Protests against KB Home at Westwood HQ
From Curbed.com blog
By Curbed.com, Friday, April 3, 2009.
LOS ANGELES -- The protests continue: On Thursday morning a group of about 50 homeowners (former and current), construction workers, and housing advocates showed up at KB Home's Westwood headquarters at 10990 Wilshire Blvd. During the brief protest, construction workers spoke of workplace exploitation and homeowners described being locked into deceptive loans through Countrywide financing that was pushed through by KB.
Additionally, various buyers described being lied to about tax burdens so they'd qualify for mortgages, being foreclosed on so more profitable short sales could go through, and being told they were getting a fixed loan but then being pressured to sign a variable-rate mortgage at closing. One woman spoke about losing her home after her mortgage payments suddenly jumped $600 a month.
There was no immediate reaction from KB Homes reps, or at least no one popped out to look at the action (that we could see). It sounds like these protests have been going on in front of the builder's Westwood headquarters for some time now (see comments on this story from LA Land). At least some commenters over at LA Land have previously argued about issues of "personal responsibility" on the part of homeowners vs. exploitation.
- Related story: Former KB Home chairman Bruce Karatz was indicted last month on charges of manipulating stock options.
Copyright (c) 2009 Curbed.com LLC
***
What's your opinion? Leave your comments below or send a letter to the editor.
All rights reserved. This content may not be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, in part or in whole, without written permission of Inman News. Use of this content without permission is a violation of federal copyright law.
Bookmarking Sites
You must login or register to post a comment.
Submitted by Lonny Coffey on April 3, 2009 - 5:01am.
HMMMMM lets see Countrywide in the news again. Was it borrowers getting hammered by Countrywide, lets see Bank of America buys Countrywide, HMMMM. All I see on Inman site is Bank of America adds. Gee I think when it is time to renew my membership in Inman I may just pass. Have you ever danced with the Devil?????
Lonny Coffey
lcspeaks@yahoo.com
Submitted by Robert Rainer on April 3, 2009 - 3:49pm.
The way to fix the issue for these people that were done wrong is by doing Principal and Interest Loan Modifications to market value.
What worked for my wife and I was using the Law Offices of Stephen L. Burns. (213) 355-5953.
They Helped us greatly when things were bleak.
Submitted by M B on April 8, 2009 - 9:33am.
KB Homes might be in trouble soon.
It seems as though it may have conspired with Countrywide’s appraisal subsidiary, Landsafe, to artificially inflate home prices—leading to unfair home purchase prices and inappropriate mortgages for KB Home owners.
Haven’t homeowners suffered enough? Check out the investigation page www.hbsslaw.com/kbhomes