Is buying a new home usually this difficult? (Yoakum, West: buying a home, neighborhood)

[ethanw]

Just walk out on the builder, PERIOD. Find a really reputable builder, pick a good design, start building from scratch and supervise the job yourself.

As for the mortgage get used with it. Nicelky ask them to use better gloves and bring your own vaseline flavor, seriously. Unless you have cash. Cash is KING as far as my concern goes.

I was borrowing just 75K and the hell I had to go through was unbelievable. 90% of my house was paid in cash with money from my previous paid off house and cashing of various local and international investments. It got so bad that the bank will not approve my mortgage because I had cash funds coming from legit and fully documented oversees accounts. What really got me is when I was told that the funds had to be in the bank for at least 6 months before they can be used against my mortgage.
After 3 months of hell and my house being ready to move in I ended up selling some more stock, pay the whole damn thing in cash and “flip” the bank in many creative way and flavors. Eff them and it is Bank Of America. What an effing disaster. I still get pissed even when talking about it.

[jwtomt2day]

Originally Posted by huma281

Crooked rear patio pillar, crooked window sills in family room, crooked tiles next to the back door (3+ mm bulge), bricks not layed evenly at one of the arches in front of the home, missing caulk between bricks, rough edges on doors (wasn't sanded down), paint was a mess in the game room, lots of excess paint? on the trim next to the wall, nails hanging out of the fiber cement siding on the exterior rear and on the front wood pillars in front of the house, crooked and bent exhaust vent, water drainage in the left side of the house is poor, etc etc.

Ask yourself these questions:

If I see these problems everyday while living in my newly built home that was designed and built just for me will I be unhappy?

Do I have to move now?

Would I be ok with living there despite the problems?

If you don't have to move now you have the time to either get the problems fixed or walk away if you think they will make you unhappy.

The drainage problem scares me because of weeks like this week...

Do NOT get pushed into closing if you are or think you will be unhappy. There will always be another house. They may get pushy, demanding or intimidating but you owe it to yourself to take care of yourself first.

[a_guerrajr]

what everyone else said

If you do go with Westin, i told you so from the get go, i deserve a 6 pack for that.
I'll try to check it out today, i want to see the bad drain and just in general to compare.

[mschneller]

I would walk, did you use an agent, I always tell people to use an agent even when buying new construction, you need someone on your side. Also, I always recommend to my clients to use an outside inspector because he or she would be working for you, it cost extra, but worth it.

I agree with Westin, have done a couple of deals with them, and have been happy with both.

As far as mortage companies, someone said it earlier, they are a pain sometimes, they will keep asking for more and more documentation until it hurts.

[escanlan]

Originally Posted by huma281

I have a home built roughly five months ago in Northcrest Village and I did the walk through last Friday. I noticed a mess of issues that needed to be fixed and the construction manager flat denied to fix some of them. Crooked rear patio pillar, crooked window sills in family room, crooked tiles next to the back door (3+ mm bulge), bricks not layed evenly at one of the arches in front of the home, missing caulk between bricks, rough edges on doors (wasn't sanded down), paint was a mess in the game room, lots of excess paint? on the trim next to the wall, nails hanging out of the fiber cement siding on the exterior rear and on the front wood pillars in front of the house, crooked and bent exhaust vent, water drainage in the left side of the house is poor, etc etc.

I'm going with their mortgage company and it's been a nightmare. I'm in the military and they wanted every little bit of information proving I was in the military when it shows in my bank statements, w2's I am getting paid by them. I had to write some statement of authentication and supplement them with my LES, ERB and it still wasn't enough. Now they're telling me I have to take out the loan as a secondary home loan instead of primary because I'm renting a apartment in Colorado. Is this normal? Now they're telling me the closing will be delayed...and well. I just took two weeks of leave to knock this out and now you're telling me I can't close? I guess they're not familiar with how the military works...but I can't just take leave any time I want. We have field training next week and most of next month.

I don't want to walk on this home, but I think it might be better that I do. My home looks like it was built by the worst construction employee's they had and the construction manager did zero for quality assurance. The sad part is, they're blaming me telling me I'm being a perfectionist when I pointed out that the other homes built by them in the same subdivision doesn't have the same issues as mines. I had to put up a big fight for them to fix these problems. If you were me, would you walk?

Seriously considering purchasing a Westin....but I'm scared about going through the same ordeal.

The problem with some of the items you have listed here is that they might be aesthetic issues and not necessarily issues that can negatively affect the functioning of the home. Should they be fixed? ABSOLUTELY! However you are going to have to take charge and demand they be fixed and make sure that they are well documented and pointed out before closing. If you can not get them fixed before closing then they should be documented as some type of "exceptions to closing" list that is a part of the closing documents.

You have an unfortunate set of circumstances that prevent you from completely handling the issues yourself due to your military duty responsibilities. From your description the builder might be aware of this which gives them an advantage if you do not take appropriate measures. As a Veteran myself I have dealt with issues where vendors and/or service people have attempted to take advantage of me and my family due to Active Duty responsibilities. What I would highly suggest that you do is to gather your documentation together, list your concerns and the issues you are having in a logical order of some type. Create a package of information and make a photocopy of it. From there you should call and speak with the JAG and schedule an appointment with one of their Staff to discuss your concerns that you might possibly be taken advantage of due to your military status. I don't know what the JAG functions are now but when I was Active Duty part of their function was to provide legal assistance to military members in these types of situations. They realized the cost of legal representation for many active duty military was well beyond their financial means. In my case the JAG quickly read my documentation, made one call to the provider that was trying to take advantage of my family and the next communication I received from the provider was full of the proper actions they should have done in the first place. The influence of the JAG can easily extend into the civilian world!

In the event that the JAG is unable to help you can visit the State Bar of Texas and they have an entire section dedicated to helping military people. You can find them at State Bar of Texas |*Legal Assistance for Military Personnel .

Good luck and let us know how it turns out so others in your situation can learn from it.

[crone]

If you decide to go ahead with this house, be very sure every screw up won't drive you nuts every time you look at it.

In writing ask if the house was built to industry standards and the current building code? That will cover you if the thing falls apart in 3 years. Make them say yes in writing.

Remember, built to code means that it can't be any worse. They can always build better than code.

[CuriousMTA]

Get them to fix it. If you see a problem they should fix it, unless they have a very very good reason as to why it looks the way it does. Also something to think about, if you find problems now and they won't fix, what about issues you find after you move in? Most of the time you will come across something wrong when you move in, minor? probable yes and something major issues too. You will be going through hell if they are giving you hell right now as once you move in, they can take there time with you as you are not as a priority as new customers.

[piyf]

Try contacting their boss and if that fails call the big wigs of the company and send them pics of the crappy workmanship.

[txdemo]

I think a brand new home should be perfect. I mean it's brand new.

That construction supervisor needs to have more pride in workmanship and not pass off shoddy work as satisfactory.

[huma281]

They're fixing all of the issues with the home, so I'm a little relieved now. Unfortunately I didn't hire a third party home inspector and I'm trusting that the core structure of the home is solid. My sales person has been great during the whole ordeal and pushed to get some of the issues fixed that they initially didn't want to fix. I spoke with the construction manager a couple of times and earlier today, he's answered all of my questions and showed me everything that got fixed or is in the process of getting fixed.

He's a good guy and I understand his dilemma, he's over two subdivisions, so it's difficult for him to check every little thing in every house. Overall, I like this builder/features/pricing and that's why I'm sticking with them. I wished my home was built a little better and up to par with the other homes here, but as long as their making it right, it's water under the bridge.

The only issue I have left is why is this crooked. Could anyone tell me if it's the windows or the base trim? underneath it that makes it look odd ? If you look at the window handles, it's crooked in every picture. All the other windows in the home is fine except these three. Is this normal ??


Left side has a larger gap than the right.


Left side has a gap and the right side has a small gap.


Left side has a small gap and the right side a larger one.

They replaced two of the window sills, so that's not what's causing it to be uneven. If there's a way for me to personally fix it, I will do it myself. It's not a deal breaker, but it would be nice if it was straight like every other window in the home.