed to a special interest group that ran campaign ads against Democrat Mike Hatch. Listen to MPR broadcast - Listen to feature audio

Late anti-Hatch funds were local, too
Newly filed data show Minnesota donors added nearly $200,000 to the $500,000 given by a wealthy Texan to a defeat-Hatch effort...The Minnesota money is on top of $500,000 that Houston homebuilder Bob Perry gave to the ad campaign against Hatch. The Texan's contribution also wasn't reported before the election. The disclosures are expected to revive calls in the Legislature next year for greater transparency and timeliness in reporting large campaign donations during the homestretch of election campaigns... The 2007 Legislature almost certainly will give serious consideration to proposals to require prompt, pre-election disclosure of large late-campaign spending and contributions by such tax-exempt groups, legislative leaders in both parties and in the House and Senate said Wednesday.

Homeowner takes contractor to court
District Judge Sandra J. Zemgulis' courtroom on South Side Easton resembled "The People's Court" on Tuesday afternoon. Besides the judge, the scene included a plaintiff and homeowner, Bea Kemmerer, and a defendant and home-improvement contractor, Ronald A. Schmidt. Skip past the TV cameras and lights or studio audience -- unless you consider several people who attended on Kemmerer's behalf and one curious action line columnist.

Study Predicts Foreclosure for 1 in 5 Subprime Loans
About one in five subprime mortgages made in the last two years are likely to go into foreclosure, according to a report released yesterday, ending the dream of homeownership for millions of Americans. At that rate, about 1.1 million homeowners who took out subprime loans in the last two years will lose their houses in the next few years, the report said. The foreclosures will cost those homeowners an estimated $74.6 billion, primarily in equity...The report offers a somber assessment of loans that had helped millions of Americans with blemished credit attain homeownership. About 2.2 million borrowers who took subprime loans from 1998 to 2006 are likely to lose their homes.

HOUSE OF LIES REPORT - Where's the Housing?
In the nation's least-affordable city, the Miami Dade Housing Agency lost millions of dollars on dead projects, insider deals and developers who never delivered, stranding the poor in rotting and unsafe homes. A year-long Miami Herald investigation exposed a series of ill-fated government deals that played out under the noses of county leaders, enriching well-connected developers at the expense of the community's coveted funds for affordable housing. Miami Herald 6 Part Report

Builder misspent $3.2 million
The developer who pledged to build a new headquarters for the Miami-Dade Housing Agency misspent $3.2 million in public money on excessive management fees and dozens of costs unrelated to construction -- including a $355,000 payment on a personal home loan -- according to a county audit obtained Saturday by The Miami Herald.  While the building project stalled, developer Raul Masvidal used the county's money to buy a sculpture of stacked teacups from a childhood friend for $287,000 -- almost double the going price, the audit found. The sculpture was supposed to complement the new headquarters but has been sitting in storage for two years.

Woman ripped off in roof repair scam
Everyone has heard horror stories about people getting ripped off by the home improvement business, but for one Houston woman, those horror stories became a reality – and now she has a message she wants all homeowners to hear.

Real estate agent gives guns to homebuyers
A Texas real estate agent looking to add more bang to her business is offering clients in law enforcement a free Glock pistol if they buy a home from her. Julie Upton, a Houston-area real estate agent, spurned traditional buyer incentives like free gasoline cards or home improvement store gift certificates. Instead, she placed an advertisement offering a pistol with the purchase of any home worth at least $150,000 in the city police department's monthly publication, "Badge & Gun."

Meet Basil the builder
The 73-year-old Irish-born carpenter has been accused of building a Blue Mountains holiday house on the wrong site and facing the wrong direction.  The tribunal found that the windows were too small and the home's panoramic views were blocked by a misplaced beam.  The owner claimed that the kitchen was built with no room for a stove or fridge and defective glazing on the windows impaired the home's sweeping aspect.

Better insulation makes newer homes more susceptible to moisture problems
Newer homes are much tighter than those built long ago and provide more insulation. But as a recent Kansas City Star report on water problems shows, today's construction methods and cheaper materials can contribute to serious trouble. To cut costs, many builders are making greater use of plywood or building stock made from glued wood chips, both of which are less resistant to moisture. If the builder "€” or the design "€” fails to allow for sufficient drainage, moisture can be trapped in porous materials.  Area inspector Dan Bowers says that once it's wet, chipboard sheathing can become spongy and "crumble like a wet Saltine cracker."

Corporate America: Get Behind Your Product!
It's funny that criminals like murderers and robbers have full access to courts of general jurisdiction, but ordinary law-abiding taxpayers do not.  What I don't understand is why so many companies have resorted to binding mandatory arbitration. Don't they stand behind their products any more?  Why do they find it necessary to sneak BMA clauses into the fine print of sales contracts? BMA has truly reached epidemic proportions in the United States, and it needs to be stopped. Businesses need to be held accountable for the goods and services they sell instead of blaming their customers, or forcing them to surrender access to the courts.

Construction disputes can get heated
Eleven months later, on March 28, 2005, the Oswalds learned that their house leaks. Two inches of rain fell that day. Some of it made its way into the Oswalds' basement. When he finished his graveyard shift as a Butler County sheriff's deputy, Brian Oswald returned to a house taking on water...The builder, Meyer Builders of Harrison, recommended sealing the brick, but an image of a Band-Aid flashed in Brian Oswald's head... "It was the biggest mistake I ever made in my life," Kleinberg said of hiring Taylor Homes. "Taylor is one of the worst companies I have ever dealt with. They should be put out of business."

Was new house wrapped?
The Oswalds spent $365,000 for the house in 2004. On a rainy night in March 2005, water streamed from their brick walls into their unfinished basement. To fix it, the expert they hired said they should replace their brick, all two stories of it..."That's an awful lot of water coming in a very small area," Balsinger said of the photographs. "To me, that builder ought to be out there finding out what's going on under that brick. I'm surprised. Douglas is a good builder. He should take care of that."

Beware of the pitfalls
When it comes to building homes, flaws happen.They result from human error, defective materials and acts of God or Mother Earth. Subcontractors and their employees come and go in mid-job. Concrete reacts to heat, cold, rain, salt and use by cracking and peeling. New houses don't always settle uniformly, which can explain why floors and walls crack.