Brighton Village HOA

**HELP FOR UNHAPPY HOMEOWNERS**

Steps To Resolving Home Builder Issues

The following is a list of suggestions that may help resolve unhappy homeowner issues. It is helpful to check each item off as it is completed.

1) WRITE TO YOUR BUILDER ABOUT ALL THE DEFECTS & ISSUES - Make letters as brief and factual as possible. Photos or repair estimates, engineer's reports, etc., can help. Request a written reply within 14 days. SEND LETTER CERTIFIED RETURN RECEIPT MAIL so there is no doubt that they received it. KEEP ORIGINALS OF EVERYTHING and only give out copies. Never let anyone take your originals!

2) CREATE A PAPER TRAIL - Keep track of appointments, broken appointments, items that need repair, dates, times and names of the people you spoke with. E-mail is a very effective way to create a paper trail. After telephone conversations follow up with a letter detailing the phone conversation. Make a list of contact information for the builder, warranty company, useful individuals at government agencies, etc. The paper trail will be a valuable tool if you need to prove you have made every effort to contact the company. Also, a paper trail is important if you are filing with government agencies or have to file suit.

3) RESEARCH - Many builders claim you are their only unhappy customer. This is rarely true. Message boards and other consumer sites may also have complaints about your builder. County or state court records may reveal whether the builder has been sued or indicate whether or not he paid his subs. County tax appraisal records will give you information about the builder's properties, such as the name of the current owner which could help you find other unhappy homeowners. Some states or counties have online sites to search for public records. Blackbook Online and Virtual Gumshoe below have much to search through.

FREE SEARCHES:
http://www.google.com
http://www.google.com/grphp?hl=en
http://www.crimetime.com/online.htm a.k.a. Blackbook Online
http://www.virtualgumshoe.com/ Investigative Resources
http://www.daypop.com/ for searching news articles
http://vivisimo.com/html/index.html
http://www.lukol.com/
http://www.dogpile.com/
http://www.pimall.com/nais/nl/skiptips.html

FEE BASED SEARCHES:
http://publicdata.com/ $25.00 for 250 searches - Database searches for various States include: Criminal Court, Civil Court, Driver's License, Voter Registration, Sex Offender, License Plate or VIN, Professional License and Misc. Federal.

Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which backs FHA loans, maintains a list of builders/companies that have been issued a "Limited Denial of Participation". This means that there has been a problem with the builder sufficient to move a federal agency into temporarily banning them. This is a good place to search even if you do not have an FHA loan, because finding your builder on the list could be supportive of your case. The list is not updated very often, so it's a good idea to check with HUD and see if your builder is "LDPed" or not. Ask if your builder has been banned either permanently or temporarily.
http://www.hud.gov/enforce/ecldp.html

4) AVOID BINDING ARBITRATION - This is a process where the builder or warranty company often picks the allegedly neutral arbitrator, but you will almost certainly pay for it. You will have given up your right to appeal, sue, or even talk about your case to anyone again, and your complaint will not be available to the researching public, nor will it be counted in the builder's statistics reflecting "customer satisfaction."

Read the Consumer Reports article on arbitration, which only scratches the surface of the abuses of this method of dispute resolution: http://www.consumerreports.org/main/detail.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=19279&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=18151&bmUID=1002643197461

5) COMPLAIN TO YOUR LENDER - Research suggests that HUD (FHA), provides the most protection of all loan types, mainly if the home is new and 90% or more financed.

FHA - Title 24 of the Code of Federal Regulations 203.204g, states that arbitration is one of many options for dispute settlement. You can retain your right to sue or pursue the complaint thru HUD/FHA and not be forced into arbitration. HUD can also disciplined builders so they cannot sell to FHA customers.

It is important to follow up online/e-mail complaints with a written letter sent via regular mail particularly if you do not receive a confirmation that your complaint was received.

If you have FHA, file your complaint with HUD - http://www.hud.gov

VA - You can print a copy of the FEDERAL BENEFITS MANUAL at http://www.va.gov

File a complaint here: http://www.homeloans.va.gov/contact.htm

Also, file a complaint with the Inspector General on the IG HOTLINE:
http://www.va.gov/customer/consumer2.asp

6) HIRE YOUR OWN EXPERTS to support your case. An inspector or engineer can write a report on your house's defects which is going to be more accurate and complete than the claims made by those representing the builder/warranty company's side, in most cases. Most repair companies will do free estimates. Your state's Health Dept. or Dept. of Environmental Quality may be able to recommend a reputable mold testing company. Be persistent, and be sure to get names and direct numbers to any government employee who is knowledgeable and helpful to you so you can easily contact them again.

7) FILE COMPLAINTS

A) Attorney General of Texas
Consumer Protection Division
PO Box 12548
Austin, TX 78711-2548
http://www.oag.state.tx.us/
(online complaint available)

Keep it short and to the point. Make sure you explain how you would like the problem resolved. You may send copies of your documents along with a print-out of your complaint. If they receive enough complaints, they are more likely to investigate. They also handle claims of false advertising and deceptive trade practices.

B) Federal Trade Commission
CRC-240
600 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Washington, D.C. 20580
http://www.ftc.gov/
(online complaint available)

Submit a complaint about your builder to the FTC. This is the only way our elected officials will take action. You may receive a form letter stating that then cannot help you. However, it is the number of complaints filed is that eventually begins an investigation. The FTC handles claims of false advertising and deceptive trade practices. If you were promised one thing and then that changed, write to them about those details.

C) Better Business Bureau
1612 Summit Ave., Ste. 260
Fort Worth, TX 76102 -5978
(817)332-7585
(817)882-0566 fax
http://www.bbb.org/
(online complaint available)

They are usually little help, but some agencies require you file there, so file. They deal with false advertising, warranty problems & misrepresentation.

D) City Officials including Mayor, City Council Members, Building
Inspector, Planning and Zoning Official, City Manager, City
Attorney, etc.

E) National & Local Trade Organizations

National Association of Home Builders
1201 15th street, NW
Washington, DC 20005
http://www.nahb.com/
(800) 368-5242

Home Builders Association of Greater Dallas
5816 West Plano Parkway
Plano, Texas 75093
(972) 931-4840
http://www.dallasbuilders.com/

Greater Fort Worth Builders Association
6464 Brentwood Stair Road
Fort Worth, TX 76112
(817) 457-2864
http://www.fortworthbuilders.org/

8) CONTACT CONSUMER PROTECTION ADVOCATES - Tell your story and find others with the same problem--even with complaints against the same companies.

HomeOwners for Better Building
http://www.hobb.org/
Janet Ahmad, President
(210) 494-6404

Homeowners Against Deficient Dwellings
817 Bristol Way
Liberty, Missouri 64068
http://www.hadd.com/

Bad Business Bureau
http://www.ripoffreport.com

Homeowners Org for Mediation and Education
http://www.flash.net/~carlton2/home.htm

Contractors From Hell
http://www.contractorsfromhell.com
Burned@contractorsfromhell.com

If you submit a complaint to any online consumer sites, keep a copy of it for your records, update it when there have been new developments, and remember to keep it factual, and as brief as possible.

9) WRITE TO POLITICIANS - write one letter, copy and paste to the addresses/emails of each. (include your full name, address and phone number in all correspondence)

A) Office of the Governor
PO Box 12428
Austin, Texas 78711-2428
http://www.governor.state.tx.us/

B) United States Legislators
http://congress.org/

C) Texas State Senate
http://www.senate.state.tx.us/

10) CONSULT WITH LEGAL PROFESSIONALS - Laws regarding who you can sue, and for what, vary by state. Some County Bar Associations offer free consultations.

LegalLines

On the 2nd and 3rd Wednesday of each month, The Dallas Bar Association sponsors a telephone hotline, where volunteers attorneys will answer your legal questions for FREE. Lines are answered from 5:15 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. There are Spanish-speaking attorneys available each night. The telephone number to call is (214) 220-7476.
*Callers are welcome to call with ANY kind of legal question.

http://www.dallasbar.org/public/legalline.asp

The Tarrant County Bar Association: Callers may receive free no-strings-attached legal advice by calling (817) 335-1239 between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. on the following 2002 dates: March 14 & 28, April 11 & 25, May 9 & 23, June 13 & 27, July 11 & 25, August 8 & 22, September 12 & 26, October 10 & 24, November 14, December 12.

http://www.tarrantbar.org/

11) MEDIA - If your builder is still building in your area, the media can be very effective. Be sure that you do so within the law. Signs on your yard, if allowed, must meet legal and Homeowner Association guidelines, complaints must be true, wording carefully done to protect yourself. Some homeowners have been sued for saying things like, "This Builder Builds Terrible homes," but not for saying "I'm unhappy with my new home." Making use of free legal consultations or internet research on your state's laws will be useful.

A) TELEVISION

NBC Channel 5
Sabrina Smith
Sabrina's Solutions
Sabrina.Smith@nbc.com

WFAA Channel 8
Brett Shipp
Bshipp@wfaa.com

Byron Harris
bharris@wfaa.com

Valerie Williams
vwilliams@wfaa.com

KDFW FOX 4
Becky Oliver
Onyourside@foxinc.com OR
iteam@foxinc.com

KTVT CBS Channel 11
EYE TEAM
Ginger Allen & Bennett Cunningham
news@ktvt.com

B) NEWSPAPERS

Fort Worth Star Telegram
http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/
(817) 390-7400

Dallas Morning News
http://www.dallasnews.com/

C) Radio

KRLD 1080
Marty Griffin
The Marty Griffin Show
Marty@themartygriffinshow.com

12) SIGN THE PETITION

Distressed Homeowners Needing Your Help Petition
http://www.petitiononline.com/haddhadd/petition.html

13) DON'T GIVE UP! Builders and warranty companies use a very effective tool called the "Wearing Down Process." Most people give up and they hope you will too.