Maronda Homes - new builder in Cinci region? Any complaints? (Columbus: mortgage, new house)

[Kaytaylor]

I would not recommend Cristo, check the number of foreclosures that they have in the area. You may want to check into Brighton Homes, they don't use Thermoply and they are the in the same price range as Maranda and Cristo with a higher quality product.

[Lindsey_Mcfarren]

Maronda builds homes here in Florida and they are not well thought of according to my Real Estate agent. She said they had been sued and so forth.

My house is a Cosmopolitan home and I haven't had any problems with it.

[BFrasier]

lizab not sure where you are building but what I have found that production builders vary from community to community and quality is all over the board with them. Many of the national production builders have pulled out of communites and counties in Ohio and have left buyers hanging with poor workmanship, unfinished work etc... if you can find an experienced builder that does the much of the work himself and is financially secure that seems the safest route in the market

[LaurieMann]

Before we bought a new Maronda home about 18 months ago, I researched quite a lot. I read real horror stories about their homes in Florida, particularly mold stories. We brought in an independent inspector before we bought the house and he was enthusiastic about the quality.

We've been pretty happy with it too. They did cut corners to save money - for example, the screens just don't fit properly, and that's frustrating. The master bedroom, with its cathedral ceiling, is the coldest room in the house over the winter.

But, today, it's clear we're starting to have some sort of foundation problem. Water is dripping into the finished basement. We've had days of rain and the ground is thoroughly saturated. I tried calling and E-mailing Maronda for advice (we're outside of the six month warrantee period) and no one will call me back back. I called a foundation company today, and they can't even come out and look at it until Wednesday.

So, right now, I would not recommend Maronda.

Grumble!

[Briolat21]

Thanks for everyone's posts. We ended up not picking Maronda. Just couldn't get over some issues we had with them, both asthetically, and construction methods. We chose another large National builder, slightly different construction methods, and a different exterior aesthetic.



Yay!! Now the crazy new house building process begins!

[cg2]

Try Inverness Homes absolute great builder, we built a home with them and they did a great job and allowed us to customize our home which noone else would do. They have great prices and willing to work out different options.

[JaxFlorida]

Maronda has refused to pay contractors in Florida for work that was done on a new subdivision. I believe they are doing this to make the financials better for 2007, but inreturn they are hurting alot of families this Christmas in Jacksonville, Florida

[LaurieMann]

To my surprise, Maronda came out and fixed the problem even though we were out of warranty. It wasn't exactly a foundation problem, but they were able to stop the leaking. We had a huge amount of rain in Western Pennsylvania over the last few days and the basement's been dry. So when the builder makes a fix, they deserve a thumbs up.

[YoMikey617]

Originally Posted by jennazer

You are also locked into using only their lender. You absolutely cannot use the lender of your choice which makes it impossible to shop around for the best interest rate. Also, if you have a realtor helping you, forget it. They won't even talk to you with a realtor because they know a realtor will be able to point out the scams they are pulling on their homebuyers. If you do decide to go with them make sure you ask what is included as well. With our house we did not get a driveway, just stone (although they now include driveways with all homes, at least in our old development) and no one in the whole development got a walk way. They just threw down concrete pavers and made concrete steps stacked up high to get in the front door on the houses that were on the low side. The high side houses did have steps with a railing (required by code) going up to the door but no walk way. Just concrete square pavers. Everyone had to pay to get a walkway put in and most had to pay for driveways like us before they changed it. Most people didn't put driveways or walkways in leaving the area looking terrible with nothing but stone and concrete pavers with weeds growing up between them.

These are probably the biggest Red Flags telling you to run, don't walk to another home builder.

1. If they don't allow you to use your own lender, this means that other lenders have probably redlined loans on homes built by Maronda. OR ELSE Maronda doesn't want inspectors from outside Maronda to evaluate the property that they're lending on. Think about it...
2. If they don't work with real estate brokers, then this is a HUGE red flag as brokers are many times the only people who can give you the scoop on the local market. People can complain all they want about brokers, but brokers are really good at steering clients away from bad homebuilders.

Having worked for a "bad builder" years ago, I can tell you that the main goal of a builder is to get your cash and clear the lot off their books. I can also tell you that one of the biggest reasons I left is that local brokers would not bring buyers to my development because of the builder's reputation.

[YoMikey617]

Originally Posted by Briolat21

Hi,

I'm relocating to Cinci and am torn between already existing housing stock, and going with a mass-produced house in a new development. I am willing to accept some minor issues regarding new construction (and I expect them), but am afraid of falling in with a company that has had a lot of problems. I have searched this company on the web, and they have some complaints out there, but EVERY builder at this level seems to. My price is low $200's by the way, and I'm looking for a lot of sq. footage...

Anyone have any complaints or COMPLIMENTS about this builder. I would really love to hear from you!

Thanks!

I knew this thread was bothering me for a good reason...

Do you ever watch Extreme Home Makeover ??? It's the show where some poor down and out family gets a new home... There was an episode that took place in Whitehall, Ohio (Columbus) where a relocated Marine / 9-11 Firefighter and his family (from NYC) had bought a home that was literally falling apart in every respect. The house was becoming a hazard to live in and the bank wouldn't help the family.

THE HOUSE WAS BUILT BY MARONDA !!!

Extreme Home Makeover teamed up with M/I to tear down the first home built by Maronda, and then they built a brand new home for the family.

Here's the thread on the Columbus board where they talk about the teardown being a Marnoda home.

http://www.city-data.com/forum/colum...-columbus.html