The New York Times's Gretchen Morgenson: Home Builders (You Heard That Right) Get a Gift
The Worker, Homeownership and Business Assistance Act of 2009 into law, extending unemployment benefits by 20 weeks and renewing the first-time homebuyer tax credit until next April.  But tucked inside the law was another prize: a tax break that lets big companies offset losses incurred in 2008 and 2009 against profits booked as far back as 2004. The tax cuts will generate corporate refunds or relief worth about $33 billion, according to an administration estimate.  This is getting to be a habit: companies that participated on the upside and are now reaping rewards from the taxpayers on the downside. The banks that underwrote so many dubious loans, for example, received government aid to get them lending again. Unfortunately, that hasn't been the result.

Huffington Post
Gretchen Morgenson: Lobbyists Win Again In Securing Tax Break For Home Builders
The New York Times 's Gretchen Morgenson points out that lobbyists have won another victory that will lead to billions in taxpayer dollars being handed over to firms that helped spur the economic crisis. The Worker, Homeownership and Business Assistance Act of 2009, which President Obama just signed into law, contains "a tax break that lets big companies offset losses incurred in 2008 and 2009 against profits booked as far back as 2004," Morgenson reports.

Homeowners feel abandoned by builders who used Chinese drywall
About 10 families in The Oaks development west of Boca Raton gathered at a neighbor's house last week to commiserate about the tainted Chinese drywall contained in most of their homes. The homeowners have contacted their builder, Albanese-Popkin Group, hoping the company would pay to fix their properties or find them rental housing. But they say the builder has abandoned them – while at the same time marketing deeply discounted homes for sale in the upscale community along Clint Moore Road.

Chinese Drywall Causing Literal Homeowner Headaches
CPSC has received 1,897 reports of problems with the drywall from residents in 30 states, the District of Colombia, and Puerto Rico, but the product was most widely used in Florida where it is estimated that as many as 35,000 homes may contain the product, and Louisiana.  Those two areas were rebuilding after devastating hurricanes so many of those storm victims have now been hit with a double whammy.  The drywall was also used extensively in new construction, especially in 2005 and 2006. Reports of the problems caused by the stuff read like a horror movie.  The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has been investigating these reports and nothing conclusive has been proven, but the lawyers have been lining up for months, suits have been filed, and homeowner insurance companies are scrambling for ways to deny damage claims.

Wieland Homes settles Clean Water Act violations with EPA
Atlanta home builder John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods Inc. will pay $350,000 to the Environmental Protection Agency to settle alleged violations of the Clean Water Act stemming from five years ago.  A Wieland Homes affiliate, John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods of the Carolinas Inc., also is a part of the settlement, one of the largest levied against a home builder this year.

New Home Warranties....Beware!
Your house develops cracks in the brick walls, the interior walls, ceilings, floor tiles, etc. yet, according to the warranty company representatives, their company is not responsible for repairing your new home. You can't believe your new home can develop so many cracks so quickly, yet your Homebuilder says "the cracks aren't big enough; we are not required to repair them".

Home builders' perks helped lead buyers to bust
Experts especially liked Lennar's "Everything Included" business model, which steered prospective buyers toward the company's lender, appraisers and Realtors, and away from anyone independent. Try telling that to residents of Carriage Pointe, where half the homes are in foreclosure. Lennar provided the mortgages for 162 of Carriage Pointe's 380 homes. Since 2007, at least 74 have had foreclosure actions filed against them...  In 2006, Morrison Homes took $15,000 off closing costs if buyers got their mortgage from Morrison Financial Services. M/I Homes offered a super-low 4.75 percent interest rate for people who went with its lender. And Pulte Homes told buyers "you can stop pinching" thanks to its offer of a zero down payment and no closing costs through its mortgage arm.

Couple says Ryan Homes misled them: Received tax credit before bought home
A serious allegation against one of the nation's top ten builders. Unhappy clients who called 12 say they got government money they were not entitled to, and they blame Ryan Homes for giving them bad advice...They claim Ryan Homes instructed them to apply for the first time, homebuyer's tax credit with no loan pre-approval..."I'd rather expose them, Ryan, for what they did, than to accept $2,500 just to keep quiet," Jerron said.

If Lenders Say "The Dog Ate Your Mortgage'
But if our current financial crisis has taught us anything, it is that many borrowers entered into mortgage agreements without a clear understanding of the debt they were incurring. And banks often lacked a clear understanding of whether all those borrowers could really repay their loans. Even so, banks and borrowers still do battle over foreclosures on an unlevel playing field that exists in far too many courtrooms. But some judges are starting to scrutinize the rules-don't-matter methods used by lenders and their lawyers in the recent foreclosure wave. On occasion, lenders are even getting slapped around a bit. One surprising smackdown occurred on Oct. 9 in federal bankruptcy court in the Southern District of New York. Ruling that a lender, PHH Mortgage, hadn't proved its claim to a delinquent borrower's home in White Plains, Judge Robert D. Drain wiped out a $461,263 mortgage debt on the property. That's right: the mortgage debt disappeared, via a court order.

Sun City Anthem resident battles HOA
"Yes, we have construction defect issues, and yes, we are upset and mad about it," McCullough said as he pointed out stress cracks and crumbling exteriors on homes in his neighborhood. "But the real story here is not about the defects in our homes. It's about a board of directors who are more sympathetic to Del Webb's financial well-being than they are for the Sun City Anthem residents." The association hired a contractor to fill in the cracks and paint over them, but not before McCullough took 44 photographs of damaged villa homes on Peoria Avenue, where he lives, and around the block on Harrisburg Avenue.

Toxic Chinese Drywall Creates A Housing Disaster
Emissions from the drywall corrode plumbing and electrical systems. Homeowners also blame them for headaches and respiratory ailments. In Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina and other states, thousands of homeowners have had an experience like Luis Gonzalez...The problem began to emerge about a year ago. Tests found that Chinese drywall imported during the peak years of the building boom emits sulfide gases. The gases corrode copper coils in air conditioning systems and wiring in appliances and electrical outlets.

Consumer info on builders improving
The Mississippi State Board of Contractors plans to launch a searchable computer database in early 2010 so consumers can check the track records of builders. The lack of computerized public records about incompetent and dishonest builders hampers Mississippi consumers who want to make informed decisions for one of life's biggest investments: a new or remodeled home.

Industry leaders call for tougher regulation of home builders
The Attorney General's Office says Katrina fraud cases are tapering off, but complaints are becoming more common in other parts of the state. Cases referred to the attorney general's Consumer Protection Division decreased almost 39 percent from 2007 to 2008, when 423 cases were reported... "We feel like as an industry that it's hard to understand," said Marty Milstead, executive vice president of the Mississippi Home Builders Association. "For heaven sakes, you have to take a test to drive a car. You have to have insurance to drive a car, but not to build a house."

Hovnanian Awash in Flood-Zone Problems
Permits for home construction in a Sacramento flood zone are causing quite the headache for builder Hovnanian Enterprises "€” and, possibly, some of its buyers.  Hovnanian received permits for 35 homes in its Westshore development, but the rather appropriately named Dan Waters "€” the son of a Sacramento councilman "€” allegedly overrode a computer system to allow construction within the Natomas flood zone, the Sacramento Bee in California  reports... Four homes have already been sold "€” with people living in them "€” and eight are in escrow,

Smart Money: THE FAT- FREE HOUSE
Builders are digging out of the housing mess with some courious shortcuts, from foam beams to picture windows that don't ever open.  Our look at the home of the future... the art of building a house on the cheap without making it look cheap... no gutter...warranty manager for builder...maybe future occupants won't care about their flowers being decapitated. "You mighg be wasting $1,000.00..."perceived value." Translation: Keep the high-profile amenities, but skimp everywhere else. And apparently, the strategy works. KB Home says... But creative economizing can come back to haunt homeowners. Missing Water Valves - Builder Saves: $35 per valve. When builders forgo under-the sink shut-ff valves, the savings seldom lower the home price.  But when there's a leak, owners can face big plumbing and cleanup bills...
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