It's not often that I do monologues where I talk about consumer protection issues or how to avoid

getting scammed or anything like that. But when it comes to buying homes, so many people are now

getting ripped off in ways that are frankly hard to comprehend in some cases. That is clearly

time for a deep dive on that topic. And we'll start with the numbers. Now, ordinarily, hearing the news that many more

single-family homes are being built in the United States would suggest a good sign for the economy

and for young people, many of whom are struggling right now to afford a starter home. And indeed,

over the past few years, the number of new construction single-family homes has increased,

particularly in the West and in the South.

In fact, as the COVID lockdowns ended, there were roughly 1.5 million homes under construction,

which was the highest number since the 1970s. These new homes are a lifeline in the market

because many existing homeowners who locked in their rock-bottom interest rates on their mortgages a few years ago

are reluctant to sell. But there's a very real risk to buying a new home in this market.

All over the country, major home builders are currently facing class action lawsuits,

alleging shoddy construction and fraud. They're building homes too quickly

with low quality materials, and they're selling them to inexperienced buyers who more often than not

are relying on low quality outdated inspections. And then those buyers are discovering that

under the terms of the contract they signed, they don't have much recourse.

That's why there's now an entire genre of social media video where experienced inspectors

go into homes and identify serious flaws that should have been fixed or at least disclosed

to buyers before they purchase the home.

But put another way, we come a very long way

from the days of Hamarabi's code,

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