Landon Homes & Richwoods Community in Frisco? (Dallas, McKinney: sales, HOA) - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum

tsc00 · 07-04-2012, 08:26 AM

Hi, need some help/guidance from anyone who has had experience with Landon homes and/or if you know anything else about Richwoods community in Frisco. We relocated to Dallas from NJ/NY area and looking for a great community for our 2 children - 19 months old and a newborn. We need to stay pretty close to Allen to be near family, but don't want to venture farther north to McKinney or any farther west, so Frisco is where we landed and we found the Richwods community - on the surface seems to be everything we're looking for. I've scoured the internet looking for reviews and additional information, so far only positive things, but also concerned about the hype of the neighborhood, especially from all the realtors out there.

First, if you purchased a home with Landon what has your experience been in terms of quality, customer service and warranty? Any issues we should be aware of?

Second, what are the pros/cons of the neighborhood? I am concerned that they plan to build over 1600 homes and that this could take anywhere between 3-5 years (my estimate). Also, concerned about all the 'promises' they made for the neighborhood and not sure if they will deliver - amenity center, practice fields, park, etc. What are the things that we should be concerned about this neighborhood? In the long run how do we know that the standards that they initially laid out will be maintained? Would like to know that this will be a nice neighborhood in the long run.

SouthernBelleInUtah · 07-04-2012, 09:17 AM

My son bought a Landon house in a different community over 2 years ago. I think the finish is very good and they (son/family) have no complaints. There were some minor issues which were addressed quuickly, but you have that with any new house.

nsumner · 07-04-2012, 01:40 PM

Landon build nice homes but I am personally not too crazy about their floorplans choices, they feel a little too boxy inside. Because they are the developer in Richwoods, they'll have the majority of the land, hence the more choice for lot location.

I honestly don't see Richwoods as a hype. It's a great location, so close to 121, the price point is higher and 4 solid builders.

They are saying that the amenity center will be open this year but I really don't think it will open until the summer of '13.

Naima

BBDD · 02-03-2013, 08:10 PM

So did you ended up purchasing a Landon home in richwoods? We are relocating to frisco area too and are considering this community as well. Can you tell me whats your experience with the builder? Thanks a lot!

katefrisco · 02-04-2013, 11:40 AM

I think the location is great. Personally I would not spend the premium dollars if the amenities were not already there. I don't work off of verbal promises when it involves my money.
I cannot comment on Landon Homes. I am not familiar with them. One thing I would like to throw out is in gated communities often times you are also responsible for any road maintenance. So you could potentially be hit with additional assessments that might be higher than your normal HOA assessments. I think also right now it is such a sellers market I would be cautious.
Obviously that is just my personal opinion. Good luck whatever you decide!

mspkash1 · 02-04-2013, 05:07 PM

Landon homes floor plans are my least favorite. For the $$ they are asking in richwoods, the space feels really tight. Even their bath room upgrades look cheap.. While we were touring their model home, they said the bathroom upgrade is about $4000 and the only thing you get is some cheap looking mirror like wall paper on the wall. just my 2c.

mspkash1 · 02-04-2013, 05:08 PM

New hOmes in Richwoods in Frisco @ 121 and independence

loveplano · 02-04-2013, 06:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by katefrisco

I think the location is great. Personally I would not spend the premium dollars if the amenities were not already there. I don't work off of verbal promises when it involves my money.
I cannot comment on Landon Homes. I am not familiar with them. One thing I would like to throw out is in gated communities often times you are also responsible for any road maintenance. So you could potentially be hit with additional assessments that might be higher than your normal HOA assessments. I think also right now it is such a sellers market I would be cautious.
Obviously that is just my personal opinion. Good luck whatever you decide!

True. I live in a gated community now and in the past there were so many times we had to pay more towards HOA due to the malfunction of the gate and so on.

tsc00 · 02-28-2013, 02:11 PM

Yes, we did end up purchasing. The neighborhood seemed right - kid friendly, gated, nice homes, and good location (for us). We think you get a lot for your money with Landon, compared to the other builders we visited. And yes we did pay a pretty penny for upgrades, but really we could have not upgraded much and we would have been happy. However, we figured this is our home where we want to raise our kids and live in for a long time so why not put the money in and get it the way we want it - turn key rather than go in later and make updates. As for the process. Our sales team was great - loved them - of course they're in sales so they should be great right? We haven't been too happy with the timing of build. We contracted in July, with the understanding that build would begin in Sep/Oct due to the phasing and order of build and that it would be complete Jan/Feb. Well, they didn't start until late Nov...so that sucked - claimed it was delay in permits...but I don't quite buy it. So now here we are at the end of February and we are still no where near home completion. We are still at least 2 months out from it being completed (if we're lucky). We have been really unhappy with the construction process and the way they run it. We have voiced our concerns and they say they are doing everything they can to expedite, but it just hasn't been managed well. The project manager manages a group of construction managers, they brought on a new construction manager and he already botched some of the jobs. He didn't even have all the change orders...claimed he never received them...so now they are fixing the errors. What has been most irksome is not that mistakes were made (though that would make anyone mad), but how they were handled. Communication has been pretty much one way, us following up with them. After the huge error made by the construction manager you would think the project manager would have the courtesy to contact us to explain the situation, apologize and ensure things go smoothly going forward - didn't happen. In fact, when we notice the second error was when we decided we had enough and we contacted the project manager (through our cm so he wasn't out of the loop).

Anyway, so far it hasn't been great, but we do find that when we bring things up they address them. Unfortunately that doesn't give us much comfort that we are the ones who need to catch mistakes...I believe that is the responsibility of the builder and the QC process they have in place. So yes I am worried that the quality of the build may not be high, it will meet basic build standards (enough to get past city inspections)....but will it be best in class probably not. Kinda sucks when you build a half million dollar home.

So do we regret building with Landon? Verdit is still out...we love the home and location, but this process hasn't been the most smooth. I'll update this in 2-3 months (fingers cross) when we are moved in.

stephwin · 02-28-2013, 02:47 PM

Sounds like you might want to hire an independent inspector to check things over during the build process. I wouldn't trust them to make sure everything is right based on what you are saying.