Sick House, Suffering Family
Shoddy construction and unmended leaks had let moisture in, allowing toxin-producing mold to grow and spread through the three-story house, the Mengs said. A Loudoun jury recently awarded the family $4.75 million, among the largest awards in a mold case in Virginia...  "We kept on hoping that Drees was going to do the right thing," Wendy Meng said. "All we asked them to do was put us up somewhere while they got the house completely cleaned . . . and they wouldn't do it." ... The Mengs said problems with the house have cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical expenses, legal fees, discarded furniture and other expenses. But they can be replaced.  "If you don't have your health," Wendy Meng said, "it doesn't matter what you have."

DR HORTON HOMES BAD FOR TEXAS, BAD FOR  THE COUNTRY
They are ignoring all warranty request from me and my neigbors...In August of 2008 we discovered mold growing above the cabinets in the kitchen. In order for mold to have grown to that extent, the leak had to have existed for some time...We could not get our warranty work started until after almost a year of being in our home.

Major Arizona home builder files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
"Unfortunately, the filing is a sign of the challenging times builders and developers are currently facing in today's housing market," Burger said. According to the company's website, Fulton Homes has 21 communities in development in the Phoenix metro area. "As long as this doom and gloom scenario exists, you're going to have companies like this strained and stressed," added Hoffman.

Dallas-area homebuilders suspend operations, leave buyers in the lurch
Who's Next?  Number way down. The worst housing market in generations is taking a big toll on the local homebuilding industry.  More than two dozen builders have suspended operations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, analysts estimate, leaving some homebuyers and new owners in the lurch... In North Texas, new home sales have fallen by more than 40 percent since 2006, and single-family home starts are at the lowest level in close to 20 years.

Construction Consultant Agrees: Chinese Drywall Defective
Hundreds of homeowners have been plagued by odious smells and ongoing wiring, pipe, and air conditioning problems due to defective Chinese Drywall.  Worse, consumers are complaining about health problems that seem to lift when they are away from the toxic Chinese Drywall.  Health concerns include an array of respiratory problems, nosebleeds, irritated eyes, and headaches.  Of very serious concern, is the possibility that the Chinese Drywall is emitting excessive amounts of hydrogen sulfide fumes, which can cause extreme irritation, unconsciousness, and even death.

The operators of Carolina Development conned more than 1,000 in a Ponzi scheme, California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown's office says.
Six Orange County men face criminal fraud charges in an alleged $52-million investment scam that was said to promise big profits from luxury developments next to golf courses designed by Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Greg Norman.
The criminal cases, filed Thursday in Orange County Superior Court by the office of California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown, follow civil charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission against the operators of Irvine-based Carolina Development Co. "This is a very serious case, an unusually large fraud," Brown said in an interview. The defendants "callously conned" more than 1,000 people, including retirees, he said...The promotions took place from August 2001 to February 2006, authorities said, when a state and federal task force shut down Carolina Development.

Another TRCC Closure: Defective Choice Home Sold on the Auction Block
"I bought a defective home built by a builder that is not licensed and wired by an unlicensed electrician.  I was stuck with a house that could not be insured, that I couldn't live in or sell.  I got no help from the City of Princeton or the State "Builder's Protection Agency' TRCC.   I can't sue the builder because of a binding arbitration clause or any of there subs, yet the builder somehow has a gag order on me so I won't tell any of the other homeowners what has happened.   So… welcome to Texas … my dream went down the toilet when my house was sold on the auction block," said Cam Taylor.  See new construction in Princeton Texas...Homebuilding Texas Style

Home Builder Sentiment Sinks to New Low
The National Association of Home Builders said its preliminary NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index was 8 in January, down from 9 in December. That is the lowest level on record since the gauge was launched in January 1985. Readings below 50 indicate more builders view market conditions as poor than favorable. The January index was below expectations of 9, based on a Reuters survey of economists. Eric Belsky, executive director at Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies, said home builders are not only struggling under sinking demand and a credit crisis, but are facing a flood of homes in foreclosure.

Drywall From China Raises Health, Safety Concerns
Chinese-made drywall imported during the height of the housing boom is suspected of being responsible for the corrosion and failure of metal components, as well as foul odors, in homes in the Sarasota area and down both coasts of Florida. State and federal health officials are trying to determine whether gases emitted by the drywall are hazardous to humans..."There does seem to be a strong association between the presence of the Chinese drywall and the coil corrosion issues," said David Krause, state toxicologist with the Bureau of Environmental Public Health Medicine.

Not Zzzz Best Day For Lennar
Minkow claimed that the dealings between Lennar and Briarwood, as described in his letter, are part of a larger pattern in which Lennar treats its joint ventures "like a Ponzi scheme, pledging older joint venture interests to leverage themselves into newer joint venture relationships."

Housing Push for Hispanics Spawns Wave of Foreclosures
Mortgage lenders flooded Mr. Baca's San Bernardino, Calif., district with loans that often didn't require down payments, solid credit ratings or documentation of employment. Now, many of the Hispanics who became homeowners find themselves mired in the national housing mess. Nearly 9,200 families in his district have lost their homes to foreclosure. Between 2000 and 2007, as the Hispanic population increased, Hispanic homeownership grew even faster, increasing by 47%, to 6.1 million from 4.1 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Over that same period, homeownership nationally grew by 8%. In 2005 alone, mortgages to Hispanics jumped by 29%, with expensive nonprime mortgages soaring 169%, according to the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council.

Costly Mold: Loudoun couple awarded $4.75M for mold injuries
A Loudoun County Circuit Court jury has returned verdicts totaling $4.75 million for a couple who contended that mold in their $900,000 home sickened them and rendered their house unlivable...The trial before Judge Thomas D. Horne began on Dec. 15, and the jury returned its verdicts early on the afternoon of Dec. 23 after beginning its deliberations late the previous afternoon. It awarded Wendy Meng $2.276 million and Paul Meng $500,000 for negligence and awarded the couple $1.474 million for constructive fraud and $500,000 for violation of the Virginia Consumer Protection Act.

Smoke and Mirrors of the Homebuilding Industry and its Texas Residential Construction Commission (TRCC)
Texas is the birth place of tort reform, the "builders right-to-repair", which came about in the 90 's  It was the brain child of David Weekley (Texans for Law Suit Reform),  Bob Perry, and the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). Their aim was to broadly limit liability for defectively built homes by limiting builder warranty responsibility and limit their liability under the Deceptive Trade Practice (DTPA). In 2006, the State Comptrollers office called for the abolishment of TRCC when it found that 86% of homeowners who confirmed defects in their homes through TRCC did not get their homes repaired. Recently, the Sunset Commission Staff Review found that 88% of homeowners were left with legal disputes and called for the abolishment of TRCC. Read more...

Homebuilders TRCC -Tom Archer President, Homeowners of Texas Inc.
The editorial states that the Sunset Advisory Commission "voted to give the construction commission greater authority to revoke or suspend a builder's license." The term "license" is a misnomer because Texas, unlike 28 other states, does not require homebuilders to be licensed. Unfortunately, Texas only requires builders to be "registered" with the Texas Residential Construction Commission. Consequently, unqualified and unscrupulous homebuilders frequently enter the profession because the TRCC requires only that a registered builder to be 18 years old, a "trustworthy" Texas resident and legally able to work in the United States. Texans who buy a used car have far more consumer protections than Texans who buy a new home. As recommended by the Sunset Commission staff, the TRCC should be abolished to protect the public. In addition, all construction trades should be licensed and held financially and legally accountable to Texas homeowners.