Cindy S

Homebuilders: Hell Fights Back

Consumer advocates and a few others have for years been predicting the massive fallout coming from shoddy construction and predatory lending. It's a shame that blogs, gripe sites, message boards, etc, had it right, long before mainstream media screwed up the courage to speak the truth, and certainly long before our govt would speak the truth, (still waiting for that). Unfortunately, consumers, especially those off line, don't often have much exposure to sites like Seeking Alpha, HADD, HOBB, and so on. They tend to find those sites after it's too late, and they're looking for information that might help them undertand and control a problem that's wrecking their family finances. There are people in the housing industry who committed loan fraud and they should go to jail. Long before that miracle occurs, if it ever does, hundreds of thousands of homeowners will lose their homes and suffer lasting credit damage. I suspect tax payers will end up picking up the tab one way or another, and the real perpetrators, the builders, loan originators, certain others in the industry, will get off "scott free." Even if their reputation is wrecked and they go bankrupt, they'll just rise like the Phoenix bird out of their own ashes, but under a new name, and go on with the same thing. E.g. bankrupt Kara Homes in NJ has been in the news as reorganizing and being called Maplewood Homes. They're hardly the first to think of using a new name to hide from a checkered past.