Legacy Communities (Atlanta, Peachtree City, Lawrenceville: wood floors, to rent, HOA)

[DamYankee]

The Legacy subdivision in Forsyth, Hopewell Manor is a MESS. I went in to look at the standing inventory and they did not even bother to wire the garage door operators in the wall! They had them TAPED to the ceiling of the garage.

The overall fit and finish of the standing inventory was very poor. We decided to go next door and look at the DR Horton Subdivision, Settlers Lake. Want to talk about quality! Yes you get square feet with legacy BUT you get the same square feet, better options, upgrades and QUALITY. We bought there in May

Just because you slap three side brick homes up does not call you a contending builder, just a heap of bricks.

[wstarr42]

If only I had seen this post sooner, I could have saved myself a lot of trouble. From my experience, I could not recommend this builder to ANYONE. Can you say delay after delay after delay. Why? Because the house that they are building for us cannot even pas their own Quality Control process.

[rodandbri]

I closed today on my Legacy Home (Cedar Grove Landing, Fulton County) and I am thrilled to death! We had no problems whatsoever and we only had minor problems with our inspection. (broken tile in bathroom, kitchen counter scratched, missing insulation in attic). This inspection was conducted by a private inspector ( the one this thread recommended ).
Anyway, I must say that the community and the builder was a pleasure to work with (did I mention we were also from out of town during the process?)
Our walkthroughs and closing took a week. We started on Monday and closed today. I wish everyone's experience can be as trouble-free as ours was!!

[JDnJO]

Originally Posted by wstarr42

If only I had seen this post sooner, I could have saved myself a lot of trouble. From my experience, I could not recommend this builder to ANYONE. Can you say delay after delay after delay. Why? Because the house that they are building for us cannot even pas their own Quality Control process.

Which subdivision are you building in? No problems in Somerset except getting the pool opened. The developer, not Legacy/builder/finisher, has to put a second gate at the back of the pool house to meet some new Paulding County code.

[jtmony]

Hello Everyone,

It has been a while since I posted and apologize for not keeping everyone updated. We landed on Saturday (18 June) and after renting a vehicle, drove the 25 minutes south to look at our dream home. The home was not quite complete, which we expected, but it was coming along nicely. Unfortunately, it was not as nice as I had envisioned. I was really looking for something like "WoW!!!" The Rosewood is a nice plan, but I now have to agree with some of the other posters...the inside is built cheap. After looking around the neighborhood and in the house, we knocked on a neighbor's door just to get a feel for the neighborhood. The couple we met was very nice and their kids and ours hit it off immediately. The neighbors gave us an idea what to expect at closing, and admitted that whatever minor (there were no major issues) issues/concerns they had, the Legacy was quick to respond. Although I was not very impressed with the amenities of the house, I had ever intention of purchasing the house once we left the community. Not ten minutes after leaving, we came across Hampton Place. It's a community build by Rickson Homes. My family fell in love (as did I) with their homes. The price was a lot higher than Legacy, but you could clearly see the difference in the neighborhood and the homes. All the homes sit on an acre or more lot, with plenty of space to expand or add add-ons in the future. I really do not see us adding anything more to the house we selected (maybe a sunroom) but the option is there. The homes are filled with amenities and to be quite honest, most of the fixtures in the house were purchased from Lowes. I saw the exact fixtures and faucets at Lowes. They were nice though. The funny thing is, they were the exact fixtures that we had selected to replace to ones in the Rosewood. My wife and I had a number of small projects planed with the Rosewood. With this house, the only projects we have are the curtains, replacing the current light bulbs with energy efficient bulbs, and figuring out what we're going to do with an acre + lot.

I still believe Legacy can be a good community to call home. In fact, Pitman Parks would be a great choice now that they're upgrading their stairs with wrought iron stairways and other things.

Oh, I have to mention this and it was not really Legacy's fault, but hey, the impact did impact their sell. I have been calling and calling Legacy's "PREFERRED LENDER" for over a month trying to lock in with no response from the Lender. Well, as most of you know, last week the rates jumped to 6.84%. I then receive a voice mail from the lender informing me that "we really need to discuss locking in your rate." I was HOT. This really was the straw that broke my back. I was done. If I was going to pay a higher interest rate, I figured I'd go shop the market. Well, being as it is a Buyer's Market, I found a great home. The rates did drop to 6.74% I believe, but the damage had been done.

Well I hope this helps and sorry for writing such a lengthy message, but I really wanted to get the word out. I will not recover the $1000 deposit and accept that. I'd add that $1000 when/if I do decide to sell this new home. The lesson learn for us is to take advantage of the Buyer's Market. Shop around. I have no doubt that Legacy was building me a nice home. VA and an independent inspect was seeing to that. It just was not the house for me. Oh, I also visited their South Hampton community. I got the same felling their. Neighbors were friendly, but the community was filled with empty houses. Legacy probably makes up 40% of Atlanta's 11 month inventory. I'd guess that of the two communities I visited, 55% of the homes (maybe eveny less) were being lived in.

[ATLienGirl]

Well I am glad to see that everything worked out for you; after reading various posts, you seemed off and on about your Legacy Home's Purchase, but, I am glad that you realized that there was better and followed through. Congrats again!

[LahdeeDahdee]

I had a contract at Defoor's Farm which is a Legacy Community. Initially, I was going to purchase the Newport. Love the house! I picked a Cul-de-Sac lot and went back to my home state. Two weeks later, I get a call from Legacy stating that the Newport won't fit on the lot that I chose. I then returned and picked another lot in the 3rd phase although they were building in the 1st and 2nd phase. It was their fault and I didn't like anything in the 2nd phase. Anyway, long story short, they kept postponing the closing date, neighbors were complaining about a lot of issues like $400 gas bill for one month during the winter, 15 - 20 minutes for hot water to reach the master bath....all kinds of complaints. I decided to go with a custom home builder and forfeited $825. (I was able to get $1000 back). My attitude was that I'd rather give them $825 than to purchase a home that I realized that I didn't want. The neighbors told me that it is a blessing that I didn't purchase there.

Bigger than all of that, I really wanted a basement and I guess I wasn't ever going to be truly satisfied without it. I must say that I am content with the home that I purchased all though I still like the Newport plan very much. I just wish a different builder had rights to that particular plan.

[msjunea27]

Originally Posted by Brewboy

Lastminutemom is totally correct on this!! Not only are builders selling to lesser quality builders, the original builder in the neighborhoods are starting to put poor quality construction and products in homes to reduce the prices just to get them sold. Watch out!! If I were anyone currently buying a home in the Atlanta market, I would seriously consider a home that is a couple of years old as the construction was much better then. Of course this depends on what builder you are looking at as well since there are tons of builders in the Atlanta market that build CRAP no matter what the economy or housing market is doing at the time. If you need help, please don't hesitate to PM me and I would be more then glad to answer home builder questions since I work for the 2nd largest home inspection companies in the country.

I was wondering if you knew anything about silver creek communities. Are they too a crappy builder?

[jtmony]

I finally moved into my new home day before yesterday, and I'm loving it. I've sat and spoke to a few neighbors, and not one has a complaint. The buider is GREAT. This guy made sure ever question was answered. We conducted a joint walk-through after the inspector completed his inspection, and as we walked the house, he had sub-contractors on speed-dial instructing them to make corrections. There were very minor items found during the inspection and before the walk through was complete, all but about three or four items were left. Two corrected this morning. (conducting a final steam cleaning of the side walk) I would highly recommend Rickson Homes. If you're in the market for a 2800-2900 SQ Ft home on an acre or more of land, jump on his homes now before he hit the next phase. Closing took about 45 minutes. We bought at $253,900, the next phase starts in the $300K. Legacy has big homes built with cheap craftmenship, on hit and miss lots. Most of Legacy's lots are back to woods that most homeowners will never clear. When I say an acre of land, I do mean an acre or more. Although I love gas ranges, our home was built with electric. I'm so happy we don't have gas. I can't imagine paying $300-400 gas bills. Oh, with Rickson Homes, each home includes an under ground sprinkler system. Unfortunately, it only covers about half the lot. It's so much land, most city folks like me don't know what to do with it all. I personally plan to build an extended garage w/apartment/room on top. You lose maybe 400-500 square feet, but I'd be willing to bet, lot for lot, the real bargain is in Rickson Homes.

Oh, for those in the $400-500K market, we found Tarton Homes near Camp Creek Parkway amazing. They're built with a lot of luxury in mind. They sit on very manicured 1/4 acre lots, but about $150-200K outside of my price range. The homes are very beautiful, but I'd say you're spending about $150-200K in location. The same house in Henry county would sell for about $260-300.

Good Luck all and I'll keep in touch.

[rea2383]

Hi we are looking at purchasing at the KB homes sable glen location. How was your experience with them? Are you happy with the quality of your home?