Deceptive loan practices banned
The state yesterday shut down seven mortgage brokers in Massachusetts and banned a variety of deceptive lending practices in what regulators called a sweeping crackdown on rogue brokers who steer customers in poor urban neighborhoods to loans they cannot afford.Acting two weeks after the Globe reported a range of abuses by several mortgage brokers in Lawrence, the Division of Banks announced that 50 examiners had since made surprise inspections of 90 brokerage firms in central and eastern Massachusetts.

Please help call for a State Affairs Interim Hearing on the Texas Residential Construction Commission
If you are appalled at what is happening in Tecas please take the time to participate.  If the building industry's TRCC is successful in Texas it will spread to every state in the nation.  Read more... 

Homeowners increasingly face builder damages, neglect
"There was defective caulking, large gaps in the bricks, the tub wasn't working properly, cracks in the ceiling and the dining room, water intrusion in the walls...," Kushner said. "Even my garage door wasn't installed properly and every time the wind blew, it would cause the security alarm to go off. I had to have someone come out and fix that problem. It was horrible." A closer inspection would reveal nearly every family heirloom and assorted clothing and shoes stored in her closet had fallen apart, leaving Kushner clueless as to the cause...Kushner has presented her case, from the Harris County Appraisal District to Rep. Corbin Van Arsdale to members of the statehouse all the way to Gov. Rick Perry.

New Website Launched for Defective Homes
Homeowners dealing with problems in homes built by Lennar Corporation now have a means to share information and form coalitions to address the issues they face when they purchase a home. The launch of www.Lennar-Homes.info will serve homeowners that have purchased or are considering purchasing a home built by Lennar Corporation. The site features reviews and comments from buyers, inspection reports and articles dealing with Lennar built homes.

'Bizarre' Electrocution Prompts Home Builder Lawsuit
One of the nation's largest home builders, its electrical subcontractors and a Central Florida county have been named in a wrongful death lawsuit after an appliance deliveryman was electrocuted in a "bizarre accident," according to a Problem Solvers investigation.

Lennar Says Profit Dropped on Incentives to Buyers
Lennar Corp., the second-largest U.S. homebuilder by market value, said profit fell in the fiscal third quarter, the first decline in six years, after a slump in demand forced the company to offer buyers incentives... The builder's preliminary net new orders fell 5 percent, less than competitors KB Homes or Beazer Homes Inc., which this week reported declines of more than 40 percent. Homebuilders such as Lennar and industry leader Pulte Homes Inc. are seeing profit margins erode as they offer incentives such as stainless steel appliances and hardwood floors to lure buyers.

Wilton residents appeal well ruling
In Highland Hills, many of the well points have failed and the homeowners have no drinkable water, said Cheryl Roberts from the law office of Marc S. Gerstman. The firm represents 17 property owners in the neighborhood. The people at the houses with the worst wells must rely on bottled water; at other homes families are frustrated by a limited flow of water and worry about contamination, Roberts said...if allowed to stand, the decision will undermine the basic health and safety protections afforded to the public by section 116 of the Public Health Law.

Washington State Senator's Opinion - Give homeowners some basic rights
Faulty construction is a nightmare for too many new homeowners...Under current Washington law, contractors do not have to pass any qualifying tests. A contractor's "license" can be bought in a day... It is time to remedy this nightmare with common-sense legislation that gives homeowners some basic rights...To make matters worse, in today's market buyers often release all warranty rights, even the rights provided by statutes, in exchange for nearly worthless third-party home warranty companies...A homebuyer's bill of rights, which I plan to introduce in Olympia, includes holding contractors liable for their mistakes for several years and giving subsequent buyers the same rights as original buyers.

PR Web: The Housing Bubble Gets Ready To Burst
The two largest culprits are homebuilders/mortgage firms that forced real estate appraisers to come up with inflated valuations and the second culprit are teaser rate, adjustable rate mortgage products that are now starting to adjust beyond many homeowners ability to make the payment. The victims are or will be our nation's homeowners, our nation's pension funds and ultimately the U.S. Taxpayer in a Katrina type bail out...the combination of blackmailing real estate appraisers into inflated valuations combined with insane mortgage products creates the perfect storm for a real estate disaster that could be our nations most costly real estate melt down in history.

Group takes aim at Choice
Dozens of homeowners in this community southeast of Mansfield are pulling together to challenge their builder, Choice Homes of Arlington, over problems including cracked foundations, stuck doors and water pressure so strong that it blasts out of faucets. "We're still getting more calls," said Sherry Freeland, who has been concerned about drainage issues at her Fox Run home since she moved in six months ago. She has been contacted by more than 50 neighbors, almost all from the nearby Overlook Estates subdivision, who have all bought homes built by Choice. They formed a group to get the builder's attention and get their houses bought back.

Foreclosures haunt homeowners
Nearly 850 Bexar County residents lost their homes to foreclosure Tuesday, the third-highest monthly total in more than a decade. Foreclosed homes go up for public auction the first Tuesday of each month outside the Bexar County Courthouse. The slew of foreclosures is reminiscent of the late 1980s when oil busted and the San Antonio real estate market crashed.

Buyers in a bind
 After struggling home builder Jade Homes suddenly closed its doors last month, buyers of about 75 homes found themselves in difficult straits... Shawn Stumpf, his wife, Kristy, and their two small children expected to soon move into their new Jade home in North Port. They sold their former house last year to make the $50,000 deposit on a $326,000 Jade house at 1733 Kadashow Drive. The Stumpfs are now living with Shawn Stumpf's mother.

Nightmare Mortgages
There was plenty more going on behind the scenes they didn't know about, either: that their broker was paid more to sell option ARMs than other mortgages; that their lender is allowed to claim the full monthly payment as revenue on its books even when borrowers choose to pay much less; that the loan's interest rates and up-front fees might not have been set by their bank but rather by a hedge fund; and that they'll soon be confronted with the choice of coughing up higher payments or coughing up their home.