A KBHome Sucks
KB Home – the American Dream turned nightmare. Follow us on Twitter: 
The Buck Stops Here...
I'll take full responsibility, as in You needn't call my boss; the buck stops here. This saying gained fame as a sign on the desk of President Harry S. Truman. It alludes to another expression that means the opposite, pass the buck. [Mid-1900s]. Which form of responsiblity do these KB Home top executives take on their corporate responsibility for building a KB Lemon? Read these people's payscale and decide if they are doing a good job for the ROI - return on investment. YES these KB Executives are responsible for building this KB Home. Please email these KB Home executives with your issue with your KB Home.
Stephen F. Bollenbach
Chairman of the Board of KB Home
[See KB
Home Executive Compensation and other
Corporate
affiliations of Stephen
Bollenbach]
Ron Burkle
Kb Home Board of Directors & Founder and Managing Partner of The Yucaipa
Companies
[See KB
Home Executive Compensation and other Corporate
affiliations of Ron
Burkle]
Timothy W. Finchem
Kb Home Board of Directors & Commissioner of the PGA TOUR [See KB
Home Executive Compensation and other Corporate
affiliations of Timothy W. Finchem]
Kenneth M. Jastrow II
Kb Home Board of Directors
[See KB
Home Executive Compensation and other Corporate
affiliations of Kenneth M. Jastrow]
Robert L. Johnson
Kb Home Board of Directors & Founder and Chairman of The RLJ Companies
[See KB
Home Executive Compensation and other Corporate
affiliations of Robert L. Johnson]
Melissa Lora
Kb Home Board of Directors & Chief Financial Officer of Taco Bell Corporation
[See KB
Home Executive Compensation and other Corporate
affiliations of Melissa Lora]
Michael G. McCaffery
Kb Home Board of Directors & Chief Executive Officer of Makena Capital
Management
[See KB
Home Executive Compensation and other Corporate
affiliations of Michael G. McCaffery]
Leslie Moonves
Kb Home Board of Directors & President and Chief Executive Officer of
CBS Corporation
[See KB
Home Executive Compensation and other Corporate
affiliations of Leslie Moonves]
Luis G. Nogales
Kb Home Board of Directors & Managing Partner of Nogales Investors,
LLC
[See KB
Home Executive Compensation and other Corporate
affiliations of Luis G. Nogales]
Jeffrey T. Mezger
Kb Home President and Chief Executive Officer & Kb Home Board of Directors
[See KB
Home Executive Compensation and other Corporate
affiliations of Jeffrey T. Mezger]
Wendy C. Shiba
Kb Home Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate
Secretary
[See KB
Home Executive Compensation and other Corporate
affiliations of Wendy C. Shiba]
Glen Barnard
Senior Vice President, KBnxt Group
[See KB
Home Executive Compensation and other Corporate
affiliations of Glen Barnard]
Cory C. Cohen
Kb Home Senior Vice President, Tax
21 years of Service
William R. Hollinger Senior Vice President and Chief
Accounting Officer at KB Home
[See KB
Home Executive Compensation and other Corporate
affiliations of William R. Hollinger]
Wendy Marlett
Kb Home Senior Vice President, Sales, Marketing and Communications
14 years of Service
Kelly Masuda
Kb Home Senior Vice President, Treasurer
[See KB
Home Executive Compensation and other Corporate
affiliations of Kelly Masuda]
Thomas Norton
Kb Home Senior Vice President, Human Resources
Joined KB Home in 2009 replaces Gary A. Ray
[See KB
Home Executive Compensation and other Corporate
affiliations of Thomas Norton]
Lisa M. Kalmbach
KB Home Senior Vice President, Studios
25 Years of Service
John Staines
Vice President of Human Resources replaces the convicted felon Gary A. Ray
who worked the stock manipulation with Bruce Karatz
Nations highest paid Mortgage Lender? Gary A. Ray Got the Gold Mine While KB Homeowners Got The Shaft?
NEWSMAKER-KB Home's Karatz latest target of pay probes
Posted by Mathew Padilla, Reporter. LSEC closing in on Mozilo, article says...
The Daily Journal, a newspaper targeted to lawyers, reports: Former Countrywide Financial Corp. CEO Angelo Mozilo and possibly other high-ranking former executives with the mortgage giant likely will face civil fraud charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to attorneys familiar with the case.
I don’t have access to the full story, but LAObserved quotes the Journal as saying SEC lawyers in Los Angeles will try to demonstrate Mozilo and other executives misled shareholders about the risks Countrywide was taking.
According to The Journal, SEC staff called lawyers for Mozilo and his successor David Sambol, giving them one last chance to make their case.
A final decision on filing charges could take at least two months and lawyers for the executives could ask for one more meeting before a decision is made, according to “sources” who spoke to The Journal.
Since I don’t have access to the full story, I did not see if The Journal gave Mozilo an opportunity to comment. But I do know that in the past he has strongly defended his record. He told Paul Muolo, co-author with me of Chain of Blame, that he initially resisted the more exotic loan products but eventually Countrywide “got caught up in it.”
Mozilo blamed Wall Street for funding absurd loans. He said the Street was insatiable, telling Muolo guys on Wall Street kept saying “We need more. We need more subprime loans to buy.”
“I didn’t realize they didn’t know know what they were doing,” Mozilo said.
As for the SEC, it can only bring civil charges. The Journal story, or at least what I had access to, didn’t mention the simultaneous criminal investigation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. According to past reports by the Wall Street Journal and others, the FBI is looking into Countrywide and as many as 15 other companies tied to the credit crisis.
Lawsuit claims KB home, Countrywide inflated home prices
February 6, 2009
By MarketWatch
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Two California couples are suing KB Home (KB)
and mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp. (CFC), claiming
the companies schemed with real estate appraisers to inflate prices
paid for homes as the housing market began to tank.
The complaint, filed Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, also
names as a defendants KB Home Mortgage Co., Countrywide Home Loans Inc.,
Countrywide KB Home Loans, a joint venture of Countrywide and the builder,
and two real estate appraisers.
Los Angeles-based KB Home did not have an immediate comment Thursday
because it had not yet seen the lawsuit.
Calabasas, California - based Countrywide, which last month tentatively
agreed to be acquired by Bank of America Corp. (BAC), did not immediately
respond to an email seeking comment.
The plaintiffs, Deborah and Lonnie Bolden, and David and Dolores
Contreras, all residents of Live Oak, are seeking unspecified restitution
as well as compensatory and punitive damages.
They also want class-action status to cover KB Home customers in
California who obtained financing through Countrywide and closed
on their purchases between August 1, 2005, and July 31, 2006.
In the lawsuit, the couples claim prospective home buyers were
presented with false or misleading data on previously sold homes in order
to justify higher asking prices on new purchases.
KB customers were presented with comparable sales data from homes
that were dissimilar, nowhere near the KB property being sold, or from sales
that had not yet closed, according to the lawsuit.
When independent appraisers evaluated comparable home sales, the
values were between 10% and 15% lower than the price the plaintiffs paid
for their KB homes, the lawsuit claims.
The complaint suggests the alleged scheme likely affected other
KB customers.
"Inflated closed-sale prices resulting from the fraudulent appraisals,
in turn, infected subsequent appraisals and valuations, allowing KB Home
to continue to obfuscate falling values and obtain prices inflated well
beyond where they would have been in the absence of this unlawful price
manipulation," according to the lawsuit.
Unlike other builders that sell finished homes, KB builds homes
based on advance orders, and buyers finalize the deal when the company completes
construction.
If a post-construction appraisal shows the property value has fallen
below the contract price, buyers can walk away from the deal, according
to the complaint.
The Boldens and Contreras each purchased homes in 2005 at KB's
Oak Knoll development.
They claim other homeowners in the area paid lower prices for their
homes because they did not obtain financing through Countrywide KB Home
Loans and obtained an appraisal from an agency that wasn't affiliated with
the companies.
Countrywide's lending practices have drawn consumer complaints
and litigation amid a surge in home loan defaults as the housing market
went from boom to bust.
A former employee at Countrywide KB Home Loans sued the company
last month claiming he was wrongly fired after he criticized the firm's
lending practices.
The lawsuit contends the lender fired him after he blew the whistle
on fellow employees and outlined instances in which appraisers were being
strongly encouraged to inflate homes' appraised value.