Heartland Homes (Pittsburgh: new house, buyers, construction)

[FlyByNightRat]

Originally Posted by Mr. Mon

Once again we see that new does not equal better. It cost major $$$ to build new top-quality residential construction. In order to meet the price-point of middle income buyer companies like Heartland, Ryan, etc... use the most inexpensive materials and construction methods allowed by code. Sorry, but a press-board box covered in siding is not going to old-up for any period of time.

You got what you paid for.

Colleague of mine bought a house in Wexford from the first owner. Built in the early 90's, the house is the model home in the complex. Being a model home, everything is upgraded type, down to the door handles, faucets, etc. It even comes with shut off valves under every sink. Uncommon in the lower mid-price type of complex. One great detail he showed me is that while removing the tile ceiling in the basement you can see the wood glue oozed out between the floor joyce and the floor board. The floor board is also thicker than what I've seen common to run of the mill type house.

[Kippy]

I recently relocated to the Pittsburgh area. I think that there are pros and cons to both older homes and new construction, and I respect that different people lean different ways. For a myriad of reasons, I decided to go with new construction, and my housing search, which spanned five counties, only included new construction.

My advice to you would be to look at spec/model homes built by smaller local builders. Prudential Preferred Realty has a new construction section on their website, as does Northwood Realty. In addition Trulia will allow you to filter your search results by the year that the house was built, so for new construction you would simply plug in 2008 as the start and end dates. I know that Westmoreland County Builder's Association also lists all its members' new homes currently on the market. I'm not sure, but there might be similar organizations out there for other counties.

I don't want to bore you with the details of my house hunting experience, but I really didn't like Ryan Homes, and I was not all that impressed with Heartland Homes. I think there is something to be said about seeing the finished product and being able to inspect it from top to bottom before putting down a single penny (except maybe hand money). Ryan and Heartland will promise you the world, but who knows what they will deliver. There was a huge disparity between the model Ryan homes and the available Ryan home that I saw (the buyers "lost their financing" -- or ran away).

In addition, like the previous posted mentioned, builders put not only more upgrades, but more effort and care into their spec/model homes for obvious reasons. With the current state of the housing market and economy, builders might not have the luxury of sitting on their inventory, and as a result, you can get a great deal on a home.

I tried to keep it short, but I didn't really suceed. Good luck!

[burger69]

Hi Redball,

Sorry I haven't been online too much recently.. I would prefer not to get in to details at this time.
The issues we are having are not with the sub-contractors that built our Heartland Home here in Pittsburgh. Heartland has a warranty they give to everyone, however they pick and choose exactly what they will honor. Trust me when I say, they are a major builder in Pittsburgh and DO NOT back up the product they sell! Major issues with our home for well over 3+ years now, issues Heartland was and IS very well aware of.. Nothing was corrected by Heartland, nothing!

[JellDan]

I just bought a Heartland Home and they really do build a quality product. They are quite a few steps above Ryan homes. Also, stay away from Maronda homes.

Moderator cut: advertising is not allowed

[Copanut]

If you're buying a home from Maronda, Heartland, or Ryan, go pay a visit to one of their developments that is at least 10 years old. See for yourself how well those homes look after a decade.

[burger69]

Must be the luck of the draw.. Heartland has this impeccable reputation for whatever reason, I'm not sure?? I guess we just lucked out by a new Heartland Home for over $200,000.00 and we are lucky enough to have water issues as well as I know we will lose substantial resale value. Yet Heartland Homes is NOT responsible for our issues. We are the 1st owner in this brand new home, so how does that work? They were very well aware of our issues only a few months into our new purchase. Yet they can and did walk away, scott free.............. I guess we were just lucky, right!

[JaxLover]

I agree... I find it hard to believe they have a great reputation. They really only have Maronda and Ryan to compete against. Apparently Ryan started building crapping homes and Maronda has always built crappy homes.

This allowed another company to come into the fray. We just did our 60 day walk-through, so we'll see how they fix things.

I'm assuming they'll continue they're crappy work.

[dannythekid]

I have done work in brand new Ryan and Maronda homes where there were patches unpainted, bad trim work, all kinds of corners cut. And the price they're getting for these cookie cutter houses is crazy. A friend of mine works for Ryan and had a brand new house built in Warrendale for like $175k, the same house that would go for about $325k

[panera]

Boy am I glad to see other "Satisfied" homeowners. It just astounds me that Heartland NEVER is wrong about anything. We have been in our home for 3 months and have had major issues with plumbing and doors. Actually it started at the sales process when our salesperson lied to us abut our lot and where the house would be placed, she then denied every aving the conversation. Any dealing with these people needs to be documented with not only written but video-recording as well because they have memory loss.

[burger69]

Panera, if you ever have any questions, please do not hesitate to email me!!! Its a shame and I wished more people would step up, because I know we are not the only ones with issues.. We've had everything from rain water filling up our foyer due to how our doors were installed, to many other issues we are currently still working on after XX years... I just can't get in to more detail at this time...