Bad Buildings

Homebuyers deserve better protection

2006-02-14T20:46:00.000-08:00

CommentaryHomebuyers deserve better protection 02/13/2006 Janet AhmadSpecial to the Express-News It's no coincidence that homebuilders have enjoyed record-breaking profits at the same time the state has sanctioned poor building practices and limited liability of builders who build defective houses.
However, for builders who continually fool homeowners and embarrass lawmakers, it may prove to be a different story after state Rep. Todd Smith called on the state comptroller to report on some important questions he had about the Texas Residential Construction Commission, or TRCC.
If you think the government protects buyers when purchasing the biggest investment most of us will ever make, think again.
In early 2003 the building industry contrived convincing tales of woe, along with millions in political action committee contributions, that persuaded some Texas lawmakers to help create the unprecedented experimental state agency. Elected officials not only complied but relied on the wisdom of the industry to write the bill and trusted them to run the agency that mandates homebuyers to pay a fee to complain about their builder, while allowing shoddy construction standards to be written by the industry.
In the comptroller's report, there is compelling evidence that lawmakers made a mistake and were duped into going along with the building industry's long-term plan to thwart homeowners. The report gives failing grades to TRCC, and the revelations are reprehensible.
At a news conference, Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, in typical fashion, candidly presented the results of the five-month investigation.
Strayhorn described TRCC as a builder-protection agency. She said that in a survey by her office, 86 percent of homeowners who responded stated builders failed to fix construction defects after going through the TRCC inspection and dispute resolution process.
The report pointed out the agency did not require builders to show any "proof of experience, education or financial solvency." However, despite the requirement for a criminal background check, "TRCC files show that a currently registered builder was convicted of burglary of a vehicle, burglary of a building and attempted homicide. Another builder was convicted of a sex crime and registered as a sex offender just months before he was allowed to register as a homebuilder."
Strayhorn concluded, "If it were up to me personally, I would blast this Texas Residential Construction Commission builder-protection agency off the bureaucratic books."
Her findings support what homeowners and consumer groups have said all along. The builders' limited warranty gives a false sense of security and a state mandate that imposes bureaucratic hardships on buyers and wasted time, plus millions in taxpayers' dollars, on a state agency for what they describe as unnecessary.
TRCC is an industry scheme to "control" the consumer through dilatory tactics, exorbitant fees, ridiculously lax performance standards and a warranty with more "gotchas" than a house of mirrors.
The report is a wake-up call. We can either perform extensive lifesaving procedures on this multimillion-dollar bureaucratic fiasco or get on with the business of consumer protection by enacting a simple, logical solution, like a home lemon law. At least a home lemon law would give an incentive to builders to construct a home right the first time or buy it back when they fail to make repairs.
We echo the sentiments of Strayhorn: "It isn't the role of government to throw up bureaucratic barriers to protect unethical or inept builders from their customers ... Caveat emptor — let the buyer beware — is the motto of the unscrupulous. It should not be the hallmark of state policy."
At the end of the day, shouldn't families expect basic state consumer protections when purchasing something as fundamental as decent housing that should last for generations?
Janet Ahmad of San Antonio is national president of HomeOwners for Better Building. http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/stories/MYSA021306.2O.ahmadcomment.14ab5032.html

Inspectors resign from TRCC

2006-02-14T20:45:00.000-08:00

TRCC Inspectors Resign
Tuesday, 14 February 2006
Inspectors Display IntegrityThird party inspectors resign from the Texas Residential Construction Commission in protest (TRCC)."I'm not willing to risk my credentials as being viewed an endorsement for this nonsense. I can better serve the consumers of Texas as a private inspector and expert witness for defects before they waste their time with the SIRP claims. Effective immediately, please remove me as an active inspector with this commission.""So far from my vantage point on the front line, these inspections have accomplished nothing except bad will, for me, you and the state... I have written many newspaper columns stating I had high hopes for the TRCC. You may have seen some of those. I don't write those anymore."
Two Resignations:
Mr. Waddill,I reviewed a portion of the recent broadcast and stayed long enough to see the commissioners slamdunk Tom Killebrew into the advisory committee position for Inspector. I have to say I had no idea he was being considered since he bailed on the commission. This left me with the clear appearance of backdoor backscratching on the trade outs between him and Commissioner Brown.On comparison of résumés, there isn't a Commissioner on the panel that can look me in the face and honestly tell me Tom's credentials as an inspector or building official outmatch mine. Then we can look at my ICC builder certification and state certification as a neutral mediator. Those are all qualities and experience I was prepared to bring to the table and to provide to consumers of Texas.On a matter of neutrality, I have a real problem with the concept of the commissioners picking Tom. It's my understanding his company does a tremendous amount work specifically for the building community deriving a fairly substantial amount of money. Frankly , I have a hard time seeing neutrality in his position. It's also been my understanding that inspectors were to always be as neutral as possible to avoid this conflict.So were clear, this isn't an issue of sour grapes as much as it is an issue of realizing how disillusioned I've become with the commission. It's really unfortunate the comptroller's office didn't contact inspectors for our opinions prior to releasing that report. Comments apparently made about inspectors by your staff were insulting at the very least. There was a genuine hope that the advisory committee was going to be an opportunity for at least some sensible, honest and neutral voices to be heard, but I don't see that happening and don't expect it will change.Until legislation is passed to force correction of defects that we're finding as inspectors there is no point in the process or the commission. The standards are abysmal, communication between the commission and inspectors is extremely poor and the building community has quickly realized there is no penalty for work so bad it even exceeds the incredibly generous standards A&M pulled out of thin air. Finally, based on the public concern and feedback coming to me, I feel my reputation as an inspector and building official is jeopardized if I continue association with the commission. I'm not willing to risk my credentials as being viewed an endorsement for this nonsense. I can better serve the consumers of Texas as a private inspector and expert witness for defects before they waste their time with the SIRP claims. Effective immediately, please remove me as an active inspector with this commission.Regards,Glen M. Davis C.B.O. H.C.O. ************************************
----- Original Message -----
From: Jim Poage
To:
aaron.moore@trcc.stateThis email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
Cc:
patrick.fortner@trcc.stateThis email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
Sent: Sunday, February 12, 2006 4:59 PM
Subject: Inspections
Aaron,

When I started doing inspections for TRCC, I thought I would be helping people with difficult or dangerous situations. As an inspector, that is our business.

In fact inspections for TRCC do neither. They only lengthen the time people take to get a resolution to a problem, raise their expectations that someone (the TRCC, the state, and/or me) is there to help them, and it costs them money. So far from my vantage point on the front line, these inspections have accomplished nothing except bad will, for me, you and the state.

If this is not the case, you should improve the communication flow to the inspectors. As of the time I write this, it is non-existent. Keep in mind, we are the ones out there eye-to-eye with the taxpayers that pay your salary or fees.

I have written many newspaper columns stating I had high hopes for the TRCC. You may have seen some of those. I don't write those anymore.

Please remove me from the list of TRCC inspectors.

I wish you the best of luck in the future and sincerely hope all of you can get your act together and help the Texas homeowner.

Jim

Jim PoageSan Antonio, TX 78232

Letter to TRCC Exec Director

2006-02-11T19:26:00.001-08:00

Mr. Wadell,

I want to make sure you are aware that the homes in Hyde Park, all 44 are listed in a lawsuit in Judge McCorkels civil court on the fifth floor in Houston and you can read in open records where they knew and admit to of all the defects with those properties. They list my unit #34 in open testimony ...and that mine was one of the worst. They say it had black stuff growing all behind the shower and drywall and was leaking so badly they had to remove all the wet insulation in the entire attic in 2001 the exact date is on the court records. But I bought my house in 2002! The shower fell out again, but the mortgage company has workers over there right now patching it up and covering up all the mold and water intrusion ... so. they can dump it on someone else. Is that ethical, honest, is it even human?

How much longer until you do something, anything, take some action. At least mayor White and city Councilwoman Ada Edwards did, they turned down $500,000 dollars worth of appropriations to University Development led by Jorge Casimiro, CEO and said, the city did not want to do any contracts with these kind of unscrupulous people. What makes a builder bad at TRCC?

A 44 unit subdivision where this builder admits 44 are defective?

Getting fired building the police station?

City refuses to work with them?

Insurance claims denied for substandard construction and builder defects?

Stealing homeowners dues?

Being thrown out of the Better Business Bureau

Heather Mickelson came to see you about the mess at tremont tower months ago and you said you were on it... her title company American title can no longer find her mortgage papers how strange is that? They have disapeared? Does the FBI have to come in and take care of this under mortgage fraud? There is enough fraud to go around for all of you including the Attorney General.
Do you have the authority? Are you afraid? Do you need some help? I want action I am tired of being placated and told it is under investigation ..../while I am held hostage by these people. I was at my 4 th. hearing this morning where they are trying to compel me back into arbitration because they are afraid of a jury trial and do not want what they have done to be in public record

You have an opportunity to prove the TRCC is not going to condone this type of criminal behavior and take action. And yes, I know I said criminal because the Attorney General should be prosecuting them under the RICO statues and it is not just my opinion. You have other complaints.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Jordan Fogal

Letter to TRCC Exec Director

2006-02-11T19:26:00.000-08:00

TRCC - homeowner's experience

2006-02-11T19:08:00.000-08:00

I was in the TRCC process. I now have no home and live in an apartment.

Googlel Jordan Fogal for more information on my new $360.000 uninhabitable house.

The day I bought it, it was appraised for $408,000. It has been empty for over a year. It is for sale by century 21 excel in the 290,000 range. It went into foreclosure and no one would bid on it. It is listed with no know defects because, they do not have to be revealed with foreclosures.
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My builder has filed a lawsuit against his own subcontractors and the case is in Judge McCorkles' civil court in public records. Tremont/Stature admits they knew of the defects in 2001 and sold me the house in 2002, as new ... after extensive patching and cover up.

The TRCC is for the builder, by the builder and of the builder.
Representative Garnet Coleman, summed it up perfectly when he said, only in Texas can you buy your own state agency and then regulate yourself.

I have filed a complaint against my builder Tremont/Stature/University Development or, whomever they are calling themselves this week, with the TRCC. My builder circumvented state law and the TRCC did nothing. They can't talk about this file because it is under investigation. How many years will they use that as an excuse, refusing to take action against the practices of this poster child for bad building.

I have numerous letters from the TRCC contradicting themselves. The TRCC is now the dumping ground for complaints against builders. Everyone refers you there, even Governor Perry. He referred condo owners there and the TRCC does not cover Condo's. They use this agency as an excuse, saying it is a place to help home owners with problems, they act like this agency was created by this administration for us.

The investigation of this bureaucracy should be made public knowledge. Consumers, whether they have defective homes or not, need to be aware of what is being done to us...because they could be next.

This agency does nothing but aid and abet the building industry and I speak from personal experience. I met with them personally in Austin and spoke at one of their meetings in Houston. The spin this agency puts out makes me ill. I met with the Director, Stephen Thomas. I told him if he did his job the builders would have him fired and if he didn't he would be under a constant barrage by complaints of abused homeowners. Mr. Thomas resigned. Now we have Mr. Wadell.

It is one thing to be made homeless by an act of God, like Katrina ... but it is totally different when it is by an act of greed.

Jordan Fogal

2/7 Update: Jordan Fogal's Court Proceedings

2006-02-11T19:06:00.000-08:00

Today I spent my 4th hearing in Judge Kent Sullivan's District court. Only to be scheduled for yet another hearing. Even with documentation and admission documents that the builder was aware of the defects to my house, and the patch work done ...piror to my purchase, even thought I no longer own the house, even though I have been dismissed from the arbitration process, Stature still wants me compelled back into arbitration ... not only for my punishment but for the purpose of my testimony not making public record.

The arbitration process is held in secret, does not have to follow the rules of law, yet is upheld by the court..Stature/Tremont is afraid of a trial and does not want all their misdeeds and disasters made available in public records. Four hearings I have had to endure because these people were too incompetent to build my subdivision. It is an unfair playing field when they have become so proficient at playing the system, the courts, and AAA ... with their money, their threats and their persecution of anyone who dares to take them on. I should not be in a hearings at all, the Attorney General should be prosecuting these people under the RICO statures.
I am forced to continue to seek truth, justice and the American way in a system that has repeatedly led let me down.
Especially in Houston and in the state of Texas. We are treated as if we do not matter, just collateral damage of the greedy. Our problems go ignored or unheard and our politicians play politics while we suffer.

TRCCdoesn't know its own rules

2006-02-11T19:05:00.000-08:00

TRCC commissioners officially declare the HB730 law to be retroactive...section 3.01 of the Texas residential Construction Commission Act, TRCC mandates all homes built after September 1,2003 are subject to the act... HOWEVER on March 24,2004 Commissioners unanimously voted to change the law by interpreting the act to be retroactive For all homes still under warranty built since September 1.1993. The commissioners decision was bases on testimony by Robert Bush, legal council for the Texas Association Builders who had participated in the drafting of the legislation and his interpretation a year after the passage of the act."

This is their own laws yet they allowed Stature/Tremont to circumvent state law and take me to AAA arbitration while I begged them for help and a letter telling AAA it was against the laws of Texas for them to do so, since TRCC allowed this... Why go though the TRCC process to end up right back where I was in AAA. TRCC showed they had no intention of getting involved or taking a stand to help me the home owner. Now they need to get their story straight.
I also am not in a legal proceeding. I can not get there. I have tried to sue them but I am in my 5ht hearing in Judge Sullivans' court where they took me ...and are trying to deny me my right to a trial by jury and force me back into AAA ...where they already had me and we were dismissed. Lets get this straight please and stop looking for excuses. TRCC did not protect me and allowed my rights to be violated and allowed Stature/Tremont to circumvent state law and they did nothing.

Jordan Fogal

Hyde Park sells, Mold included

2006-02-11T19:03:00.000-08:00

#34 In Hyde park Crescent sold. It sold for $287,500. It was my new house. The day I bought it, the city of Houston appraised it at $408,000. My house has Stackybotrys and Chaetomium (Molds) in high counts. The Stackybotrys is even in the A/C and the air ducks. It is all in the in the 3rd floor bathroom and even in the walls. The floor under the carpet is all water spots and the windows leak. There is mold all over the laundry room ceiling. The Dinning room ceiling has been replaced because the garden tub dumped 100 gallons of water in it, from the 3rd floor and flooded the dinning room, living room, and ran though the hard woods and ended up in the garage on the first floor. The sales agent, said" this sort of thing was to be expected in new construction." The windows leak terribly in the kitchen and mold was growing all up under them and up the wood work. The kitchen deck studs are rotted. I know because I cut a hole in the wall so you could see in and I could watch the water drain out of my house. My house # 34 is one of the subject houses in the case in Judge McCorkle's civil court, 5th floor, where the builder, Stature/Tremont sued Astec roofers for the defective roofs. Other subcontractors are also mentioned. They admit they knew these houses had major problems in 2001, yet some of us were sold them long after that, mine in April of 2002. They even talk about ... in deposition, "about black stuff being all behind my shower and drywall, water wetting the insulation in the attic so bad it had to all be taken out." I did not cover up the damage to my house and try to dump it on someone else. It is against the law for a private citizen not to disclose defects. I let it go into foreclosure and tried to get the mortgage company, Homecomings a sub of GMAC to go after the builder. He did not. He had PMI and refused to tell me who with, even though I was paying for it. I called All State Home owners insurance, that I paid $3400 a year for, only to be told, substandard construction and builder defects were not covered under my policy. I notified the Real estate Board of the dangers in this house and was referred to an investigator who "was going to get back with me" but didn't. I tried to notify century 21 excel, the broker Greg Post and the listing agent Michael Weaster were unavailable, so I spoke with Mary Ann Kocurek their assistant, who informed me that with foreclosure sales they did not have to disclose defects. I ask her, not even if in this case it might kill someone? She repeated, they did not have to disclose. I told her I had mold reports, engineering reports, moisture intrusion reports, architectural reports as well as a stucco report. She did not care. I left my name and phone number no one called me back. One of our movers had an asthma attack after being in my house less than 15 minutes and I told them about the mold and gave them masks and ask them if they were sure they wanted to take a chance on going inside. Senator Ellis's aid came out and saw all this damage, and wore a mask, Judge Eckels's sent someone out, and he called me and said Jorge Casimiro was a 30 year friend and he was going to call him and tell him he needed to clean up his mess. I never heard back. There are pictures on HOBB.ORG.and it has made national media in people Magazine, under "contractors from Hell," and a seven page expose in. Mother Jones magazine, numerous news papers, and talk shows including the Bev Smith show out of New York, and the Tom Hartman, and others across Texas. My house has been empty for an entire year... with water pouring in the walls and mold growing and wood rotting..They have covered it up again. . It is strange they can admit the mold in New Orleans is toxic, but not in Texas...they say the people in New Orleans can't move back it is too dangerous to their health ..that is sure not what happens in Texas....In Texas the builders and sellers just say "give me my money and posion the suckers"..... I can accept this happened though an act of God... but this is happening because of an acts of greed. I am sending this letter out to everyone I can think of, so if any thing happens to the people in my house, I want everyone to have to share in the responsibility . Because of your inaction these people, or their child or pet my die at the least they will become ill. If a baby or puppy or kitten moves in there ... they will be effected first. Like canaries in a mine shaft. Chaetomium mold is terribly dangerous it causes brain abscess. We were lucky, we just had migraines, sinus infections and surgeries, bloody noises, lung and eye infections. This house has been sitting empty leaking, growing mold for the entire year since we moved out. I can only image how badly the air quality and A/C are now ... and the wood rot. Some houses in my x subdivision have been dumped as many as 5 times already. When does this stop? They say every alcoholic adversely effects at least 54 people during his life time. This developer far exceeds an alcoholic's effects. His incompetence has destroyed and made people sick, broke ruined their lives and credit and forced many into foreclosure and bankruptcy. I care, I make it public and I stay in court. I am waiting my 5tht hearing in Judge Sullivan's court because Tremont/Stature wants the court to compel me back into arbitration AGAIN, rather than allow me to have my day in court and expose what these renegade builders have been allowed to do to the citizens of Houston. Jordan Fogal

Title Company allowed forged documents (Affidavit)

2006-02-11T18:57:00.000-08:00

AFFIDAVIT

Heather Jean Mickelson, being first duly sworn and under oath do swear and say that:

“My name is Heather Jean Mickelson. I am 27 years of age, of sound mind, and have never been convicted of a felony.

“I owned a home in the Tremont Tower Condominiums at 3311 Yupon Street, #410, Houston, Texas 77006. I closed on the home on July 30, 2004 at the Texas American Title Company, 3633 Allen Parkway, Suite 200, Houston, Texas 77019. At that time I received what I thought was a complete set of the closing documents.

“In November, 2005, at the request of my attorney, I requested a complete copy of my file from Texas American Title Company. The attorney particularly wanted to see the document which had been blank at the time of closing that authorized a commission of $9,200 to be paid to Wilshire Consulting, even though I had not used a broker or a real estate agent. When I gave the person at the title company the address of the house, she immediately said that it was an oddity and it would take 2-5 days to retrieve the file and she would call me back when they found it.

“One week later I called the title company back and was told that they couldn’t find the file and that it may have been put in storage. From then through the end of December, I called every two weeks checking on the search for the file.

“On February 6, 2006, the title company called to say that the file was officially misplaced and that they could only supply documents that had been filed as public record, or about 44 pages.

“On February 8, 2006, the title company called to say that they had found the file and would send it by Federal Express.

“On February 9, 2006, I received the documents. I noticed that there were 2 pages with apparently forged signatures and that the HUD statement was different from the one I had received at closing. The difference was, instead of $9,200 going to Wilshire Consulting, the document now read $17,728.09. Also missing was the Uniform Mortgage Application.

“On February 10, 2006, I notified the title company by facsimile of my belief that there were altered and missing documents. I gave them one week to respond or I would seek legal action. I received fax confirmation from the title company that they had received my fax.”

Home Sour Home

2006-02-11T18:43:00.000-08:00

Home Sour Home What happens when a Republican homemaker goes up against an elusive construction company, a faceless bureaucracy, and the whole housing-industrial complex?
Randall Patterson July/August 2005 Issue
CONVERSION EXPERIENCES generally begin with a quest, and for Bob and Jordan Fogal, it began with a quest for comfort. Bob, who works in marketing, wanted a shorter commute to his office. Matters of the home, as usual, were left to his wife, and Jordan had spent months looking for a house—and had rejected many—when at last she found the one: a regal, stucco box in a gated community near downtown Houston. "You could see what a quality piece of work the house was," Jordan remembers. She liked the 20-foot ceilings, the granite counters in the kitchen, the stainless-steel appliances—all part of the "Tremont Attention to Detail Difference," according to the builders' handout. She assumed that since the house was so nicely appointed, it was also soundly built. Seduced by beauty, certain of value, the Fogals bought the home in April 2002 for $368,564, investing nearly everything they had.
The first disappointment came on the day they moved in. Bob Fogal, weary from unpacking, trudged upstairs to relax in his new whirlpool bath. When he got out, he pulled the plug and "all 100 gallons of that water came down through the dining room ceiling, into the light fixtures, down the columns, onto my dining room table and Oriental rugs," Jordan recalls. "And I just started screaming."
The Fogals tried to tell themselves it was just an oversight—one unconnected drain—but then more oversights appeared: a portion of yard that turned into a swamp; a section of house that visibly sagged; heating that wasn't warm enough; a cooling system not cold enough. And always, and most seriously, water coming in from somewhere. Sitting at breakfast, thanks to a window above them that had been installed upside down, the couple sometimes felt the falling rain.
It was all too much for Bob to think about. He continued going to work while Jordan stayed home, appreciating the "Attention to Detail Difference." Eventually, Bob too would join Jordan before the Houston City Council to lament the mold and the rotting and how, according to the meeting's minutes, "the builder knew of the problems and failed to disclose it." Jordan had looked forward to a leisurely life taking care of her new house and writing memoirs, but when the builders would not fix the structure, and when no authority would compel them to do it, Jordan experienced, for the first time, an in-justice she could not endure. On a street corner near her house, the 59-year-old Republican began picketing for all she was worth.
"I mean, it's a rat's nest," she says of the house, of Texas law, of the System,"and here I am, one grandmother with no money and no help."
IT WAS A MISMATCH from the start—one mad-as-hell housewife against the entire construction-industrial complex. Home-building is a chief indicator of the economy's health, and politicians are rarely inclined to slow it down with regulation or oversight. Reinforcing that impulse is an extremely well-funded, organized builder lobby whose focus, according to Janet Ahmad of the watchdog group HomeOwners for Better Building (HOBB), has never been "on how to build a house correctly, but on how to limit regulations and liability."
As a result, contractors throughout the country have been able to feed the U.S. housing boom with little fear of being held accountable for the quality of their work. The faster a house is constructed, the greater the profit, and thus many homes are now built as though on an assembly line, often in as little as 90 days. Contractors "build them spacious and grandiose and give them the appearance of quality," says Ahmad, whose group tracks both federal and state regulations. Behind the facade, though, are often shoddy workmanship and cheap materials, such as "wood" trim that is actually recycled paper.
No governmental body tallies how many of these new homes prove seriously defective, but Consumer Reports, in a broad investigation of construction defects in 2004, estimated that some 150,000 homeowners a year find "they have more consumer protections for a fickle $20 toaster" than for the biggest investment of their lives.
And nowhere, homeowners' groups say, do negligent builders get a better deal than in the Fogals' home state. "If you want to be a successful fly-by-night contractor," says HOBB's Ahmad, "you come to Texas. They're pillars of the community here, on the who's who list. They don't even have to sneak away in the night. They operate in the full light of day."
In one of the country's most business-friendly states, construction is one of the most influential businesses. The largest individual contributor to Texas politicians is Bob Perry—a builder who gained national fame during last year's presidential campaign when he funded the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. The organization dispensing the most political money in the state, Texans for Lawsuit Reform, is also headed by a builder, and builders have been the main beneficiaries of a decade's worth of Texas tort reform laws—laws that, for homeowners, amount to little more than a maze of obstacles designed to obstruct the filing of lawsuits.
Most builders in Texas (and elsewhere) require homebuyers to agree to settle disputes out of court, in binding arbitration. Should a consumer, by some miracle, make it past that clause, the legislature recently passed a law that abolishes standards that a home display "workmanlike construction," confines damage awards to the cost of repairs, and establishes a commission—dominated by builders—consumers must go to before filing a claim either in court or in arbitration. This law was in large part written by the chairman of a Texas Association of Builders task force, John Krugh, whom the governor later named to sit on that very commission.
A Texas homebuyer's only real hope for recovery, then, is to raise hell. Builders know that most people don't have the stomach for that, says Ahmad, the consumer advocate. But with Jordan Fogal, she adds, "I think they bit off more than they can chew. That one woman has created an army's worth of ruckus."
BACK IN ALABAMA, where Jordan had lived until 1994 and raised her three children, she was "den mother, room mother, cookie baker—the whole nine yards." Once, she circulated a petition to get her dirt road paved, but otherwise she had lived for 59 years without public protest of any kind.
Now, in the two-bedroom apartment the Fogals fled to when mold started showing up in their leaky house, she complains that she hardly has time to do her hair, let alone get to the tanning bed. The kitchen table is an unruly heap of evidence as Jordan, maniacally smoking, tells her sprawling story. Along the way, she mentions Grandmother, who taught her there were no gray areas—"it was right, or it was wrong"—and also Granddaddy, who believed that "if it was bad, you shot it." And, over and over again, she repeats her own maxim: "I don't like people messing with my home."
Her home is one of 44 jammed onto two acres just off Houston's Waugh Drive and surrounded by a wall. The wall, the gates, the closed garage doors give the place an isolated feeling, which the builder marketed as security. But it was never perfectly clear which company built Hyde Park Crescent.
The builders operated under many names, and it seems the Fogals' house was built by two companies, Tremont Homes and Stature Construction, both of which were directed by one Jorge Casimiro and his business partner, Thomas Thibodeau. With some $28 million in revenue, Stature was listed by Hispanic Business magazine in 2001 as one of the country's largest Hispanic-owned companies. Casimiro himself has been chairman of the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce's political action committee and the recipient of several business honors, which company publicity touts as proof of "his integrity and commitment to providing outstanding service."
For Jordan Fogal, that service felt more like a kind of torture. There were times when she was so "flusterated" by her builder's emissaries, she wanted to "just grab them and choke them till their eyeballs pop out." The company completed some repairs, such as the drain in the whirlpool and the upside-down window, but more often the routine went like this: Jordan would report a problem, Stature would decline to help, and she would decline to accept that they would not help: "How dare you," she'd write in one of many, many letters. Eventually, an appointment would be made for an inspection, but then no one would show. Jordan would call and be told the inspector was coming the next day at 8 a.m., and then, at the appointed time, she would be told that they were coming at 2 p.m. Again she would wait, and they wouldn't come but would later insist they had and that no one had been home. When the builders' inspector finally did appear, Jordan would be told that the water spots were just paint curing, that there was no mildew, that the rust-streaked cracks in the stucco were just settlement cracks. "They would talk to me as if I were an illiterate, inferior, stupid woman who didn't understand construction—and I didn't. But I knew water was running out of my house, and the Scarecrow could have known that without his brain."
The Fogals hired their own inspectors, who found serious roofing problems and "widespread and growing accumulation of moisture" in walls and ceilings; when one inspector drilled a hole in the wall, she recalls, water came draining out, and rotten wood was on the bit. An estimate for the full repair of the Fogals' house would be put at $199,900. In April 2004, Casimiro offered repairs, which, nine months later, Thibodeau told the Houston Chronicle were worth between $2,000 and $5,000.
With her homebuyers' contract forbidding her from suing, Jordan filed a complaint against Tremont with the Better Business Bureau. The BBB said Tremont Homes was "doing business as" Stature but that Stature was no longer in business, according to Jordan, so the bureau couldn't help. She filed claims under her homebuyers' warranty (which turned her down for not following proper procedure), under her homeowners' insurance (which rejected her because its inspector found the house "deviates from the industry standards"), and under Stature's liability insurance (which said that it would cover property damaged by "these construction defects," but not the defects themselves). Jordan went to the district attorney's office, the state attorney general, the Texas Department of Insurance—nothing.
"No one understood what you were talking about, or they were just no help," Jordan says. "I had no one to talk to in the beginning, not even my husband."
At night, Bob would tell her she was simply exaggerating; it couldn't be as bad as all that. He's "very patriotic," she explains, and he couldn't accept that "in America, land of the free, home of the brave, no one would help, especially when you didn't do anything wrong." Jordan tried to tell him that "Texas is just like a communist state: You expect to have somewhere to go with your problem, but there's nowhere to go."
She went again to her builder. She carried with her the report of yet another inspection, and perhaps it was clear that she just might convince a jury. Thibodeau, in any case, said he would fix her house. But a week passed. And now mold was taking over, spotting the carpet, outlining pictures on the wall. Jordan read on the Internet that certain molds could cause brain abscesses and inhibit cell division, that her home was now not merely uncomfortable but, according to her doctor, unsafe.
In this frame of mind, she wrote Thibodeau, "Do we have to die?" He didn't answer.
At about that time, in September, HOBB's Ahmad connected Jordan with another Houston homeowner, Carla Bistrick, whose experience was so similar to hers, Bistrick finally asked Jordan where she lived. "Oh my God!" Bistrick exclaimed, for she, too, had been the owner of a house in Hyde Park Crescent. It, too, had filled with water. Only after Bistrick began giving tours to prospective buyers in the neighborhood had she convinced the builder—just before the Fogals arrived—to buy back her house.
Bistrick had one more bit of news for Jordan: In making her case, she had photographed homes in the neighborhood, including unit No. 34, which appeared to have mold and water damage and, though brand new, was already under repair. The Fogals' house, their beautiful house, had been infested even before she bought it. Jordan immediately dialed Thibodeau. She was crying as she demanded he buy back her house, too. "You knew what you were doing when you sold us this house."
Thibodeau replied that buying houses was really not his particular game, and then he did what probably no one should ever do to Jordan Fogal. He hung up.
LAWYERS FOR CASIMIRO and Thibodeau were reluctant to speak to Mother Jones. "The commitment to social justice," explained Thibodeau's attorney Charles Turet, "is something that gives lawyers heartburn—not that we don't like social justice," he was quick to add. "But there's a theme there that's"—he paused again—"unfavorable to corporate clients."
Casimiro would not return phone calls; Thibodeau did, but was at first disinclined to speak. "Put it this way," he said, "I'm a builder, and I don't expect to be treated fairly by any media, because it's always ‘poor consumer.'"
There were, in fact, a number of Thibodeau customers who considered themselves poor consumers. Last year, four of the buyers in the Fogals' 44-home subdivision gathered in a lawsuit, all alleging the builder "did not install flashing at critical locations," with an "enormous amount of resulting damage." Other neighbors found water in their homes but chose to pay for leak repairs themselves, because it didn't seem worth a fight, and Kerri Kirsch's family, who also found rain pouring in, fled in disgust to Arizona after a long legal battle with Casimiro.
Jordan didn't join the lawsuit, but she had no intention of surrendering to Thibodeau. "I wanted to show him," she says, "that no matter what he did to me, I was not going away."
And so, on that September day, about 10 minutes after hanging up on Jordan Fogal, Thibodeau received another call. It was a national consumer radio show, live on the air, wanting to know just what he had done to poor Mrs. Fogal.
That was just the beginning. Having moved to the apartment, taking the $368,564 mortgage with her, Jordan dedicated her life to exposing "the greatest travesty of justice" she had ever seen. "Home Builder Makes Home Buyer Homeless," her message went. And everything that had happened to her, everything she learned, she disseminated to anyone who might listen—reporters, the mayor, her state representatives, even the president of the United States. When she found out that a judge, to whose campaign Casimiro had contributed, had appointed Casimiro to three county boards, including the housing authority, she printed up fliers. She spoke at homeowners' rallies and before the Houston City Council. She showed the council pictures of the subdivision, described the mold and rotting materials, and explained how her builder appeared to be not a single company but a dozen.
Perhaps nothing she did had more effect than her regular appearance in front of the builders' new luxury condos, Tremont Tower. In her Chanel sunglasses and pink sweater, Jordan stood with pictures of her rotting house, a basket of lemons, and a sign that read, "Beware! Tremont Homes sold me a lemon!" Watching her on the corner in protest, Bob finally understood "why I hate arguing with that woman."
At first, she experienced a loneliness like she had never known. Neighbors, fretting over their property values, ceased to speak to her. Bob wouldn't join her. Every weekend afternoon—even Christmas and New Year's and several times in the rain—Jordan stood alone on the corner. She was initially afraid of the people she met out there—some black, some gay, some tattooed and pierced—but gradually realized that they were "some of the nicest people."
Middle-aged, Republican homemakers are not normally found protesting in the street, which is why Jordan Fogal made such an effective street protester.
"Lady, I had to stop," people would say. "Somebody must have really pissed you off."
"Oh my God! That's an area we're looking at! Oh my God! And they're not doing anything to help you?"
"I had no idea! I thought when you spent that kind of money..."
"Here," Jordan would say, "take another flier. I've got 10,000 more."
She was on television, in the papers. City Council members told her they would be watching for this builder, come permit time. ("It's terrible she paid a lot of money for a house she can't live in," council member Carol Alvarado says.) Prospective buyers at Tremont Tower looked at the pictures and got back in their cars. The staff at Tremont Tower called the police, she says, tried to have her car towed, and fenced in the area where motorists had pulled over to talk. When word came that she was being dragged into arbitration, Jordan realized she had "finally gotten their attention." Her fight was about to grow much larger.
THE BUILDERS' LAWYERS had filed a claim through the country's oldest and largest arbitration firm, the nonprofit American Arbitration Association. They sought declaratory relief from any complaint about "alleged construction defects"—past, present, and future—in Jordan Fogal's home.
Jordan still remembers her pleasant illusions of arbitration—how much "more civilized and nice" it sounded than just suing someone, "like a mom who sits down with her children and says, ‘Now, this is the way I see it. Now you two go do what's right.'"
What she found instead seemed neither pleasant nor fair. The Arbitration Association informed her that she would be expected to pay half of the arbitrator's fees— roughly $1,500 a day for the arbitration itself and $750 for a preliminary study of the problem—plus half of the charges to rent the hearing room and hire the stenographer; plus the cost of expert witnesses, if any; plus, if she wanted one, the cost of an attorney. Plus, since the proceeding would conclude all disputes against the builders, if she wished to file a counterclaim seeking reimbursement for the cost of her property, there would be an additional filing fee of $8,500.
The arbitrator would be chosen from a list of lawyers and mediators. His decision would not be required to have any basis in law, could nowhere be appealed, and would likely come with a gag order. Jordan filed for hardship relief, but her builders' lawyer, William S. Chesney III, insisted that she get none. She wrote long, emotional letters to her "solutions manager" at the arbitration firm, who shared them with Chesney and began sending her bills. It was like reasoning with a machine, she says, and in her letters and fliers she let the world know about her outrage—about the "shocking costs" of binding arbitration, the "stacked deck" of the arbitrator, that "henchman for torturing victims [of] the builders."
"MRS. FOGAL HAS BECOME rather high-profile," observed Charles Turet, the lawyer for Thibodeau, when I visited his office. "This is the first time we've encountered anything of this magnitude."
The magnitude was such that Turet's client had found the need to talk after all. Turet said they were certainly not afraid of the facts of the case, "as long as all of the facts get out." Then he added they really couldn't discuss the facts in detail. It was therefore left to Thibodeau, a glaring, goateed man, to explain that he thought Jordan was being quite unfair. "She's gone out and created this frenzy!" he said. "This crusade—calling radio stations, sitting on the corner with lemons." And "if she thinks the way to solve problems is to extort money with lemons, fine! But I'm not going to play that game."
So did Thibodeau stand behind his work? Thibodeau paused. Yes, he answered: He would always ask his customers to do a thorough walk-through, and they wouldn't close the deal if the customer had an issue. "Our goal is not to have to go back into someone's house after closing," he said. Or, as the lawyer Chesney put it, not to "be held hostage to every little thing Mrs. Fogal claims."
"You know," Chesney went on, "it is absolutely amazing how many people out there don't have the problems Mrs. Fogal has."
Told of the lawsuit brought against them by the residents of Hyde Park Crescent two months earlier, Turet said, "That's news to us." Chesney said to me, "You'd better see the letters they wrote to us, because we never got them."
And Thibodeau said he really had to go.
"THOSE LYING SACKS OF...,"said William Ferebee, the lawyer representing the Fogals' neighbors. In his office across town from Turet's, he produced a sheaf of court documents that had been sent by certified mail to the builders' lawyers, as well as the responses, signed by William S. Chesney III.
The case is likely to drag out for a while. Facing lawsuits, builders often drain their companies of assets and start anew under a different name. Thibodeau and Casimiro have both recently started new companies, and Chesney claims Thibodeau's new company isn't liable for work done by the old company.
But neither Thibodeau nor Casimiro can get rid of Jordan Fogal. Whichever business names they travel by, she continues to dog them. Already she has helped to get their companies ejected from the Better Business Bureau. Unable to sue their builders, the Fogals are now being sued for "business disparagement" by a builder with connections to Casimiro and Thibodeau. They face arbitration, foreclosure, bankruptcy—"more legal troubles than you can shake a stick at," says Jordan's lawyer. But after what she's been through, Jordan says, "I don't think you can ever walk away."
In her apartment, Jordan Fogal points to an ancient photo and says, "This is what Mr. Thibodeau doesn't know about me." It's a picture of several old men—her great-uncles from Alabama. They decided that until the South rose again, they would never shave their beards. "And they were all buried with very long beards."
Randall Patterson is a freelance writer based in Asheville, North Carolina.

Angry Resident Paints Lemons

2006-02-11T18:41:00.000-08:00

Angry resident paints giant lemons on her condo's windows in protest

Heather Michelson claims faulty construction allowed moisture and mold in her condo's bathroom, making her ill.
By Deborah WrigleySee Report http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/news/061505_local_lemons.html
ABC13 Eyewitness News(6/15/05 - HOUSTON) — A homeowner has found an unusual way to speak out against her homebuilder. ABC13 reportHomeowner associations taking homeowners to court is not unusual - certainly in Harris County. This story has a different twist. It's a condo board taking a condo owner to court. They were seeking an injunction against a large window display, but the case goes deeper that what's visible to the eye. Heather Michelson headed to court over large yellow lemons painted on the window of her quarter million dollar Montrose condo. It was art -- and a statement.
"The only voice I had," she said. "I put lemons up and I moved out."
On Wednesday, a county court judge ordered the offending lemons removed. They'd been scraped off already. It's a moot point in more ways than one. Michelson has moved out. She says the condo had mold made her sick.
"I had bloody noses at night, nauseous dementia," recalled Michelson. "I was fatigued. I'd sleep for 18 hours a day."
The symptoms, she says, disappeared when she moved out. Tests which she paid for indicated mold in the bathroom. When she took Eyewitness News on a tour, none was visible. But the case is touching a nerve with homeowner advocates.
Janet Ahmad with Homeowners for Better Building explained, "Anyone can be a builder in Texas. But only in Texas are the home builders unregulated and the buyer is regulated."
Michelson claims her health problems were related to construction defects that allowed moisture in and mold to develop. But she has limited legal recourse. Her condo is now in foreclosure. A year ago her life was far different than what it is today.
She said, "I had a home, a car, a phone, everything, computer. I have nothing now, nothing. I'm homeless."
Michelson is living with a friend.
The builder of Tremont Tower condominiums refutes Ms. Michelson's claims of improper construction, going on to say, "The builder's general contractor has assured me that there is no mold in Ms. Michelson's unit. No mold whatsoever."
This may not be the last time the builder and the buyer go to court. (Copyright © 2005, KTRK-TV)

Not Quite Lemonade

2006-02-11T18:40:00.000-08:00

Not quite lemonade, but at least some conciliation
STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION: Some say workers like this one, photographed June 15, have become a common sight in the Hyde Park Crescent community, 1515 Hyde Park Blvd.MICHAEL REED 30.JUN.05Tremont Towers homeowner Heather Michelson walked out of civil court June 15, relieved that an injunction brought against her by her condominium complex would cost her only a promise not to paint lemons in the windows of the $233,000 unit she claims is unlivable. However, the ongoing ordeal of Michelson and at least one other Montrose area woman has left behind enough of a sour taste at their complexes that the builder is being featured in two national publications’ articles on shoddy construction. In its May 30 issue, People magazine cites protests against Tremont Homes and Structure Construction in a story concerning contractor problems, and Mother Jones magazine promises more in-depth coverage in an article titled “Home Sour Home” that hits newsstands July 5. The Better Business Bureau also alerted its members to the firms’ tactics in its July newsletter and pulled the firms’ membership in that organization. The River Oaks Examiner covered the plight of both women and their neighbors in its Feb. 17 and April 7 and 28 editions. Michelson, formerly of 3311 Yupon St., earlier had said she would file for personal bankruptcy, because of problems resulting from the purchase of her condominium. Now, she says she has delayed filing, based on the advice of her attorney. Jordan Fogal, who owned a $360,000 town home in the Hyde Park Crescent community, 1515 Hyde Park Drive, was not as fortunate in her battle with the same builder. She said her home was foreclosed on June 7 and reverted to the mortgage company after failing to draw one bid when offered for sale. She moved out in October, calling the property “unfit for humans to dwell in.” “You’re simply not going to see companies like this remain in the Better Business Bureau,” said BBB spokeswoman Kim Lawrence of Tremont Homes, Stature Construction and several other listings involving the same principals.“Tremont and Stature have been under one membership here for many years,” said Lawrence, the alternative dispute resolution coordinator for Fogal’s complaint. “They incorporated many times during that period. “They’ve got 14 or 16 corporations, but in our eyes they are still one member,” she said. “They are advertised as a BBB member under each name.”Lawrence said the Tremont/Stature membership was terminated by the BBB board of directors because the company refused to complete mediation or arbitration of a consumer complaint through the BBB as required by the membership charter.Tremont contracts require disputes to be settled by the American Arbitration Association, which Fogal, 60, contended favored developers and builders and was much more expensive. Michelson, 26, had faced a claim against her in Harris County Civil Court No. 2 for court and legal costs associated with Tremont Homes’ claims that her lemon artwork interfered with Tremont’s normal course of business. Now she may be looking at a court action of her own. “I have a pretty compelling case that there was mortgage fraud,” Michelson said of what she claims took place when she bought the home. “I never even submitted an application, but they agreed to a lot of incentives and tripled my income (on forms).” Michelson, who is unemployed, said she earned about $2,500 a month during the past four years, but that figure jumped to $7,200 a month on Tremont’s paperwork. She said she qualified for a zero percent loan and was approved for a second condominium that she did not purchase at a rate of 10 percent. Neither Charles Turet, an attorney for Tremont Homes and Stature Construction, nor representatives of Tremont Towers returned calls for comment from the Examiner. Fogal, a nonfiction writer, and Michelson said they complained about a variety of structural problems on and around their properties soon after moving in. Both also claim tests for mold were positive and led to health problems. “I had fatigue and nausea from the mold,” Michelson said. “I had bloody noses that my doctor said could have been caused by mold. When I moved, all of that cleared up.”

Tremont Tower For Sale!

2006-02-11T18:39:00.000-08:00

Tremont Tower Condo for Sale! Enjoy condo living at its greatest! From the minute you enter the parking lot, you feel as if you're the only tenant. And you will be 66 of the 76 units are still vacant after 2 years! No need for a red carpet when the elevator has a plywood floor and the elevator permit inspection approval has been denied by the City of Houston.
Feel safe knowing a 24-hour concierge will be sound asleep in a model unit and the front doors are unlocked. Go for a late-night dip in the pool, overlooking Wendy's Drive-thru as you leisurely splash around listening to drive-thru shake, fries and burger orders, unaware that the pool too has not passed city inspection. How did you get a tan at 2:00 AM? Then you will realize it's a rust stains you picked up while lying on the rusty deck.
Think you have a voice; wait until you join the Homeowners Association. Want to serve on its board of directors? Don't hold your breath youll have to wait until they can sell at least 50 percent the building... Jorge Casimiro, the builder controls the Tremont HOA board and dictates which new tenant they can sue next, for painting lemons on their windows. If you click now you'll see my "Mold Analysis Report." If you're interested in living in 920 square feet, with mold, and have no neighbors and no voice....please respond. Units now selling for $275,000 or ask me about a deal on mine.