Commonwealth Court Judge Johnny Butler said in a Wednesday order that the petition by the Pennsylvania Builders Association and private developers does nothing to address the underlying issue they are citing.
Countrywide Tries to Pin Blame on Insurer (Countrywide is/was the preferred lender of a number of homebuilders, including those who were fined by HUD for predatory/fraudulent lending and closed their in-house lenders.)
PHOENIX AZ— Attorney General Terry Goddard has hired an outside law firm to investigate predatory lending practices by homebuilders and their mortgage firms. (Pulte and Lennar respond by suing Goddard.)
UPDATE on Rivermist:
NEW material added 12 Mar 2010; More on buy backs, etc.
Rivermist homeowners to get buyback offer
By Jennifer Hiller
Centex Homes will offer to buy back 27 homes in a Northwest Side neighborhood and plans to spend $4 million to $5 million to rebuild a massive retaining wall that collapsed Jan. 24. ...
Behold the latest financial scheme from the housing industry: a flip tax that gets paid to the developer every time the home gets sold, for the next 99 years. It is a type of permanent lien on a property that benefits the original builder.
Exclusive use of the same company – Use of the same appraiser, title company, etc by a real estate agent is not uncommon. However, the exclusive use of one company by a builder, mortgage company, etc may be a sign that there is a fraud occurring and that this other person/company is in on it.
Chinese drywall update: Turns out there was more damage than the builder knew or fessed up to when it "remediated" some homes, meaning, more remediation work remains for the homeowners. (And, past news articles showed the homeowners may have had to sign releases of liability to get those "repairs" that are now found to be insufficient.)
