Legal options for Buyers building a home (Houston, Austin: mortgage, lawyers)

[steedaq27]

Originally Posted by Austin97

what would be the point? we arent lawyers. Get a real estate/construction lawyer.

Yeah, we have. Actually meeting today with him. He wants to move forward with litigation, but just want to know if its "worth it" or what we should even expect. We aren't the type to sue people, but this time we feel that the builder is so far in the wrong that we have no choice.

[steedaq27]

Originally Posted by TexasRedneck

If they're not going to build the fence, then they need to credit/refund you the FULL amount of that fence. Then once the house is built, have the fence done by a good fencing company. Honestly, that's likely your best option anyway, since the fences most builders erect are VERY poorly built.

Agree with you there. They offered to credit us $3400 for a fence, however that would basically cover 1/4 portion of the lot. Our lot is an acre lot and a quote we got was $28/ft for the wooden portion, and $33/ft for the wrought iron portion. Their credit they offered us was "$19/ft for only 158ft total. Our lot is well over 350ft. We expected a credit of $10k and even offered to meed them in the middle just to compromise and keep the ball moving on the house after they declined installing the fence on the property lines. They offered to fence in part of our lot, which was basically turning our acre lot into a 1/4 acre lot. I argued with them on this beause it didnt meet HOA guidelines. When I told their division president this, his response was "The HOA isnt enforcing it." I asked who would be responsible for it then if they did start enforcing it and then he offered a the partial credit and rescinded his offer of installing a fence all together.

[steedaq27]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

You have to step back an answer some questions, and the importance of those questions (to you) and the answers will be critical.
- The fence will cost 'x' dollars for you to build yourselves. Given the price you agree on in the contract, how willing are you to accept some dollar compensations for failure to build the fence in exchange for still getting the house/lot you wanted? A fence should be ~$20/ft, give or take, for you to build it via a contractor. It may suck to have the cost marked up by a few thousand dollars, but what is your recourse?
- How confident that you actually want this builder? They seem problematic, but I think most builders are occasionally. This seems a bit more than normal, though - I have never heard of a fence (already in a contract) causing a builder to squawk, so maybe this is a 'false flag' to try to get you to back out. At some point you may decide to take your money back and walk away; however, make sure you get all your money back before you let them off the hook;
- How litigious do you feel? We are not attorneys (generally speaking ), but it sounds like they are attempting to breach their contract without cause. If there is a penalty that is more painful/costly than building a fence, they will probably figure it out. It could also cost you more than building a fence yourself, though - no guarantee at all that your legal expenses will be covered. But a short summary of your 'losses' that they might need to cover might convince them - lost earnings on your deposit (the market is way up since you put money down, most likely), possible additional cost of renting while you have a different house built, etc.

Btw, there are some real estate agents on this board that swear that they add value for situations just like these. Do you have an agent? They might work a bit cheaper than a lawyer and may be very versed on what to say/do to resolve this.

Good luck!

Agree with you. We have thought about each of those items. Here is the dilemma. We arent able to find another lot or house at this price point at the 2% tax rate. We are also not able to find another contractor willing to install a fence at $19/ft and they wouldn't give us the name of their contractors. We got a few quotes and foung that wooden/wrought iron fence combos are closer to $30/ft. We have a realtor, but he is in Houston and not sure if its worth dragging him into this either at this point. Our original sales counselor quit, and then somehow our mortgage officer became our new sales counselor, which is the son of the VP of Sales. We raised a concern about this for several reasons. The mortgage officer previous had seen all of my W2's, debt ratio, etc...and we think they tried to 'bait and switch' us at the design center. At one point at the design center, they quoted us $45k in cabinets and $36k for backsplash in the kitchen. My wife and I were appalled! We of course argued this and it took over a month to get this resolved. The correct price was $13k total. They are also to collect 25% of what is spent at the design center at the pre-con meeting that never has happened yet. They don't have their **** together at all and now they are trying to place blame on us. Obviously, this takes a toll on a marriage so I just want to make sure I am doing the right thing. I strongly believe we have a slam dunk against these guys, but just was curious if anyone had experience with this. Another guy has already sued them and won over warranty issues.

[steedaq27]

Originally Posted by escanlan

I would not recommend doing that especially since you already have an Attorney involved. Also I would recommend you cease all postings on BB's regarding this as it always has the possibility of coming back to bite you!


Yep, agreed. I havent responded to their response nor do I tend to do so even though their response is completely inaccurate.


You already have an Attorney involved and from your description you can certainly look forward to more aggravations if you continue with the build. If your Attorney knows their job they can best advise you how to handle this so that YOU come out ahead instead of the builder! At this time you are best served working with your Attorney on this.

The attorneys arent cheap, so just trying to figure out what is a reasonable outcome of soemthing like this?


We've lost 6 months of time, lost out on other lots now, other opportunities, forced to move schools now, market values increasing, interest rates increasing, etc..

[77030]

My opinion, which is worth zero....

Builder did you a favor, by trying to ********* early so you could sue him and get out of the deal altogether. If this is how they handle a fence, that anyone can see, how do you think he is going to handle all of that crucial, infrastructure type stuff that you can't easily see? Imagine trying to handle a warranty issue, 9 months down the road post completion!

Now you know why the house was so cheap!

Get your lawyer to get you out of the deal, whole or as close as you can get, lick your wounds and find a more reputable builder.

Again, just my 2 cents...

[steedaq27]

Originally Posted by 77030

My opinion, which is worth zero....

Builder did you a favor, by trying to ********* early so you could sue him and get out of the deal altogether. If this is how they handle a fence, that anyone can see, how do you think he is going to handle all of that crucial, infrastructure type stuff that you can't easily see? Imagine trying to handle a warranty issue, 9 months down the road post completion!

Now you know why the house was so cheap!

Get your lawyer to get you out of the deal, whole or as close as you can get, lick your wounds and find a more reputable builder.

Again, just my 2 cents...

Yeah, but to make us "whole" its going to be hard. We have given them $8500, lost out on other lots for the school district, and unable to find something similar on an acre lot. OH plus loss of relocation benefits from my employer because the builder wont be making the October build deadline.


2% tax rate in Lake Travis school district is hard to do. To make us whole at this point it would take a lot more than $8500. We have also spent $2k on a lawyer at this point, which if we sue them is going to be a lot more.

[Trainwreck20]

Not sure on the cost of iron fencing, have never done any myself and sure it is more.

We have used this company (as have many of our neighbors) and it might be worth getting a quote from. He did our treated cedar fencing with metal poles for (iirc) $18.65/ft + gates ($50?) + tax. Did a superb job. Now, that was 5 or 6 years ago, so I am sure prices have gone up. And steel tariffs on top of that .

Austin Landscaping and Fence Repair - Ranchers Fencing & Landscaping

[steedaq27]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

Not sure on the cost of iron fencing, have never done any myself and sure it is more.

We have used this company (as have many of our neighbors) and it might be worth getting a quote from. He did our treated cedar fencing with metal poles for (iirc) $18.65/ft + gates ($50?) + tax. Did a superb job. Now, that was 5 or 6 years ago, so I am sure prices have gone up. And steel tariffs on top of that .

Austin Landscaping and Fence Repair - Ranchers Fencing & Landscaping

Wow, that was in Austin? If so then, I'd be willing to do that! (Just needs to be on our property lines for the entire linear footage. not just a "side yard" The problem we were told with our lot and fencing was that its bedrock and hard to dig into the ground.

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by 77030

My opinion, which is worth zero....

Builder did you a favor, by trying to ********* early so you could sue him and get out of the deal altogether. If this is how they handle a fence, that anyone can see, how do you think he is going to handle all of that crucial, infrastructure type stuff that you can't easily see? Imagine trying to handle a warranty issue, 9 months down the road post completion!

Now you know why the house was so cheap!

Get your lawyer to get you out of the deal, whole or as close as you can get, lick your wounds and find a more reputable builder.

Again, just my 2 cents...

Agreed there is no way I would build with a builder like that.

[steedaq27]

Originally Posted by Austin97

Agreed there is no way I would build with a builder like that.

What if it were the last acre lot in the school district that your kid is already going to school at and you know that the home values are skyrocketing and you will make money on the house in 5 years when a High School is built?