Ryan Homes - Good or Bad experiences (Charlotte, Huntersville: real estate, mortgage)

[rrjackson]

I wish there was place Ryan Homes lowlife business tactics could be accessible by all who think to buy from them. There’s a whole lot of dirty scam artist tricks this builder pulls out on buyers. There’s not that much consumer protection in this business, and so things like this have become too common.

Obviously financing through the builder (NVR) doesn’t make upgrades cheaper, it just forces you into the NVR closing room, where you will get taken for all the “free upgrades” that won’t be free.

Someone here said you could find your own realtor, and get around the joint NVR, parent company to Ryan Homes, manipulation games. There will be resistance, but some have got the upgrades, price, and interest rates they started with for that trouble. Otherwise, you’ll be sitting at the NVR table, and all your 19500 will go to a bunch of ballooned fees, and you still will lose your deposit, as that’s what I’ve seen happen in Maryland.

I wish I had more direct power to help. Hopefully a book nearing release I’m doing will give me more reach into to the matters like this in the near future. Nobody deserves such things.

Originally Posted by Ryan Warner

1. If you give them the large down payment they demand, beware. They use this to give themselves the control to change interest rates--you refuse, and they'll laugh while taking your large down payment. If you decide to go with them, keep me in mind if you want to join in on a Class Action Suite against them.

2. I arrived in Maryland on a military assignment in January 07 and put down $19,500 on a new Town Home. In addition, I was charged $3,000 to lock in the interest rate at 6.5% for one loan and 7.5% for the second loan (called an 80/10 loan) for 255 days. I now realize I had been prey to pressure tactics and predatory lending practices from Ryan Homes and NVR Mortgage because now they are charging me 7.59% for one and 10.5% interest for the other loan. This is a dishonest business practice and reflects poorly on the state which receives on-going benefits from its military members. As a 20-year enlisted member of the U.S. Air Force with little money to sacrifice, I respectfully request your assistance in regaining my deposits.

3. In addition, Ryan Homes explained I would have to pay double the price for upgrades (+$15,000) if I didn’t use their lender (NVR Mortgage). They described this mark up as a half-off upgrade incentive. It's actually only greater leverege from NVR Mortgage when they raise your rates and you consider going to another lender.

4. After six months and with three 1-month construction-delay tactics, NVR mortgage has informed me that I must now pay 1% more for one loan and 3% more for the other loan. As you are aware, these 1% and 3% increases amount to a significantly higher house payment and a great deal of money over a 30 year period. Since informing me of the higher rates, the NVR representative told me I could either pay the new rates or lose my $19,500 down payment and $3,000 lock-in fees.

5. After researching competitive local mortgage rates, other lenders are still offering 6.75% and 7.59% interest on 80/10 loans for my 816 credit rt. None have gone up to the 10.5% NVR is now charging. So the NVR representative reminded me that using outside lenders would double the cost of my locked-in upgrades. In addition, NVR is charging $4,500 in loan “junk fees” while local competitive lenders are charging $50 in such fees.

After 20 years in the service and 19 years of marriage, Ryan and NVR Mortgage have stolen our future. My wife and I are devestated and barely get any sleep. We can no longer afford to buy a home--they have nearly half of our life savings, for nothing. Of course, we could have just agreed to pay 10.5 percent interest....

[massive-defects]

We are the "proud" owners of a house in SC built by Ryan in 1998. While the Ryan/NVR warranty touts
"10-Year Structural Warranty.
The comprehensive Ryan warranty is an exclusive, limited warranty that protects your home from structural defects for ten years. There's no "deductible" and the warranty is fully transferable if you sell your home. "

This has been far from the truth in our experience. The entire exterior of the house was installed incorrectly, every window failed and the valleys of the roof failed on every gable. As a result, the house leaked from day one and was so infested by mold that it underwent a 2-year remediation. We asked for it to be bulldozed and rebuilt and were turned down. The comments we have received while trying to sell the house have been less than flattering to say the least, and in more than a year there hasn't been even so much as a "low-ball" offer.

Do your homework, check out sites like HomeOwners for Better Building - Home and see what pepole have to say before you sink money in. With financing the way it is now, you don't want to be left with this kind of mess on your hands.

[PecanHillsPurchaser]

Originally Posted by nysparkle

My daughters friend is living in an apartment waiting for Ryan to start building her Pecan Hills home.She was originally told September completion. Ryan still has not broken ground.

I did talk to the reps myself last October 2006 and was told then they would be building in early spring.I have no idea what the holdup is.

My husband and I just got back from NC and we decided to buy a Genavieve model at Pecan Hills. When we first looked about 3 weeks ago, they had not broken ground for any homes. We were last there on October 2 and they had broken ground on about 9 homes, with basements started or completed, first floors and roof on 2! They had about 4 crews working and trucks coming in and out with sidealks and streets. They only have about 4 lots left and this is without any model!

I feel pretty good about our choice but must admit that after reading some of the comments here, I'm a little shaken. This is such a big deal for all of us and the thought that it could be a mistake is heartbreaking.

We have requested no wood floors or tile work so that my husband can do that type of work himself, cheaper and better quality. He's fully knowledgeable about construction and will be watching like a hawk once building begins. So far, Ryan has agreed to several modifcations he has requested and have given us credit for "inclusions" we don't want.

I really would be interested in hearing if anyone has backed out of a purchase agreement with Ryan and what the results have been.

thank you.

[rothbear]

DH & I have actually signed a preliminary agreement with Ryan on an active adult community in Union County. We are still in the "can get out of it with a refund" stage with "only" $1000 down so far, and because of some paperwork and misunderstanding snafus we have gotten it extended beyond the original date. Still not 100% sure we will go with it mainly because we were under the assumption that it was a 55+ age restricted community and discovered that it wasn't.......so the misunderstanding. Although they never told us it was, they also didn't contradict us when we said that's what we were looking for. Unfortunately, it seems that going into an age restricted community means the prices of houses go up by about $20,000+.....guess to pay for all the fancy amenities.

Anyway, the one thing that I absolutely insist on is to get in everything in writing......I take absolutely nothing for granted. I think the sales person thought I was joking at first, but when I explained to him that I had been screwed over so many times in my life that I was very cynical and trusted no one, he realized that I wasn't kidding. I even had him write that the house included washing machine hookups and a water supply for the refrigerator because it wasn't spelled out in the contract (even though it stated it had a dryer hookup). I also made him send me an updated spec sheet when we were told they were now using low-e glass for their windows. So now he automatically writes everything down, or sends an email with his electronic "signature". I think he realizes that I would have no problems at all turning it over to a lawyer.

One other thing we plan to do if we go ahead is to have our own paid building inspector there at both pre-drywall and pre-closing. Yes I know it will cost some money, but I prefer to pay it now rather than later.

We were also told that we should use a buyer's agent. I was always under the assumption that the buyer paid for this, but I have been told that the seller pays for it. Since we don't live in the area we may see if it's too late to even do that now so that they can also watch over the construction for us.

We also got them to waive the "NVR requirements" for some of the upgrade incentives. We told them directly that if we were required to finance with NVR to get them, then they could just leave them off. I guess they figured they would make more money on doing the upgrades than on the loan. Again, written right in the contract. We have pretty much taken out everything extra that either DH can do, or we can get someone else to do better for less money later on. Certain things, although overpriced by Ryan, are better done during construction than later on.

Plus I have gone through the contract twice with a yellow highliter and made notes and I check each and every line of it as well as anything else he sends us. My background is in the medical field, so I am extremely detail oriented.....as they have found out. At this point in time I'm wondering if he isn't hoping we will back out so he doesn't have to listen to me any more!! LOL!

Anyway, these are some things you might want to think about. We have learned a lot in the past 3 weeks.........and we are by no means novice home owners!

[rrjackson]

Very wise work there rothbear. That may well cover a lot of the Ryan Homes scam complaints and frustration sources. They freely make false promises in the blink of an eye by mouth. But, you likely could have got your upgrade incentives free without NVR, as they can't afford not to negotiate to keep the sales prospect right now. Their hurtin' for sales now, and the amenities are really cheap add on's from their discount sources.

But I too have some things in writing from Ryan Homes that they basically lied about. Still you did very well on the big points I think. I hope all goes well for you. Good luck! I expect you'll have a fairly happy ending.

A secondary personal story or recent news, I was literally hospitalized through ER due to the stresses of the horrible consequences the defective home the Ryan Homes scam has put us through, and it's still causing big problems. I had 99% kidney failure from what the doctors think was too many antacids from acid reflux that was being set off by crisis after crisis they caused. My esophagus looked like bloody hamburger, and they couldn't believe I could even drink from the pain it was causing.

The house also poisoned us, and that ache I had felt in my bones while unknowingly breathing in toxins went crazy when my Kidneys basically shut down. I also got a tumor during the known toxic period, that was removed a while back, non cancerous fortunately, but it caused permanent nerve damage and left a scar on my forehead.

I'm going to be tested for Bone Marrow cancer, but they're taking their time getting me in since I lost all health insurance when we were forced to pay 10,s of thousands of dollars out of pocket to make repairs from defective construction, even though the home was under a useless warranty. I'm on the George Bush "screw poor people" health care plan. We lost our home biz insurance, and eventually the home biz pretty much got shut down as well when we evacuated the toxic home. A site called ryanhomesnightmare covers that in better detail.

Homeowners insurance will not pay for defective construction or consequential damages and you can't count on Ryan Homes for this either, so others, be smart like the bear here, and cover yourself as best you can if you're willing to gamble with these people and buy a home!

And for those of you that believe in prayers, all is appreciated. I really don't want to spend the holidays doing Chemo over what I believe was cause by this greedy sloppy homebuilder. Wish I had never even heard the name Ryan Homes myself.

best of wishes!

Originally Posted by rothbear

DH &

Anyway, the one thing that I absolutely insist on is to get in everything in writing......I take absolutely nothing for granted. I think the sales person thought I was joking at first, but when I explained to him that I had been screwed over so many times in my life that I was very cynical and trusted no one, he realized that I wasn't kidding. I even had him write that the house included washing machine hookups and a water supply for the refrigerator because it wasn't spelled out in the contract (even though it stated it had a dryer hookup). I also made him send me an updated spec sheet when we were told they were now using low-e glass for their windows. So now he automatically writes everything down, or sends an email with his electronic "signature". I think he realizes that I would have no problems at all turning it over to a lawyer.

One other thing we plan to do if we go ahead is to have our own paid building inspector there at both pre-drywall and pre-closing. Yes I know it will cost some money, but I prefer to pay it now rather than later.

We were also told that we should use a buyer's agent. I was always under the assumption that the buyer paid for this, but I have been told that the seller pays for it. Since we don't live in the area we may see if it's too late to even do that now so that they can also watch over the construction for us.

We also got them to waive the "NVR requirements" for some of the upgrade incentives. We told them directly that if we were required to finance with NVR to get them, then they could just leave them off. I guess they figured they would make more money on doing the upgrades than on the loan. Again, written right in the contract. We have pretty much taken out everything extra that either DH can do, or we can get someone else to do better for less money later on. Certain things, although overpriced by Ryan, are better done during construction than later on.

Plus I have gone through the contract twice with a yellow highliter and made notes and I check each and every line of it as well as anything else he sends us. My background is in the medical field, so I am extremely detail oriented.....as they have found out. At this point in time I'm wondering if he isn't hoping we will back out so he doesn't have to listen to me any more!! LOL!

Anyway, these are some things you might want to think about. We have learned a lot in the past 3 weeks.........and we are by no means novice home owners!

[delaware red]

Originally Posted by Bill_M

Has anyone built with Ryan Homes? Any experiences good or bad when you used them? Do they have a reputation in the Charlotte area as good/bad cheap/expensive, etc.?

Please check the internet. We are purchasing a home in Delaware & ruled out RYAN due to their poor reputation. Really big problems!!

[imperieux]

My husband and I went under contract with Ryan to build our first new home in Southern NJ. It was a complete nightmare and cost me 5k in attorney fees and months of stress and frustration.

First, they started building the wrong house. Wrong foundation, wrong home plans, the works. They had to change the foundation and we had to call in our own structural engineer to make sure there would be no problems. You would have thought we would have gotten out then but no, and the worst was yet to come.

Closing time. We had so many problems that my attorney requested the Vice President of Operations to be there. My attorney also suggested that we refuse to use their own title company, and use our own. Thank God we did. Our title company came into the room and said we couldn't get clear title. There was a HUGE electrical eavesment that contained many homes within it, including ours! It was the size of a football field. You should have seen the look on the Vice President's face. Immediately he gets on his cell phone, yelling at people, and then learning most are on vacation and he can't get an answer as to why this was going on. We had to walk away from the settlement table. I was devastated.

The best part is, Ryan's title company cleared all the homes that were within this eavesment. The new homeowners had no idea this was going on! Talk about illegal! My attorney had MORE work to do, and found out that the eavesment was supposed to have been vacated as per the electrical company. They said it was not done for Ryan Homes owed them 90,000. in order to do so. Wonderful.

In the end, I was so stressed, so frustrated, we had no where to live, we had all this money tied up and we were going to lose our mortgage rate if we didn't do something soon, and Ryan wouldn't let us out of our contract. They offered us more options instead. Finally,we received a letter from both Ryan and the electrical company stating that it was to be handled promptly, and we closed on our home against legal advice from our attorney.

We dealt with many many problems with the construction once we moved in. Our white cabinetry melted when I used the oven. Our deck was built so shabbily, that the stairs would rock when you walked down them, and the boards were warping both upwards and downwards. A large beam under our dishwasher warped upwards, pushing our floor and everything above it upwards, so they had to go into our finished basement and cut a huge hole in the ceiling in order to get access to it and shave it down to reduce it and level out our floor. By that time I was on a first name basis with Chris, the Vice President, (I was his worst nightmare) and he handled each one as they appeared. 2 years later the eavesment WAS vacated, and we were sent the appropriate documents stating so.

Would I buy from Ryan homes again?

Would you??

P.S. We used Saussy Burbank for our home in Summerville SC and the experience has been wonderful. Great workmanship, good customer relations and over all a very good experience. We have lived here a year now and have had no problems with our home. I would definitely recommend them, at least for my area.

[looneytoon]

Quality and Value may appear to be different depending on your standards.

I am not a rich snob, but I wouldn't even go near a Ryan or Centex home.

I think once you have over-seen the building of a custom home, you really appreciate how and who builds it.

Our home is not large nor expensive, but it was custom built.

Stay away from Ryan, Ryland and Centex!!

Just my 2 cents.

[Kbrais]

Originally Posted by Bill_M

Has anyone built with Ryan Homes? Any experiences good or bad when you used them? Do they have a reputation in the Charlotte area as good/bad cheap/expensive, etc.?

I'm a Real Estae Broker and I've seen and Dealt with Ryan's homes. In general they'e O.K., there prices and building quality is in the middle. They build mostly track homes and and they're well known in the Charlotte and surrounding areas.

[lituani]

Thanks to all for starting & contributing to this thread - I've found it very informative for learning about the new home building process.

We are considering a Ryan home in a new housing development in Michigan. So far, my discussions with existent owners who built there have resulted in generally positive comments about the process and result.

One major drawback holding up our moving to next step is getting them to agree to build with copper plumbing. Does anyone else have copper plumbing in their Ryan built home??? I can't imagine them declining my $350K check because they "prefer" not to build with copper, but curious whether anything else they currently or previously build including traditional plumbing.

If you do have copper plumbing in your Ryan home, please chime in (and mention what year and market your home was built). Thanks!