KB Home Toxic Black Mold Cover up?

Join the Discussion on KB Home Sucks LIVE Radio
Date / Time: 8/26/2010 09:00 PM PDT, 10:00 PM MDT, 11:00 PM CDT and 12:00 PM EDT
Category: Current Events
Call-in Number: (347) 637-3050

Mold, is it growing in your KB Home right now? Simple “rules of thumb” can help you decide when a mold problem in a home virtues hiring a professional to investigate or clean up mold or other allergens. A mold professional may have some neat gadgets to find or test for mold or cover it up depending who they work for, but a real expert knows that a thorough home inspection and an understanding of how homes work and where they leak, as well as an understanding of mold itself, are critical in finding hidden mold problems and in specifying the cleanup work needed. Stachybotrys chartarum is it making your home worthless and KB Home is covering up the incident?

What to Do About Black Mold and other Indoor Air Quality IAQ Contaminants
• How to recognize, identify, & find toxic or allergenic indoor mold in a KB Home
• How to test for mold, clean up mold, or remove mold from homes
• How to find, identify, and remove other indoor contaminants
• Indoor air quality cleanup, improvement, or corrective measures

This show is all about mold, nature’s most primordial element enhanced by “KB Home” lack of quality, poor workmanship and supervision. Call (347) 637-3050 to join in the LIVE Radio show – KB Home SUCKS.

A KB Home Sucks LIVE Radio Show

In this weeks news we discuss KB Home Board of Directors. Why Did 4 (Masuda, Marlette, Burkle and Shiba) of the 12 board members quit? Or were they fired for not going along with the Status quo? Will there be another? These resignations came just weeks before the sentencing of former CEO Bruce Karatz in his Federal Stock manipulation trial. Karatz is guilty and a convicted felon. Sentencing of Karatz begins on September the 8th 2010.

Join us on Thursday 8/26/2010 at 09:00 PM PDT, 10:00 PM MDT, 11:00 PM CDT and 12:00 PM EDT Join the conversation Phone the talk show’s Call-in Number: (347) 637-3050. Discuss your KB Home story.

Click on the white triangle play button below to hear the show.

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This is the third and fourth “Board-Level” resignation at KB Home in the last few weeks? Were they fired or are they just quitters? Can’t do the job, or did the job suck so bad? It’s hard to keep a straight face when your company has a policy of lies and to never do the right thing.

These people were elected without any opposition at the last KB Home annual shareholders meeting? All opposition was Knocked Out. Investors wanted accountability by KB Home’s Board of Directors/dictators – THEY WERE SILENCED. This was the meeting where MSNBC reporters got thrown off of the property and their vehicles impounded by KB Home Security Staff at the Fairmont Hotel in Santa Monica California 2010? KB Home switched the meeting at the last minute so protesters were thwarted from attending, the usual meeting place for their KB Home annual shareholders meeting on April 1st., is in Westwood near UCLA, their Building is at 10900 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90024.

Kelly Masuda, Wendy Marlett, Wendy Shiba and Ron Burkle. None of these executives can be bothered to answer customer complaints – this isn’t anyway to run KB Home. “A KB Home SUCKS” has sent more than 30 registered letters to each of these KB Home Board of Directors they just ignore you.

These Quiters Built this LEMON with BRUCE KARATZ!

KB Home has the worst reputation in the Home Building industry – that reputation will follow Masuda, Marlett, Shiba and Burkle from now on, http://www.akbhomesucks.com/Executives/ click on the executive link for more shenanigans by these executives or listen in on the radio show before you invest or buy a KB Home, next month the former CEO Bruce Karatz is sentenced for stock manipulation – maybe they are resigning “Rats jumping from the stinking ship”? Because they know Karatz is done for? Zero customer satisfaction (Not the phony paid for awards from JDP and Forbes, anybody can get an award if they buy it – not the people’s choice award) is one of the many reasons why KB Home sucks and these executives must know it. They are running KB into the ground and would rather bail out then fix KB.

Hope your company finds out about them before you do business with any of them – no executive skills. Masuda, Marlett, Shiba and Burkle are all invited to come on the Radio show to explain what’s going on with KB Home? After all Kelly Masuda, Wendy Marlett, Wendy Shiba and Ron Burkle Built this LEMON along with their boss and convicted felon BRUCE KARATZ! Their names are forever linked to their fiasco at KB HOME.

I was saddened to hear the news about Brittany Murphy and husband Simon Monjack deaths.

I met Brittany when she was flying from Los Angeles to New York. She told me she had just finished filming “Sin City” starring Bruce Willis and she was clearly thrilled by the fortunate direction her career had taken.

It is hard to understand when young people die in tragic circumstances, particularly when the cause may be something that could have been avoided. I was interested to read in the US media and the UK Daily Mail, reports that both Brittany and her husband may have been victims of toxic mold in their home. I am sorry that a tragedy like this could strike Brittany and Simon’s family’s, is what it takes to bring this major issue to the attention of the public and government representatives.

Brittany Murphy Mold home clearly had possible water issues there are several tarps on the structure from this birds eye view from BLING maps Lat: 34.1049320 Lon: -118.3850180

Despite reported comments from Brittany’s mother, that mold in the home was not the cause of the deaths; experts have linked many major health hazards with toxic mold in houses. Brittany’s mother Sharon is not a qualified environmental health expert, her reported statements make no sense.

Britney Spears formerly owned the home. The 8,000 square foot house at the tail end of Rising Glen Road in the Hollywood Hills Los Angeles, CA. TMZ reported the house was for sale now it’s not, maybe Sharon (Brittany Murphy’s Nina Bow Trust only trustee!) will turn it into a Graceland? (We should note that the house’s address has gone back and forth over the years between 1893 and 1895 Rising Glen Road, since those are the addresses assigned to the house’s two lots.)

Brittany Murphy, Mold in the home kills actress, death linked to fungus in this LA mansion - Brittany Murphy. Simon Monjack died five months after the death of his wife.

My own documented experience with black mold in my new KB Home has caused major health concerns and excessive financial costs. There have been many published issues about families impacted by health issues connected with mold in their homes, yet the building construction industry ignore the problems and environmental health agencies appear to turn a blind eye. They have turned the law against the consumer and into their own favor.

Within six months to a year of purchasing the home, it became clear the home had many construction defects. In short I had bought a “lemon”. After three years of constant need for repairs and reconstruction, I eventually had to move out of the home because of health problems.

I was diagnosed with Bronchitis twice, Pneumonia, developing Asthma, acute Rhinocitis and skin rashes. After a series of some very uncomfortable tests the cause was determined to be environmental factors. An independent mold inspection report finally connected these health issues to toxic mold in the home.

This fungus may produce spores which are poisonous by inhalation, Stachybotrys chartarum, which is also known as the toxic mold.

Most of the problems with the home, relate to major leaks and water drainage issues in the back garden. The first problem happened when an upstairs toilet, that had been incorrectly installed, leaked down through the floor into the living room ceiling and light fitting. It took them two attempts to install the toilet correctly and then patch the floor and ceiling below. Were talking used toilet water not the potable water “inbound clean water”.

After a heavy rain a couple of months later, the kitchen ceiling leaked across a seam where the patio roof attached to the side of the house above. KB Home could not find the cause of the leak, but patched and repaired the ceiling I had not long finished decorating. It should be noted that the patio roof had been constructed incorrectly, previously the posts were crooked and the roof had to be raised to correct the problem.

They came to re-install the downstairs toilet that had been installed crooked and they found a leak underneath. They tunneled under the home looking for the cause but never made a determination. KB Home Undermined the structure because they were unable to get the soil back under the home’s slab, they will never be able to pack it back the way it was. Several cubic yards were dispersed away from the home.

About six months later, the kitchen ceiling leaked again in exactly the same place. Once again, KB Home was unable to determine the cause so they tore out approximately 180 exterior bricks above the patio roof. They found that the metal flashing was omitted during original construction. They made repairs and re-bricked the wall, but had to repeat the process because they made such a mess of it. It took two attempts to repair the kitchen ceiling properly.

Within a year later, on the 4th of July weekend it rained heavily. The kitchen ceiling leaked again. A large pouch of water slid down behind the paint on the wall “the size of a turkey” and water began leaking in all across the ceiling in the same place as before. It took KB Home two weeks to come out and inspect.

In September they removed all the bricks from a side upstairs window and found it had never been correctly sealed. This allowed water to leak inside the brickwork and down into the kitchen ceiling. At this point it was clear the walls had been saturated and full of water for over two years. KB Home had an inspection and extremely high moisture levels were recorded, the meter to measure went off the top of its scale. They brought in industrial drying machines that had to run for three days and nights. The noise was unbearable and it wasn’t just the walls that were dehydrated.

Also, during the first year I noticed heavy volumes of water pouring over the retaining wall at the back of the garden, [View the YouTube Video] every time it rained. The water was so excessive, like a waterfall, which led to soil erosion and ponding, particularly at the base of the home on one side. Over time the house developed cracks on both sides of the house, twenty-four bricks long in steps and also up the front of the house. Many of the bricks are crumbling and dissolving, they are clearly not of adequate standard. The upstairs doors twisted and no longer fit the frames and the flooring began to crack and creak loudly even when no one was upstairs. At this point, at the recommendation of KB Home employees, I wrote to the KB Home CEO at their headquarters in Los Angeles and asked them to buy the house back. I found information about the FTC Federal Trade Commission/KB Home Consent Order on the Home Owners for Better Builders website and realized KB Home had violated many terms of the Consent Order when they built my home. Specifically they used inadequate building products and sub-standard workmanship. They did not obtain required permits and approvals for the retaining wall, which is now breached in several places because of the incorrect grading and water drainage issues.

KB Home division President Don Barrineau came out to the home with his lawyer and told me basically I should have bought a $2 million home if I wanted good drainage. He also told me it is illegal for anyone else’s property to drain onto mine and I should address the matter to the neighbors on the higher level behind the house. They refused to buy back the house that clearly is a LEMON.

Workmen came on six different occasions and tore up the upstairs floor boards I had to move everything out of my bedroom and closet and then put it all back again. They said they had not put enough screws in when they built the floor (toxic glue with dangerous levels of organic fumes were used without ventilation or getting us a hotel room). Despite all the work, the floors still creak and crack in several areas upstairs. KB Home managers confirmed it is abnormal, they could still not determine the cause and present a solution. All of the upstairs floor support beams had holes chopped through them to install hot and cold water pipes and drains. During the floorboard fiasco the carpets were damaged beyond repair because they had to be stretched, glued and nailed so many times. While trying to fix the bathroom flooring, they found black mold around the toilet and spreading under the bathtub in the area where the leak had occurred previously. Live electrical wires run under the bath tub, too! KB Home refused to address the mold issue and on the 19th December 2008, simply covered the mold with new linoleum. In the process they broke the existing toilet in half and replaced it with one in the wrong colors a mismatched bowl and tank, no one read the box upon pick-up and installation? To confirm what they had.

During necessary repairs for the third breakdown of the Air Conditioning unit, black mold was found growing in the HVAC system.

By the end of January 2009, I had not heard from KB Home, so wrote and asked when they would be coming to address the major issues with the structure of the home, the bricks, the water drainage, the black mold and the flooring. They refused to address anything but the carpet they had ruined.

I had an independent mold inspection carried out and the report confirmed the home tested positive for excessive volumes of two types of mold. The report also listed related health issues that matched mine specifically. By this time I was experiencing full body hives and could find no relief. I relocated myself in 2009 at great personal expense and have not had a single occurrence of the health problems since I vacated the home.

Because of the problems I am unable to rent or sell the home and cannot live in it. The property is substantially de-valued; in fact it has salvage value only. Currently I have to maintain the home and pay homeowners association fees. The back wall of the home is now splitting away from the roof and the interior wall is splitting apart inside the top of the living room windows. Clearly these windows were never correctly sealed either. The living room ceiling now has long splits visible where the drywall seams are.

In the last eighteen months, I contacted Senator John Cornyn, Congresswoman Kay Granger and State representative Jane Nelson. I filed my complaint at the state legislature in support of a home lemon law. I filed a complaint with the FTC and finally got the issue to the enforcement department. I filed complaints with the office of Greg Abbot, Attorney General and Governor Rick Perry and sent copies of my three home buy back request letters to California and Texas representatives and the office of President Obama. I sent my letters to current KB Home CEO Jeffrey Mezger, Chairman Stephen Bollenbach and board members:- Timothy W. Finchem, Kenneth M. Jastrow II, Robert L. Johnson, Melissa Lora, Michael G. McCaffery, Leslie Moonves, Luis G. Nogales and General Counsel Wendy Shiba.

I complained to the City Manager, Tom Muir and his staff confirmed KB Home did not obtain required permits for the compromised retaining wall, but he ignores the problem. I filed complaints with the EPA and was advised that home builders are exempt from environmental laws regarding mold and later that the city is responsible for the land grading and water drainage issue. This despite the fact that the water draining from many other properties onto my land, is polluted by building materials and other peoples pet waste, insecticides, fertilizers and unknown chemicals. Everyone just passes the buck.

As there has been no help for my situation, I developed a website to bring the matter to public attention and help other people with similar issues connect. Documentation including pictures and audio, recorded by home security equipment can be found at www.akbhomesucks.com

How many people have to suffer extreme health and financial burdens, or die, before homebuilders are held accountable when they build sub-standard homes, employ unskilled labor and use inadequate or toxic products and use short cuts to boost profits just so felons can profit and their investors.

What is the point of a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Consent Order if they don’t enforce it? Why does the FTC fail to ask victims for documentation of information to support their complaints, instead of leaving them in the dark, while they make decisions without all the facts?

KB Home violated so many terms of the Consent Order, yet continue to get away with it. When will State and Federal government representatives act to protect victims of unscrupulous builders like KB Home and its’ former CEO Bruce Karatz?

I wondered why there was so little media coverage of the Bruce Karatz trial and conviction this year, until research uncovered all the media links connected with KB Home board members and the major Media Boards they sit on.

I also noticed that Bruce Karatz has added O’Melveny & Myers, to his team of appeal lawyers, “of Counsel” partner Timothy Muris was previously Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission from 2001-2004. Former partner Kim McLane Wardlaw is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Former partner Sandra Segal Ikuta is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Karat’s appeal will be heard at the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Perhaps here we find the answer to all of my questions.
If the late Brittany Murphy and her husband Simon Monjack were victims of toxic mold in their home resulting in acute pneumonia and severe anemia, I hope those responsible will be held accountable. Maybe their deaths will finally case government to pass the legislation and building standards needed to make builders responsible for healthy structures. Not ones built for pure profits.

More than coincidence: Simon Monjack died five months after the death of his wife Brittany Murphy. Both deaths have been linked to respiratory problems from mold.

Either way I wish them peace, something I have not known since I purchased a KB Home.

The heath outcome associated with mold varies depending on the type of mold and the person exposed. immuno-compromised and Immuno-altered persons (infants, elderly, those with pre-existing conditions) are at a much higher risk of adverse health effects. Mold Exposure by skin contact, ingestion, or inhalation, can result in allergic reactions, infections, and toxic (poisonous) consequences. The symptoms associated with toxic mold poisoning range from a rash, colds, respiratory infections and flu-like effects to neurological damage and even death.

What do you think?

Mark Eberwine joins BlogTalkRadio host The LemonMeister on “KB Home Sucks Radio” August 11, 2010, at 12 p.m. Eastern, 11 p.m. Central, 10 p.m. Mountain and 9 p.m. Pacific time zones.

Noted construction defect expert witness will discuss his career and home inspection style.

San Antonio, Texas — August 10, 2010 — Famed construction defect expert and professional home inspector Mark Eberwine will appear on BlogTalkRadio’s show “KB Home Sucks Radio” (http://www.blogtalkradio.com/kbhomesucks) with host the LemonMeister on Wednesday, August 11, 2010, at 6 p.m. Eastern. The exclusive interview will highlight Mark’s successful career and unique consumer protection style.

Callers are welcome to join the conversation during the show by calling (347) 637-3050. The live, Internet talk-radio show will stream from the host page at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/kbhomesucks and on “A KB Home Sucks” website.

“This exclusive interview with Mark Eberwine is a must-listen for any person who owns a home or may buy a home in the near future,” said the LemonMeister, host of the program. “His successful career has educated and enlightened thousands of home buyers and home sellers, consumer groups, construction defect lawyers and Judges nationwide. We hope to answer some of his followers’ biggest questions.”

An audio archive will be available at the same link immediately following the show or listeners can subscribe to the archives via the RSS feed located on the host page [http://www.blogtalkradio.com/kbhomesucks]. Read more about the host and the discussion on LemonMeister’s blog at [http://lemonade.akbhomesucks.com].

About “KB Home Sucks Radio”

“KB Home Sucks Radio” is an interactive, live Internet talk-radio show that focuses on new home construction defects issues. Host The LemonMeister explores the careers, advice, style and personality of each guest. Callers are encouraged to call (347) 637-3050 to listen or ask questions. The stream and archives are available at http://blogtalkradio.com/kbhomesucks. The show is live every Wedneday night at 12 p.m. Eastern/ 9 p.m. PT. The show is hosted on BlogTalkRadio.

About BlogTalkRadio
Launched in 2006, BlogTalkRadio is a social media platform that allows users to host live, interactive radio shows, with no downloads or extra equipment needed. BlogTalkRadio’s unique technology and seamless integration with leading social networks enables individuals, corporations and organizations to create and share their original content, their voices and opinions in a public worldwide forum. Since the network’s inception, thousands of hosts have broadcast more than 600,000 shows to the millions of listeners it attracts each month. Featured network guests include: President Barack Obama, Francis Ford Coppola, Maya Angelou, David Baldacci, and many more. BlogTalkRadio has been featured on ABC News, The Washington Post, Portfolio, Talkers Magazine, and TheStreet.com. The citizen broadcasting network can be found at http://www.blogtalkradio.com.

About A KB Home Sucks
More information can be found at http://www.akbhomesucks.com read this before you buy a new home.

About Mark Eberwine
More information can be found at http://www.abuyersinspector.com/ professional licensed home inspector San Antonio, State of Texas.

From the time we purchased our KB Home it has had excessive construction defects, some of which may be major that have not been corrected under the terms of the contract, warranty or the Federal Consent Order (FTC). KB Home representatives offer no guarantees that any repairs to date have fixed the problem permanently.

The following are just some of the problems that have been on going:
Hole cut in dining room wall for installation of Brinks home security system, left unrepaired for six months.

KB Home Air Conditioning unit broke down twice in one week in the height of summer, upstairs and downstairs controls wrongly wired. Took a month for parts and repair to be completed, resulted in very high-energy costs as system was running all the time. Broke down again twice and told never installed correctly. Major components had wrong voltage wired or were not wired to dampers. Every year this A/C unit has failed, this home was advertised as an energy efficient home by KB Home.

Upstairs external deck railings collapsed. New railings full of screw holes that KB Home CSM advised were knotholes. Railing still separating from posts. West side deck railing is not connected at all to house. Don’t lean on it you will fall from the second floor.

Fences are falling down, warped fence posts, not nailed together. Wood was rotted out when it was hacked together. Materials were substandard.

Major Leaks in kitchen walls and ceiling three times so far – no guarantee from KB Home that issues are resolved.

Patio roof supported by posts not fully on the slab that was poured considerably smaller than the overhang, weight of the roof pulled away from house by gravity and posts were installed crooked to fit the smaller slab. Roof had to be lifted to straighten posts, and then rainwater leaks began.

Ceiling and walls ripped out to find leak – repairs done several times before acceptable.

180 bricks are removed from above patio roof – found waterproofing flashing was never installed. Once corrected, house was re-bricked again to such an appalling standard, they had to be torn out and re-done.

During search for cause ceiling of leaks, they discovered Master bedroom window upstairs were not sealed and the waterproofing flashing was missing – exterior bricks removed and re-bricked after repairs. Ben Bunker, KB Home, CSM, stated there is no way to be sure any of the other 16 windows were properly sealed during construction. Major Leaks in windows because of missing flashing and caulking running around half the windows – no guarantee from KB Home that issues are resolved. The recorded audio quote: “Too bad no one caulked that window correctly we could have gotten away with that for 10 years if it was caulked correctly.”

KB Home called in a mold inspector at my request. His moisture meter reading had spiked off the scale in the kitchen walls indicating full saturation of water. This was in the walls since the house was built defectively and caused repeated leaks. He only inspected the kitchen and the master bedroom area above the kitchen leak areas; he did not test any other rooms in the house for mold or moisture. He did not find significant levels of mold in these places, but did say some are more sensitive to mold than others. They set up large dehumidifier and industrial fans in the kitchen to try and dry out the walls and ceiling. The machines were loud, kept me awake at night and the dehydration in the home made me ill again. These methods killed all of the houseplants and KB Home drain water techniques were unhygienic.

Downstairs toilet was removed three times due to blockages and suspected leaks. Toilets was installed crooked, KB tried to fix it but it’s still crooked. The homeowner replaced all of the toilets internal components since these toilets had running water issues. KB installs the cheapest parts to last under a year.

KB’s Plumber trespassed and tunneled underneath the house from the front through to the toilet looking for a leak. Bushes and shrubs removed and replaced backwards. Earth from under the house could not be returned so KB Home mounded it 3’ high in the flowerbeds that afterwards when it rained, rainwater flooded into garage and damaged property and soaked the garage drywall.

In the first year, the driveway cracked in half horizontally down the middle, when they demolished it to replace, no reinforced re-bar underneath and they did not put any in under the newly poured front half of the drive either. Don Barrineau stated “no-one puts re-bar under concrete driveways”. I took pictures the same day of the re-bar laid in the driveway of a home under construction behind mine, by another builder Choice homes. KB Home by this time had abandoned and ran off their partially completed subdivision.

Major problems:
No weep holes ever placed in external brickwork to allow moisture to escape, KB cut weep holes after the fact, and they are not correctly done. Now we have more than 65 holes drilled into the masonry that don’t do anything, they are blocked. No moisture can escape just holes.

No air hawks installed in roof for more than 4 years to allow toxic fumes to escape from attic spaces.

Less than the minimum of insulation is in the attic space. The soffit vents do not match in spacing on both side of the roof overhang. They are blocked anyway with inadequate insulation anyway so they don’t work. The effect is the attic is very hot and draws any cooling from the house – This is an energy efficient KB Home!

Electrical outlets spark and large amounts of electrical interference interfere with 310 Mhz home automation frequencies. Certain circuit breakers trip constantly without an overload.

Exterior brickwork spauling, crumbling, dissolving, cracked due to defective bricks and mortar.

Exterior masonry cement work spauling, crumbling, dissolving, cracked due to defective materials, unbalanced unprofessional bricklaying, very large to very small uneven mortar joints and uneven courses and brick weight and load bearing. External Cracks 24 bricks long, in steps on both sides of house – crack up front of house, above garage and outside window mantles. KB Home temporary patching will not prevent further cracks due to serious lot grading issues.

Leak from master bathroom upstairs toilet drained and soaked into living room ceiling.

Master bathroom – toxic black mold under the floors and a live electrical wires under the tub. Tub was landlocked into master bathroom the door was constructed too small to allow removal of the bathtub.

Bathroom windowsill cracked and particleboard used in its construction is swollen with water damage. Poor waterproofing is the cause.

Upstairs Floors creaking and squeaking, Ben Bunker also stated and told L.J. Howell, Regional Customer Service Manager at KB Home, his supervisor,” this is abnormal”.

The entire upstairs wooden joists under the floorboards had holes chopped out of them for plumbing pipes weakening the whole houses structure. Each beam had 50% of it’s strength removed, if it was an 8” beam 4” square were removed and chopped out, Polyurethane foam spray-in insulation was used to keep the pipes from rattling/vibrating and stop it from making a racket when the water taps are on in this bathroom.

You would never suspect that your homes framing and upper floor strength was substantially impaired by KB Home cost cutting, hacked out construction techniques. You would never have seen this defective construction issue without them ripping up the floorboards, and your home inspector wouldn’t either.

Master bathroom toilet was broken in half by workmen, when trying to remove to fix the floor, (screws stripped as toilet removed three times already, due to leak through downstairs ceiling and improper original installation). Now replaced with “bone” color toilet by mistake, instead of white, does not match other fixtures.

Door to the bathrooms and bedrooms crooked did not fit doorjamb frames. KB wood planed the doors edges instead of replacing them with the correct sizes as a cheap fix so they are now smaller more uneven and have gaps all around where they meet the inside door molding, You can now peek into the rooms when the doors are shut, these are not a good fit. Upstairs floors no longer fit the house. Large cracks appearing on floor moldings where floors are pulling away from walls. Cracks in the drywall keep coming back every so many weeks.

Upstairs floors still creaking and moving Despite everything being removed from walk in closet and replaced several times so floors could be torn up several times. 9ft by 5ft piece of bedroom wall cut out to find cause, but not found. In just one day seven tubes of glue were used to re-lay floors. The toxic fumes caused major health problems. Less than 1/2 of the upstairs floors were looked at by KB Home the other rooms have issues.

Very loud ceiling snapping cracks noises occur when we are sitting downstairs in the living room and no one is upstairs. This expansion noise pointed out to KB Home and is still an issue.

Carpet in upstairs loft room and office taken up to fix creaking floors, all equipment and furniture dismantled, removed and put back by ourselves.
Carpets pulled up and re-fitted so many times they no longer fit and there are splits in the doorways and screws left behind are sticking up. Carpeting now worn like an old carpet.

Land subsidence and ponding in back garden – gangway dug up for French drain – but water still sits at the top of the garden and in the drain itself. KB caused land erosion due to the improper unsupervised grading and retaining wall. KB Home div. President, Don Barrineau stated “I should have bought a two million dollar home if I wanted good drainage”. He also stated “it is illegal for anyone else’s’ property to drain onto mine”, so I asked KB Home why they engineered it this way, if they knew it was illegal?

Recent news coverage of a retaining wall collapse in the Rivermist San Antonio subdivision caused me to investigate further about the retaining walls on this sub-division. I contacted Tom Muir, city manager and his staff confirmed KB Home never applied for or obtained the required permit or approvals for the retaining wall. I also confirmed with the city staff, that a permit was required because the wall is well over 4ft high in some places not withstanding from its beam. The run off and drainage from properties on the higher ground behind Westgrove Blvd., pours over the wall like a waterfall during a light rain. This impacts several properties, not just this one and I have spoken with other homeowners about it. The run off includes pesticides, fertilizers, chemicals, building materials and pet waste, which can negatively impact any organic vegetables or fruits I grow in the garden and plan to ingest. I have filed a complaint with the EPA. Corinth TX Retaining Wall. Grapevine TX Retaining Wall.

We did a great deal of decorating and home improvement despite all the issues, most of which has been torn up at some point. It has been exhausting and very expensive.

I have experienced major health issues from the excess water in the walls forming a breeding ground caused by leaks over a long period of time, resulting in black mold and toxic fumes. This includes Pneumonia, Bronchitis, developing Asthma, nose bleeds, acute rhinocitis and severe hives. I never even had coughs before I lived in this house.

When doctors determined my health issues were not caused by allergies, but by environmental factors, I arranged for independent mold inspection. The home tested positive for abnormal mold growth and potential health hazards listed in the report match my health issues exactly experienced while I lived in this house.

I Moved out of the house for health and safety reasons in March 2009. The financial costs, mental stress and emotional issues, placed an intolerable burden on me.

The last time KB Home workers were at this house was on 19th December 2008. They were here all day until 8pm trying to rush to finish the upstairs flooring and re-lay the carpet and bathroom linoleum. The house was utter chaos, the carpets were ruined and the wrong color toilet was installed. I discussed the black mold on the bathroom floor and clearly spreading under the bathtub, with Ben Bunker. It was obviously caused by the previous leak s from the toilet. Ben said he would discuss how to handle with his supervisor. It took two days to get all my possessions back into the closet and bedroom cabinets and still nothing was corrected or repaired satisfactorily.

KB Customer service managers told me that they have worked on a lot of homes, but never seen one with as many problems as this one. They recommended I ask KB Home to buy the home back. They advised me to direct my request to company executives at their headquarters in Los Angeles. They told me I had very good reason to do so and it should take about three months to accomplish.

I sent a complaint letter to Jeffrey Mezger, CEO, KB Home immediately. He did not respond.

By the end of January 2009, I had still not heard from anyone at KB Home regarding the unfinished repairs, mold, water run-off/drainage and major construction defects at the home. I sent an email to Ben Bunker and he advised he was waiting to hear from his supervisors. Eventually, Ben sent an email and stated they would not do anything about what he now called “the discoloration” in the bathroom flooring and the “live” 110v electrical wire under the tub. They would not do anything else about the upstairs flooring and in fact all they would address was the carpeting they ruined and change out the wrong toilet.

I told KB Home there was no point installing new carpet if the major structural and exterior problems that were causing the situation were not going to be corrected, but they refused to address this.

I sent a home buy back request letter to Jeffrey Mezger, CEO, KB Home and copied the FTC, State and Federal representatives, the governor, the attorney general and the office of President Obama.

I sent “repeat’ home buy back request to Jeffrey Mezger in June 2009. I sent a copy of my independent mold inspection report and several complaint letters to Jeffrey Mezger, by certified mail, during the past year, but he or anyone inn his office never responded. He as CEO and President of KB Home has completely ignored my terrible situation.

I sent certified mail letters to all board members of KB Home notifying them of this situation. Not a single Board member of KB Home has responded.

I filed complaints with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requesting them to enforce the ongoing FTC/KB Home Consent Order, which requires KB Home to use adequate standards of building products and workmanship and to buy back the home if I am not 100% satisfied with it. I filed complaints with the BBB and any other consumer protection agency I could find. I had a website built http://www.akbhomesucks.com to try and bring this serious complaint to the attention of KB Home, future homebuyers and lawmakers. I went to the state legislature to file my complaint and offer support to the Home Owners for Better Builders organization and their attempt to get a new home/homebuilder lemon bill passed into law in the state of Texas.

The Honorable John Cornyn, United States Senator, Texas and The Honorable Kay Granger, Congresswoman, Texas both sent letters to the FTC on my behalf. This eventually helped me get the complaint to Laura Dimartino, FTC Asst. Enforcement Director. Laura sent a letter to Congresswoman Kay Granger in November 2009 and it was forwarded to me. It indicated that her enforcement department would initiate an investigation, but I have heard nothing since from either party.

In April and May 2010, I sent letters to Jeffrey Mezger and his board of directors regarding the retaining wall issue, the lack of permit and approvals and the serious water run off over the wall. I also sent confirmation that the property tax assessor had assessed the current value of the home, as salvage value only, due to the fact that it is uninhabitable on a permanent basis due to the toxic conditions in the home. In particular the black mold. His assessment was a total valuation of just $30,000. The land valuation $20,000 and the home salvage value $10,000. His decision was based on the mold inspection report and specific pictures and video footage published on my website and on YouTube. I copied the FTC, Senator John Cornyn and Congresswoman Kay Granger.

I explained that the cause of ALL the problems with this KB Home stem from the original defective construction, negligence, poor engineering and inadequate standards of building products and workmanship and sub-standard, botched repairs. By continuing to ignore the problems and failing to correct or repair timely, serious permanent problems have developed. My KB Home is a lemon and although this has been a devastating experience for me and I have lost more than $140K in home value depreciation, personal property, time, and health, some of the identical issues affect other homes and homeowners in the subdivision. I have not been able to inhabit, rent or sell the property because of the problems and therefore had to pay for other accommodation while still paying the mortgage for this home.

The entire community is impacted, because KB Home refused to live up to their responsibilities. They are not good corporate citizens and they continue to get away with it. No one holds them accountable. The schools and hospitals that rely on tax dollars from homes that are inhabitable to offer services are impacted when properties are devalued in this way. This is a serious concern to all.

Bruce Karatz was the CEO and President when my KB Home “lemon” was built. Karatz‘s recent felony conviction in a Los Angeles court is a matter of public record, although this news was largely blocked in the mainstream media. It appears that Karatz was not content to cut corners and build lemon homes to boost executive profits and bonuses at the expense of the duped homebuyer. Apparently his greed was not satisfied and he duped his KB Home shareholders too, but nobody seems to hand out justice, or invest elsewhere what these unscrupulous corporations are really up to. Maybe Bruce needed the money to pay for his divorce from Sandra Lee Karatz (Food Network chef and host of “Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee) now the current girlfriend of Andrew Cuomo New York Attorney General, now running for Governor of New York? Court employees were unable to find the divorce filings, which have gone missing.

Today, I am sending a new home buy back request to Jeffrey Mezger and his board of directors again*. This one will include the costs of alternate accommodation for the last year and all my other costs. I have been contacted by a lot of dissatisfied KB Home buyers through my website and will continue to share my experience on the Internet in the hope that it will help educate others avoid a similar situation.

*Stephen F. Bollenbach
Chairman of the Board of KB Home, Macy’s, Edison
10990 Wilshire BLvd., Los Angeles, CA 90024

Ron Burkle KB Home Board of Directors x
Founder and Managing Partner of The Yucaipa Companies 10000 Santa Monica Boulevard, 5th Floor Los Angeles, California 90067, Built this Lemon with Karatz

Timothy W. Finchem
KB Home Board of Directors
Commissioner of the PGA TOUR
112 PGA Tour Blvd.
Ponte Vedra Beach, FL 32082
Phone: 904-273-3287

Kenneth M. Jastrow, II
KB Home Board of Directors
10990 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90024

Robert L. Johnson
KB Home Board of Directors
Founder and Chairman of The RLJ Companies
3 Bethesda Metro Center, Suite 1000,
Bethesda, MD 20814
Phone: 301.280.7700

Melissa Lora
KB Home Board of Directors
Chief Financial Officer of Taco Bell Corporation
Taco Bell
17901 Von Karman
Irvine, CA 92614-6253
Phone: 949-863-4500

Michael G. McCaffery
KB Home Board of Directors
Chief Executive Officer of Makena Capital Management
San Francisco investment bank, Thomas Weisel Partners (TWPG),
2755 Sand Hill Road, Suite 200
Menlo Park, CA 94025
Phone: 650-926-0510 Fax: 650-926-0513

Jeffrey T. Mezger
Kb Home President and Chief Executive Officer & Kb Home Board of Directors
10990 Wilshire BLvd., Los Angeles, CA 90024

Leslie Moonves
KB Home Board of Directors
President and Chief Executive Officer of CBS Corporation
CBS Corporation Inc.
51 W. 52nd Street
New York NY 10019
Phone: 212-975-4321

Luis G. Nogales
KB Home Board of Directors, Edison
Managing Partner of Nogales Investors, LLC
Nogales Investors Management, LLC
9229 West Sunset Boulevard, Suite 900
West Hollywood, CA 90069
Phone: 310-276-7439 fax: 310-276-7405

Wendy C. Shiba
Kb Home Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
10990 Wilshire BLvd., Los Angeles, CA 90024

Glen Barnard
Senior Vice President, KBnxt Group
10990 Wilshire BLvd., Los Angeles, CA 90024

William R. Hollinger
Senior Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer at KB Home
10990 Wilshire BLvd., Los Angeles, CA 90024

Cory C. Cohen
Kb Home Senior Vice President, Tax
10990 Wilshire BLvd., Los Angeles, CA 90024

Wendy Marlett
Kb Home Senior Vice President, Sales, Marketing and Communications
10990 Wilshire BLvd., Los Angeles, CA 90024

Kelly Masuda
Kb Home Senior Vice President, Treasurer
10990 Wilshire BLvd., Los Angeles, CA 90024

Thomas Norton
Kb Home Senior Vice President, Human Resources
10990 Wilshire BLvd., Los Angeles, CA 90024
Joined KB Home in 2009 replaces Gary A. Ray

Lisa M. Kalmbach
KB Home Senior Vice President, Studios
10990 Wilshire BLvd., Los Angeles, CA 90024

Bruce Karatz xCEO of KB Home indicted on 4 counts and faces up to 40 years in prison

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Re: Canyon Oaks neighborhood near Corona, Ca. Broken retaining wall that caused the evacuation of four families. As reported by MICHELLE KLAMPE for The Press-Enterprise, December 22nd 2008.

I came across this news item online because of a serious issue with a retaining wall at my subdivision. I was amazed to read that Craig LeMessurier, a spokesman for KB Homes, stated “the safety and well being of our homeowners is always our top priority”. I find his comments hard to believe.

KB Home did not even bother to obtain a permit for the retaining wall, or city approvals, at my KB Home subdivision. As recently confirmed by the city, a permit was necessary because the wall is between four and five feet high in places.

Surely the very reason for these codes is to protect homebuyers from hazardous building practices, but KB Home were not concerned enough about homebuyer safety to bother with the permit. I can only conclude that the safety of people and their homes is clearly not top of mind with KB Home.

My KB Home is a total lemon. There were many major construction defects that were uncovered over time. Countless repairs did not make my home sound; they just led to more problems.

Despite an FTC consent order that among other things, requires KB Home to use adequate standards of building products and workmanship and to correct or repair construction defects timely, KB Home did not bother to comply during original construction of my home, or since.

They continue to ignore my health and safety issues and those of other homeowners on our subdivision who share the retaining walls.

Our retaining wall is cracking and crumbling in places due to excessive water draining onto the properties on lower levels. The land has shifted in my back garden and the house also shifted due to the flooding that occurs each time it rains. Water pours over the retaining wall like a waterfall and sits stagnant in areas of the garden.

A KB Home plumber tunneled under the home searching for a cause water leaking up into the downstairs toilet, but never made the connection with the flooded back garden.

Clearly the home has shifted. The home developed cracks, 24 bricks long in steps, on both sides of the home and up the front. The external brickwork is crumbling and cracking, literally dissolving in large areas. They did temporary patching, that has not lasted or corrected the problem.

The upstairs doorframes twisted and the doors no longer fit. The upstairs flooring had to be torn up on six different occasions, as the floors no longer fit the shape of the house. Unusual cracking and creaking still continues despite all the upheaval while they tried to repair.

During these attempts to repair, black mold was found under the bathtub and later in the A/C unit. This was obviously a result of the many leaks in the home. The kitchen ceiling leaked on three different occasions over eighteen months. They eventually tore out bricks and had to replace them three times to stop the leaks.

The walls were full of water for this entire period, until they brought in drying machines. They ultimately found the cause was due to the omission of flashing and substandard building of the patio roof and failure to seal windows during original construction.

The house was toxic and caused serious health issues, including Pneumonia, Bronchitis, developing Asthma and hives. An independent specialist report confirmed the mold was present and listed these specific health issues as potential hazards from the mold.

Because of the toxic environment, I have been unable to reside in the home and KB Home executives have been made aware of all the issues, but my many certified mail letters to their Chief Executive and board members have been ignored.

Clearly the structure of my home has been compromised. I had to resort to creating a website to publish the defective construction issues and share photos to urge KB Home to buy back the home. They have shown no concern for my safety; they obviously could care less if the retaining wall collapses.

The wall at our subdivision is compromised because it is already breached in some places. Many large homes are built on the higher elevation and they are close to the retaining wall, given the vast amount of water that runs down this sloping road, the pressure on the wall is great.

Video footage of the storm water can be found on the website. As new homes are still being constructed, the water is polluted with building waste that may be toxic. The audio conversation was recorded on home security cameras.

This took place when Don Barrineau, Div. President for KB Home came to the home to inspect the problems. Don stated, “It is illegal for anyone else’s property to drain onto mine”. He also stated “I should have bought a $2m home if I wanted good drainage”. This indicates the KB Home knew what they were building was illegal, but they went ahead and did it anyway. Clearly a deceptive practice and KB Home is NOT demonstrated concern about safety at my home. This is important, for the very reason that they build so many homes, is what makes it a serious and very major problem today.

For more information please visit my photos page at http://www.akbhomesucks.com/myphotos

Since our purchase, the flooding water issue has compromised structure of the KB home, leading to serious defects they have failed to correct.

The only recourse we had was to start a website. You can find information and pictures published on the site, including live video footage of the water flooding over the wall from the property behind and those further up the hill. During this footage you can hear conversation recorded by our home security cameras. This discussion was with Don Barrineau, Division President for KB Home. During the conversation, he states, “it is illegal for anyone’s property to drain onto ours” He directed us to the homeowners for recourse. Don also states that if we wanted “good drainage, we should have bought a $2 million dollar home. This took place more than 18 months ago and the problem has not been addressed by KB Home.

KB Home, as the original developer, is responsible for engineering and land grading and required city permits and approvals for the entire sub-division. KB Home is under a Federal Trade Commission Consent Order. This is due to previous major complaints against them and in regards to this home and the sub-division; they have violated many terms of the Consent Order. Our complaint is currently under review by an FTC enforcement supervisor.

Recent publicity regarding the Pulte/Centex Homes sub-division in San Antonio peaked our interest. Apparently the retaining wall collapsed due to all the flooding and it was reported that they never acquired the necessary building permit for the retaining wall. We were also interested to find that Don Barrineau was previously with Centex. The report stated a permit was required because code requires it for any retaining wall 4ft or higher. It was also reported that the builder has offered to buy-back the homes.

Given our major flooding issue, this news peaked our interest because part of our wall is 4ft high. We measured other parts of the wall and found they are even higher in some areas. We found a crack in one part of the wall where weeds are already growing through and deep cracks in the ground below. We also found other areas where the wall is falling down and the wall is 5ft high. Clearly the wall is compromised. All we need is a collapse similar to San Antonio and many of our homes could be impacted.

We contacted the city and after a couple of weeks they wrote and confirmed KB Home did not obtain the permit for the retaining walls on this sub-division. They also confirmed a permit is required for a retaining wall 4ft or higher.

We have written to Jeffrey Mezger, CEO. KB Home, repeatedly in the last 12 months. We were directed to do so by their own Customer Service Managers. So far he has not responded. Finally, it appears they found our website and contacted us a few weeks back. They offered to correct and repair all the issues and relocate us at their expense while they do it. Unfortunately for us we have been unable to live in the house for a year and unable to sell it because of the problems, so they are too late. Also the Consent Order requires KB Home to correct and repair construction defects timely, which they have not done. We have contacted the entire board of directors now regarding this issue, as it impacts most of the homeowners in the sub-division. Starting another round of non-stop repairs on our house will not address the cause of the problem for us, or resolve the matter for the sub-division.

We don’t believe KB Home can fix the major construction defects with this home. Even KB Home representatives told us they can’t, but even more at issue, are all of the homes impacted on the sub-division. The situation in San Antonio shows clearly what may ensue if the wall collapses in any one area here. The homes on the higher levels as well as the lower will be affected. Trying to rebuild our home will be futile if the cause, the flooding, is not removed.

We have been to the State legislature in Austin to support a new home “lemon law”. The only reason our complaint found its way to the FTC enforcement office is because Senator Kay Granger and Senator John Cornyn wrote on our behalf.

We update the website with any new information regularly and receive requests for help from many frustrated homebuyers. All we can do is share our experience. If you have questions or other issues with your home please feel free to let us know.

A KB Home Sucks.

What does it say about your executives at KB home when a Federal Judge is quoted as saying… “I think we’ve established the man’s a liar,” U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright II was quoted on the record?

Former KB Home chief Bruce Karatz engineered a massive stock option scheme that made him millions of dollars and then fought to keep it secret from investigators, a longtime executive in charge of Human Resources testified Wednesday. Karatz even hired private investigators to look at his own lawyers and employees acting as KB Home chief executive in paranoia mode.

Gary Ray, who served as KB’s head of human resources director from 1996 to 2006, told a federal jury in Los Angeles that he and Karatz backdated stock options to make them more valuable to themselves and employees and then concealed it from company shareholders and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The crucial prosecution witness in the stock-options backdating trial of former KB Home chief Bruce Karatz completed his statement Friday afternoon after four days on the witness stand.

Gary Ray, who served as KB’s vice president of human resources from 1996 to 2006, told jurors in federal court in Los Angeles that he and Karatz judiciously selected grant dates when the stock price was low so the options would be more valuable to themselves.

Karatz, Ray and KB Home Board Members waited months after the company’s compensation committee had approved options before selecting a grant date, Ray said. Then they would go back and choose a date when the price was at a low point, he said.

Karatz “We never sat down and explained to the committee what we were doing and how we were doing it,” Ray quoted Karatz as saying.

Karatz, served two decades as chief of KB Home, faces 20 charges of fraud and making false statements. He has pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing.

Ray pleaded guilty last year to conspire to obstruct justice and agreed to testify against Karatz as part of a plea arrangement. Prosecutors have said they will suggest leniency in sentencing in exchange for Ray’s testimony. On July 12, 2010 Ray faces up to five years in prison at his sentencing.

During more than seven hours of cross-examination, Ray acknowledged that he told numerous lies during his initial meetings with the FBI and federal prosecutors in 2008.

Karatz defense attorney spent much of his cross-examination exploring those lies– eventually drawing a rebuke from U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright II.

“I think we’ve established the man’s a liar,” the judge said.

Ray explained that he initially denied wrongdoing during the government interviews because he “was not prepared to live up to and admit the mistakes I had made.”

Some people think that Gary A. Ray will be the fall guy in the Bruce E. Karatz stock option backdating trial this week in Los Angeles Central District court. While Bruce Karatz and other members of KB Home Board get off Scott free. These Board members who profited during the reign of Karatz include: Stephen F. Bollenbach, Chairman of the Board of KB Home. Ron Burkle, Kb Home Board of Directors & Founder and Managing Partner of The Yucaipa Companies. Timothy W. Finchem, Kb Home Board of Directors & Commissioner of the PGA TOUR. Kenneth M. Jastrow II, Kb Home Board of Directors. Robert L. Johnson, KB Home Board of Directors & Founder and Chairman of The RLJ Companies. Melissa Lora, Kb Home Board of Directors & Chief Financial Officer of Taco Bell Corporation aka Yum Brands. Michael G. McCaffery Kb Home Board of Directors & Chief Executive Officer of Makena Capital Management. Leslie Moonves Kb Home Board of Directors & President and Chief Executive Officer of CBS Corporation. Luis G. Nogales Kb Home Board of Directors & Managing Partner of Nogales Investors, LLC. Jeffrey T. Mezger Kb Home President and Chief Executive Officer & Kb Home Board of Directors. Wendy C. Shiba Kb Home Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. Glen Barnard, Senior Vice President, KBnxt Group. Cory C. Cohen, Kb Home Senior Vice President, Tax. William R. Hollinger Senior Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer at KB Home. Wendy Marlett, Kb Home Senior Vice President, Sales, Marketing and Communications. Kelly Masuda, Kb Home Senior Vice President, Treasurer. Thomas Norton, Kb Home Senior Vice President, Human Resources, Joined KB Home in 2009 replaces Gary A. Ray. And Lisa M. Kalmbach, KB Home Senior Vice President, KB Home Studios.

KB Home reputation continues on a downward spiral

The key prosecution witness in the stock-options backdating trial of former KB Home chief Bruce Karatz completed his testimony Friday afternoon after four days on the witness stand.

Gary Ray, who served as KB’s vice president of human resources from 1996 to 2006, told jurors in federal court in Los Angeles that he and Karatz carefully selected grant dates when the stock price was low so the options would be more valuable to themselves and employees.

In some instances, the executives waited months after the company’s compensation committee had approved options before selecting a grant date, Ray said. Then they would look back and choose a date when the price was at a low point, he said.

Karatz “We never sat down and explained to the committee what we were doing and how we were doing it,” Ray said.

Karatz, who served two decades as chief of the Los Angeles-based homebuilder, faces 20 charges of fraud and making false statements. He has pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing.

Ray, 52, pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to obstruct justice and agreed to testify against Karatz as part of a plea agreement. Prosecutors have said they will recommend leniency in sentencing in exchange for Ray’s testimony. He faces up to five years in prison at his July 12 sentencing.

During more than seven hours of cross-examination, Ray acknowledged that he told numerous lies during his initial meetings with the FBI and federal prosecutors in 2008. Defense attorney John Keker spent much of his cross-examination pinpointing those false statements — eventually drawing a rebuke from U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright II.

“I think we’ve established the man’s a liar,” the judge said.

Ray explained that he initially denied wrongdoing during the government interviews because he “was not prepared to live up to and admit the mistakes I had made.”

Testimony is scheduled to resume Tuesday March 23rd, 2010. KB Home’s executives have a track record of lying over many years. KB Home customer service is lacking, KB Home Board of Directors are more interested in their own personal gain and care nothing about you as a KB Home owner. A KB Home Sucks.

What’s your opinion on KB Home reputation and the liars that sit in their boardroom?

Mar 14, 2010 (A KB Home Sucks) –

The first of many Wall Street stock option backdating trials. Former KB Home chief executive Bruce Karatz kicked off Thursday in Los Angeles, California in Judge Otis Wright II’s courtroom with two extremely contradictory descriptions of the Bruce Karatz who controlled the balance sheets and cash flow of the oversized home-builder for decades. The first as a person only interested in personal gain, the second as a “holier than thou” role model.

Federal prosecutors warn jurors in their opening statement that Karatz chased greed and fulfilled his ambitions with millions in illegal “secret pay” by manipulating stock option grant dates and then lying about and non disclosure of it in several regulatory filings to government agencies and in meetings with accountants and lawyers.

“He stole without shareholders’ knowing about it and he used stock options to do it,” Alexander A. Bustamante Assistant U.S. Attorney believed.

“When he was asked about regulatory filings, he lied . . . He lied within the company. He lied outside the company.” Bustamante declared.

Karatz Defense attorney Keker lectured the jury that Karatz was a hardworking leader who never intentionally violated any securities laws. KB Home handled its stock options the same way that hundreds of other companies did — and neither Karatz nor any other company executives acted improperly, John Keker quoted.

“No one believed at the time they were doing anything wrong or improper,” Keker said. “They’re not people coming to work looking to commit a crime, year after year.”

Karatz, 64, who led KB Home from 1986 to 2006 and helped the builder expand from a few hundred to at one time more than 7,000 employees (many were laid off in January 2010 so the current CEO Jeffrey Mezger could exercise stock options based on a phony profit). Karatz faces 20 felony charges of fraud and making false statements about the company’s stock options practices. This trial before U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright II is likely to last three weeks or more and the penalty of Karatz could remain in jail like Bernard Madeoff for the rest of his life.

Jurors could expect a briefing on stock options, which are a common form of corporate compensation. They give selected employees the option to buy a set amount of stock at a set price — usually the closing price on the date they’re granted. If the stock price rises, employees can exercise their option to buy the stock at the lower price and then sell at the current price today or in the future for a profit.

Companies are allowed to make the options more valuable by backdating them to dates when the stock price was lower, as long as they declare it in public disclosures to Government Agencies.

Prosecutors challenge that Karatz and the company’s former human resources chief, Gary A. Ray, secretly selected grant dates when the price was low in order to enrich themselves and others without making the correct legal disclosures.

Ray, who pleaded guilty to a federal charge that he made false statements about the option practices, is expected to be a key government witness against Karatz. Gary A. Ray, has not been sentenced.

The KB Home executives supervised options inappropriately from 1999 until 2006, when news reports leaked about alleged option misuse sparked investigations by the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission Bustamante declared.

In 2006, Karatz became so disturbed about a probable investigation that he allowed the hiring of a private investigator to see which company employees and attorneys were talking to anyone about KB Home’s stock options, Bustamante said.

Karatz resigned from KB Home in 2006 with a huge compensation package, and KB Home issued a news release that said he would reimburse the company for up to $13 million in profits generated through shady backdated stock options. Two years later, Karatz resolved a similar lawsuit with the SEC by paying a fine and making a $6.7-million payment to KB Home for an amount the Securities and Exchange Commission determined Karatz had profited through his backdating of stock options.

Keker, the defense attorney, told jurors that his client acted above board throughout the process and went as far as authorizing an investigation by an outside law firm to determine whether the company had properly issued options.

“What kind of criminal trying to hide what happened would recommend an independent investigation by an outside firm?” Keker said.

The Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 also known as the ‘Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act’ (by the Senate) and ‘Corporate and Auditing Accountability and Responsibility Act’ (by the House of Representatives) and universally called Sarbanes–Oxley, Sarbox or SOX, is a United States federal law (Pub.L. 107-204, 116 Stat. 745, enacted 7/30/2002). It is named after the bills sponsors U.S. Senator Paul Sarbanes In office January 3, 1977 – January 3, 2007 (D-MD) and U.S. Representative Michael G. Oxley (R-OH) n office 1981–2007.

The bill was enacted as a reaction to a number of major corporate and accounting scandals including those affecting Enron, Tyco International, Adelphia, Peregrine Systems and WorldCom. These scandals, which cost investors billions of dollars when the share prices of affected companies collapsed, shook public confidence in the nation’s securities markets.

In A KB Home Sucks opinion Karatz independent investigation by an outside firm is just another trumped up set of false facts. KB has all sorts of independent firms that have worked for KB Home. If a third party not affiliated with Karatz was used it may have a few percentage points in its favor. But since Karatz hired it there must be some history. It just like the fox guarding the hen house, just because the fox is dressed in a chicken suit does not make it a friend to the chickens. KB Home hired a so-called independent firm to test mold, they checked in the least likely to find mold areas, (in this mold filled KB Home) rather then where the mold is growing in the KB Home that SUCKS! The independent firm I used found extremely high levels of toxic black mold. KB refuses to remove the bath tub where the mold is rampant.

What do you think about KB Home Bruce Karatz and Gary A. Ray? Do you believe they are above board? It’s interesting to me that this Attorney Keker uses the same phrase that Kenneth Lay’s attorneys were using! Above Board! KB Home must have a very low board if Karatz is on it.

KB Home Breaking News

Investigate the extent of mainstream media apathy, incompetence and outright suppression of the glaring emergency against our consumer rights posed by corporate fraud. This ongoing subversion of the facts by corporate controlled media we can expect even more in 2010 and 2011 as these corporations try to reinforce the status quo. To maintain the status quo is to keep the things the way they presently are. The related phrase status quo ante, literally “the state in which before”, means “the state of affairs that existed previously”.

Media news suppression is a relatively new observable fact resulting from the extent of corporate affiliations in and out of the boardroom. These affiliations are not based on real news reporting, but in fact, reporting or suppressing stories in their own best interest. This suppression is manipulated not to release this news so share price can increase for one or more of these connections. After all the media is a business, a business with their own stock portfolio. So why not do stories that will benefit that portfolio and release bad news about the portfolios competitors. The CEO and news that relates to this person is also like a portfolio any bad news will impact the stock price of the corporation and raise stock prices for their competitors.

The ability to instantly email press releases to hundreds of syndicated outlets, the increased speed at which press releases and news data are compiled and released, the confusing nature of collecting real verified data, and possibly of internalized bias within media organizations leads to only what the corporation wants to be covered. No longer is there Independent news reporting only press release duplication.

This internalized bias once again is based on advertising dollars gained in their newspaper, magazine or website. These dollars may be gained or lost by not covering the news in the best interest of the corporation sometime in the future.

This modus operandi is fixed in newspapers, radio, television, Internet and recently, mobile telephones. All claim to provide a benefit of information, education and healthy fair debate. As a matter of fact, these corporations are using well-developed and established psychological techniques and persuasion to sway and manipulate public opinion to their own agenda, or just turning the public mind off of bad press through distraction or story suppression.

Behind the suppression of our consumer rights by corporations and the media they partner with are the companies run by a small number of proprietors. Six large conglomerates own just about every news and entertainment outlet in America. Possibly a new World Order where you and I will only be allowed to be spoon-fed specialized news stories benefiting a stock portfolio only what they want.

Media companies have substantial influence on world politics (Consumerism) and you and I know that war and suffering sell a ‘good story’, these stories are backed with information by only three sources, United Press International, Reuters and “Friends of the Corporation”.

As a result, media has become a corporate tool to fallaciously report news, numb consumer rights, distract the masses, brainwash thought, dumb-down interests, spread propaganda and ignore alternative truths.

KB Home is entrenched in the media in many ways. In fact KB Home Board of Directors are the Media. Here are a few examples:

Bruce Karatz current girlfriend is Lilly Tartikoff (widow of Brandon Tartikoff) ran NBC, moving to Paramount Pictures to become its chairman.

KB Home Board of Directors Leslie Moonves is the Chairman of the Board of CBS-Viacom.

KB Home Board of Directors Robert L. Johnson is the Chairman of the Board of Black Entertainment Television BET

KB Home Board of Directors Luis G. Nogales was United Press International CEO (1984-86) and Univision President (1986-88)

KB Home Board of Directors Stephen Bollenbach was senior executive vice president and chief financial officer for The Walt Disney Company. The Disney/ABC Television Group is home to all of The Walt Disney Company’s (NYSE: DIS) worldwide entertainment and news television properties. Member of the Board of AOL Time Warner.

Karatz’s lawyer, John Keker, of Keker & Van Nest, having being involved in some of the Central District of California’s biggest cases in recent years. He represented Univision Communications Inc. in its bet-the-company trial last year with Mexican media giant Grupo Televisa S.A. (see Nogales).

Does KB Home Board of Directors and its “Friends of the Corporation” have substantial influence on media to squash news stories about the Bruce Karatz?

The latest news is Disney ABC has cutoff the broadcast of the Oscars today over a money issue. This underlying issue may be that their competitor is Broadcasting the Oscar, they lost the contract. The result of lower advertising gains from this network on the Academy Awards biggest evening of the year!

If you visit WSJ website, it has the affiliations with CBS MarketWatch, do a search for Bruce Karatz “you end up with no search results (on 03-07-10). last week they covered Karatz – now the story is gone bye bye!

Only two Journalists on the Internet news sources covered Karatz (week of March 1st 2010) – one a syndicated story by AP was duplicated over 100 times. Most of these Internet posts are going, going – gone! I guess when you have friends in the media anything is possible? I don’t have data on how many printed newspapers may have covered Bruce Karatz.