San Antonio Express-News: Homebuilders' campaign donations rapped
AUSTIN "€” Advocates of campaign finance reform and homeowners' rights joined Monday to spotlight almost $9 million in campaign contributions from homebuilder interests over a nearly four-year period that included passage of a law the groups say hurt homebuyers.

Austin Statesman: Activists target homebuilders

A report unveiled Monday by two watchdog groups at the Capitol shows that homebuilders contributed at least $9 million to state leaders and candidates during the past four years.

Builder
The Magazine of the National Association of Home Builders
Parallel Universe
The worldview of Home Builders versus that of the people who post negative web sites about them is so different that some might wonder whether the two groups live on the same planet.
The negative Web postings depict builders as unscrupulous businesspeople who market shoddy, hastily built products and force people into binding arbitration agreements that forfeit the legal rights of home buyers.

Illinois sues remodeling firm
Builder accused of bilking customers out of $470,000; cops seek president
The company was supposed to build an $80,000 second-floor addition on her Arlington Heights home, but so far, no workers have shown up to do the job.

Frisco Enterprise
Charter meeting gets passionate
Passions grew as frustrations rose among the participants in the meeting - the Take Back Your Rights group, the City Council and residents in attendance. The meeting was an attempt to iron out issues regarding TBYR's efforts to create legislation designed to protect homebuyers from faulty construction of new homes in Frisco.

Outrageous! Buy a New Home - Don't Sue and Shut Up 
Homebuilders will stop at nothing – Now Buyers must agree not to Speak
Goff Homes Arbitration Clause - Beware of New Builder Clause – Homebuilder requires that homebuyers sign an Arbitration Agreement at closing causing them to give up their 1^st and 7^th constitutional rights. For the homebuyer it's a decision between constitutional rights and the American Dream.
                                 
                                                   Imagine keeping this backyard event a secret
                Goff Homes has changed its name to National Homes
Buyers must agree not to: FILE ANY PROTEST, GRIEVANCE, OR COMPLAINT… INCLUDING THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU OR ANY MEDIA ENTITY, TELEVISION OR OTHERWISE… AGREES THAT NO SIGN OR BILLBOARD OR WRITING OR CHART OR DRAWING CONCERNING THE CONDITION OF THE HOME AND/OR PROPERTY SHALL BE ERECTED OR PLACED IN SUCH A WAY THAT IS VISIBLE TO PERSONS PASSING BY THE PROPERTY… and much more.

Also contained in the contract is a biased arbitration provision that specifies the use Construction Arbitration Services (CAS) . If that isn't enough, the final clause in the agreement could cost homeowners their home – "A SUM EQUAL TO THE PURCHASE PRICE, OF THE HOME," if the owner appeals the arbitrators' decision to the appellate courts.

See related HOBB article: Public Citizens News Release September 01, 2004
CAS Arbitration Investigated – Recently an investigative report by Public Citizen helped launch numerous state investigations – The Public Citizens report points to Home Buyers Warranty (HBW) and their specified arbitrator (CAS) as having close ties, which could lead to a biased mandatory arbitration process that shields "homebuilders from liability for construction defects." Public Citizen call for investigation of HBW and CAS.

A whole lot of talk yields little action
Homeowners wish mediation agency could force repairs
MINDY Brooks just wants her house fixed. Shoddy construction left her Fort Worth home with a laundry list of problems… The commission's inspector found more than a dozen defects. But the commission had no power to enforce its findings, leaving Brooks feeling helpless.

Within the United States, however, some in the business community are doing whatever they can to shake themselves free of the judicial system in favor of "binding arbitration" clauses in contracts that automatically send disputes to an arbitrator rather than a courtroom. 

Link: Click to read more

Homeowners from across Texas Rally at the TX State Capitol prior to the Hearings on Arbitration. Hearing Audio Available

Link: Consumer advocates hammer arbitration 

Texas Senate Committee on Jurisprudence

Contractor Scam: Woman Still Waiting on Dream Home
You do your research and check him out, but he still takes your money and runs…after giving him $14,000 for materials, she says he disappeared...

Group protests against home builder over fee
Assessment leads to protest
Berea- Residents of a Ryan Homes subdivision notched up their protest against the builder Wednesday, when more than 75 of them demonstrated at a new Ryan development in Berea. The demonstrators, many of them owners of Ryan homes in the Westfield Park subdivision in Olmsted Township, accused the builder of failing to disclose costly assessments...