Posted on 07/01/2009 8:16:43 AM PDT by BGHater
Robert and Kay Lynn lay in bed shortly after closing on their new home in the Blue Oaks subdivision in Rancho Murieta, Calif., abutting an 18-hole golf course. They were listening to the “pop, pop, pop” of what they thought were acorns falling onto the roof.
The Lynns soon realized those were not acorns dropping on the roof.
“Little did we know it was the house cracking,” says Mrs. Lynn, 67 years old. Mr. Lynn, 68, says they bought the property in 2002 for $357,000 as a weekend home and an investment. The stucco house was moving and shifting, with part of it subtly pitching toward the golf course, resulting in cracks and fissures in the walls, ceiling and floors, the couple says.
Many of their neighbors say they had similar problems. In the Sacramento Valley subdivision of about 250 houses, more than half the residents have reported some type of flaw. The Lynns and dozens of their neighbors last year filed construction-defect lawsuits against the builders, and the lead case is expected to go to trial next week. They are seeking enough money to permanently repair the houses, a figure expected to total millions of dollars.
A spokeswoman for the builders, Reynen & Bardis Development LLC, said they would have no comment pending litigation, but a response the company’s attorneys filed with California Superior Court said time limits for some of the plaintiffs’ claims had run out.
Whatever the outcome of the case, hundreds of thousands of people from California to Georgia say their almost-new homes need costly repairs because of construction defects. The furious pace of home building from the late 1990s through the first half of the 2000s contributed to a surge in defects, experts say.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
I do hope amnesty is passed so we can get this problem to spread across the nation!
Crap homes built by cheap illegals. Thank God my home was built by “rednecks” who knew what they were doing.
They spent $357,000 for a weekend home in their late sixties. God love ‘em
The builder will declare bankruptcy leaving the owners to twist in the wind. Six months later the builder will open a new business on the other end of town and continue his shoddy workmanship under a new name. Been there.
A friend bought one of these badly-built McMansions. Shortly after they moved in, the rooms started to separate from the house. Floods followed, roof destruction, cracking foundation, daylight through the walls. They tried suing the builder. He laughed at them and moved back to Russia. They ended-up paying an additional 50% to get the house repaired by someone competent. However, this had nothing to do with a housing boom and everything to do with how we license builders.
One wonders where the building inspectors were during this time. That is why they exist.
At the height of a bubble, everyone is embezzling from everyone else- in this case, inspectors, bankers, homeowners, homebuilders, investors. That is the nature of a bubble. Eventually the players notice the inherent mendacity and the bubble pops.
While I would love to agree with you, look at the “defect” THE HOUSE IS SHIFTING!!!!. In California this is common. We have land that is almost always on the move. If you want a house that doesn’t settle or slip you have to be careful where it is built.
When my last house was 9 months old, it went through a fairly substantial earthquake (2001). The floor in the bathroom shifted almost an inch on one side, and a crack developed in one of the walls. My current house was built in 1972. It went through the same earthquake and a couple more. It has none of the same damage. After the old (new) house, my requirement for my next house was either 1- old construction or 2- custom construction that I personally oversaw. Since #2 wasn’t going to happen, I went with #1.
If the inspectors are good we do not need builder licensing. Let the buyers seek a good inspector.
Tell me about your friend’s house. What did the foundation consist of? Was there a basement? Were proper footings installed?
Homes slapped together by clueless nonbuilders with no knowledge or experience that fall apart in 20 different ways a few years down the road...
I have no idea.
We live in a tiny little house that was built sometime before 1940, and it has a pier and beam foundation, so that when the soil shifts (and in South Texas, you know it will), it can be re-leveled without a lot of hassle. It's creaky and drafty and apparently haunted, but I'm glad we didn't end up in one of the mid-boom houses.
My first house was built in 1870. Every system — electrical, plumbing, etc. — had been a retrofit. But man! Was that house solid! The foundation was of huge granite blocks cemented together.
Well, it makes a BIG difference. I have no experience with California building techniques. However, if the house was built on a concrete slab, you are asking for trouble. If there is a proper foundation or a basement with proper footings, unless the ground was shifting, there should have been no problems.
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