Builders get creative amid industry skid
Home builder face a struggle of Darwinian proportions in 2009 that experts say will shape the industry into a smaller, but smarter, animal.The pool of Valley home builders is expected to shrink considerably this year, as the prolonged flood of foreclosures pushes even more builders out of the business....Reader comment: I agree, the Toll's, Pulte's, Ryland's and KB's need to go under and subdividsions be designed and part of an incorporated city, without HOA's.....Small builders will again be the mainstay of home building, where responsibility and pride again are part of a home.

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.

Homeowner protection needed
The Texas Sunset Commission missed the boat when it failed to support the elimination of the Texas Residential Construction Commission. It is long past time for the Legislature to create a real agency to protect the Texas public as most other states have done. The honest, qualified and reputable builders have nothing to lose by supporting the creation of a real regulatory agency.

Luz of Georgetown TX - DisposableKBHome.com
There is severe structural damage to our the home we bought. The home was built by KB Home and it is now splitting. Our story is here:www.disposablekbhome.com Hopefully, some of you will listen and stay away from this corrupt and inept company. We had to move out! So now we have 2 house payments and a house we can't sell, because of this repeat offender, who buys its way out every single time.
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KB Home continues to retrench in S.A. market
KB Home announced it would add smaller, lower-priced homes in two of its newest neighborhoods, Sundance Trails and Sundance Ridge near Loop 1604 and Potranco Road. The decision sparked ongoing protests from existing homeowners in that community. Then last month Craig Westmoreland, who had been president of the KB Home San Antonio division since 2003, was replaced by Ken Langston, who had been president of the KB Home Austin division.

Drees, others file suit over HUD ruling
HUD announced early in 2008 its plans to amend its Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act for the first time in 30 years. The final rule, announced in November and effective Jan. 16, aims to protect consumers from high settlement costs by requiring more disclosures. It also improves and standardizes the good-faith estimate, a list provided by a lender that details the fees expected to be associated with a loan’s closing. Moreover, the rule prohibits the ability of builders to require the use of affiliated businesses in order for consumers to earn incentives or discounts with the purchase of their home.

Homeowners burdened by homebuilder's money woes
As hard times fall on a Dallas-based homebuilding company, homeowners are also feeling the weight of the problem. Michael Garver moved into his new Sotherby home two months ago. Within the past two weeks, letters started arriving in the mail from subcontractors threatening to put liens on his house and demanding thousands of dollars.

Builders with unsold homes get little leniency from bankers
In his 35 years as a home builder, Bobby Lunceford earned plenty of accolades. Kennesaw Citizen of the Year in 2000, home builder of the year in 2003 and outstanding Georgian, according to a resolution approved by state lawmakers in 2004. None of that mattered, however, when Lunceford tried to work with five banks to save his business, Bob Lunceford Properties, after home sales plummeted. He asked the banks to suspend loan payments until his homes sold, at which time the loans would be paid off. Instead, “the instant we ran out of money all but one bank began foreclosure proceedings,” Lunceford, 56, recalled. He and his wife, Becky, lost their home, their cars, their life savings and their business, and now live in a rented house.

High-end Plano homebuilder suspends some operations
Plano-based Sotherby Homes builds more than 300 houses a year that sell for between $300,000 and $500,000. This week, the company's Internet marketing sites weren't working, and some of its sales offices were idled. Sotherby has been in business for 14 years and builds in Collin and Denton counties. Officials did not return phone calls or e-mails Monday. But the builder released a statement that said "national lenders have severely curtailed financing to builders such as Sotherby due to the recent economic crisis."...Almost two dozen North Texas homebuilders have gone out of business during the last two years because of declining sales and reduced construction.

Councilwoman’s property listed in foreclosure
“It has, unfortunately, been a problematic property since the time I purchased it,” Freitas said.“Over the years I have had to continually pour money into trying to fix some of the shoddy construction work from the original builder,” she said. “I’ve replaced siding, windows, decking, sprinkler systems, etc. You name it and I have probably had to replace or fix it.”Given the cost of maintaining the problematic home, “I made the conscious choice to let this property go,” Freitas said.

Austin new home construction down 34% in ‘08
Starts in 2008 totaled 8,987, or 34 percent lower than the 13,624 housing starts in 2007, the report said. For fourth quarter 2008, starts totaled 1,459 new homes, down 51 percent from the same quarter last year, which saw 2,993 new starts. “The convergence of bad news regarding the economy shattered consumer confidence during the fourth quarter 2008,” said Mark Sprague, Austin partner for Residential Strategies. “Reports from the builders have been of high cancellations on previous new home orders, and of buyers that are very tentative on purchase decisions until the economic outlook improves.”

Saying Yes, WaMu Built Empire on Shaky Loans
We hope to do to this industry what Wal-Mart did to theirs, Starbucks did to theirs, Costco did to theirs and Lowe’s-Home Depot did to their industry. And I think if we’ve done our job, five years from now you’re not going to call us a bank.”  As a supervisor at a Washington Mutual mortgage processing center, John D. Parsons was accustomed to seeing baby sitters claiming salaries worthy of college presidents, and schoolteachers with incomes rivaling stockbrokers’. He rarely questioned them. A real estate frenzy was under way and WaMu, as his bank was known, was all about saying yes. Yet even by WaMu’s relaxed standards, one mortgage four years ago raised eyebrows. The borrower was claiming a six-figure income and an unusual profession: mariachi singer. Mr. Parsons could not verify the singer’s income, so he had him photographed in front of his home dressed in his mariachi outfit. The photo went into a WaMu file. Approved.

‘Liar Loans’ Earn Their Nickname
Congressional leaders say the program’s failure — only 357 people have signed up since Oct. 1 — shows that lenders aren’t willing to modify loans voluntarily and they need to be forced to do so. HUD officials believe that people who used “stated income” mortgages which required no documentation of income, are having a hard time qualifying for Hope for Homeowners because of incorrect information on their previous loans. It might not all be the borrowers fault. In many cases, mortgage brokers and lenders fudged loan applications.

Senator’s got Sunset on his mind
The agency is supposed to oversee home inspections and help the homeowner and builder come to an out-of-court agreement. But critics contend that this process often gets mired in bureaucracy. “The bottom line is that it doesn’t serve the interests of homeowners,” said Alex Winslow, executive director of Texas Watch, an Austin-based consumer advocacy organization. Winslow wants the Legislature to abolish the agency and adopt more rigorous licensing standards for home builders, but he will also support making the state commission inspection process optional to homeowners.