Bad House Problem

The Bad House Problem

Outline
1. What happened
2. Is it legal?
3. What else can I do?

I bought a house about September 2003. Several things went bad that I'd like to talk about. Same as the Yaris issue, it seems like if people can rip you off and get away with it, it's a credit to them, and you're a sucker. We'll see.

We were living in south Irving when we decided to buy a new house. We asked Ebby Holliday Realtors for help and got Ruth Jenkins. She directed us to a group of houses in Grand Prairie that we saw, but didn't like. I found a house online in the Bear Creek area. It was built by Craig Edwards of Autumnview Homes. It looked good and he said he was going to clear an area nearby and make more. I told my wife and she liked it. too. Ruth Jenkins didn't like that I chose it myself.

We made the loan, put money down on  it, and the building began. The City of Irving inspectors caught Craig Edwards cutting corners several times and made him correct those. He also made many mistakes on the other houses he was building.
    
Here's what I had on my former site.

Homebuilder Problem

I had our house built in 2003. We had many troubles with the house, the builder fixed some of these, but a significant problem has not been repaired. The house was built wrong. The boards that make up the frame are spaced so far apart that the winds have blown my house about 3” over at the top.

The builder is Craig Edwards and his business is Autumn View Homes. He built about ten houses in a circle in Irving, Texas, called Carver Place. All of the homeowners had something wrong with their houses. All of them felt that there was no use in pursuing justice since the legal and political industries are set up to support the homebuilder industry even when it does wrong.

I got them all to write down their complaints with the addresses and phone numbers then I sent the package to the Better Business Bureau. The BBB said that they’d only consider my complaint and that the others would have to send their complaints separately. No one else wanted to—same reason. After much work, the BBB finally record Autumn View Homes as bad (sorta’). The notes on the builder say that only one or the many homes he has built has a complaint. Funny that.

Then I started working with the Texas Residential Construction Commission (TRCC). They sent out a Structural Engineer who examined the house and found, as I said above, that the house was clearly built wrong. He made an eight-page report specifying what is wrong and what needs to be done to correct the problem. I spoke with a contractor who said that it would take $38,000 to repair it and about $2,000 to put us up while the work is being done. Then the TRCC gave me a final form that they assure me would highly improve the likelihood of a victory if I were to take Autumn View to court.

I finally found a lawyer who will take on the suit and only be paid if she wins. her name is Cheryl C. Turner. I’ve researched her on the Internet and found that she does consumer advocate work often. I signed a contract with her. She asked me for $500 for court costs. The contract has me getting about $25,000 if we win.

I’m waiting for $500 to accrue in my Health Savings Account. I hope it’s not too late.

20080621 Well, we have the $500 now. I called Ms. Turner who asked me for a certain form from the TRCC. I faxed it to her but she won't answer my calls.

20080804 She felt that it is too late, but directed me to a web site of the TRCC on wjich they had taken Craig Edwards to court twice and he just didn't show up. He now owes them $5000. I recall that when the Child Support Office finds someone to owe money to the state, they use extensive effort to find them. Why doesn't the court that tried Edwards do that?  

20090301 Well, it's been a while. Anyway, I just sent the following email to many people, asking them for help

Friends;

 

We’re working together toward a common goal and I’m honored to be included in the team.

I’ve got a problem that I’d like to get your help with. My house was built wrong in 2003 by Craig Edwards of Autumn View Homes. The frame is wrong so it is tilting over about 3 inches causing cracks in the walls. The City of Irving Inspectors missed this. We asked the Texas Residential Construction Commission (TRCC) to send a Structural Engineer at a cost of $1000 of State tax money to inspect our house. He concluded it had clearly been built wrong.

The TRCC charged Craig Edwards who neither showed for court nor paid his fine. They charged him another $5000. He ignored them again. Click here to see the cases.

 

Mr. Jordy Keith, Executive Assistant of the TRCC assures me they have an Enforcement Unit to collect this debt, but he doesn’t choose to use it. Please ask your Texas Representative to have Mr. Jordy Keith of the TRCC to get his Enforcement Unit to collect the State tax money from Craig Edwards of Autumn View Homes that he owes.

 

You can easily find who your elected officials are and how to contact them by using www.congress.org (be careful about what you select so that there will be no charges for this service.)

 

Please let me know what you think at samlyle2009@yahoo.com.

 

Thanks

Sam

March 1, 2009

 

 

 

We'll see what happens.

 

20090319 Well, I know that Yi has written to elected officials, and I think Frank has. We'll see what falls out.

 

20090328 Yi emailed me an attachment from the Texas Attorney General's office that says they had already collected these fines from Edwards in 2007. It seems like they would have said so when I asked. Anyway, now I'm going to look into filing liens on his properties. Also, I'll thank the friends that helped.

 

20090330 I saw a wikiAnswers article that says I'll need a lawyer to do file a lien. I'll see if the lawyers at AARP and EAP (Employees Assistant Program).

20140128 I want to see if I can bring a suit against the State of Texas for negligence.