David Weekly or Meritage Home Builder? (League City, Cinco Ranch: sales, lender, home builders) - City-Data Forum

rugby · 08-03-2009, 02:18 PM

Any homeowners willing to share an opinion on either of these builders?
We are looking at subdivisions in League City and are overwhelmed with the various tract home builders.
We do like several of the above builders, floor plans for smaller homes (we're empty nesters) but are wondering about quality and energy efficiency claims!
Thanks.

chris_ut · 08-03-2009, 03:38 PM

I almost bought a David Weekly in League City years ago but canceled my contract after I moved jobs. Things I didn't like about them were that the building super constantly changed as did the sales person which is never a good sign. Also their standard options, at least for that neighborhood, were sub-par and you were forced to do quite a bit of upgrades to get a decent re-sellable home.

I currently live in a Meritage and am very happy with it. It is very efficient and my bills are very reasonable. I do not recommend their in-house lender if you can avoid it as they tried to pull all sorts of crap but I think that is typical for the industry. I've only had very minor issues with the house itself which our building sup took care of with no hassle.

Houston321 · 08-03-2009, 05:59 PM

I wouldn't buy from either of them

lhafer · 08-03-2009, 06:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chris_ut

I almost bought a David Weekly in League City years ago but canceled my contract after I moved jobs. Things I didn't like about them were that the building super constantly changed as did the sales person which is never a good sign. Also their standard options, at least for that neighborhood, were sub-par and you were forced to do quite a bit of upgrades to get a decent re-sellable home.

I currently live in a Meritage and am very happy with it. It is very efficient and my bills are very reasonable. I do not recommend their in-house lender if you can avoid it as they tried to pull all sorts of crap but I think that is typical for the industry. I've only had very minor issues with the house itself which our building sup took care of with no hassle.

I second Chris on this one. We lived in a Meritage (although in NE houston) and loved our house!! Never had issues with building or the contractor. We too went with their lender though and had major issues toward the end. Like our house appraised for $10,000 less than the agreed purchase price, and we had to put our down payment money toward the difference. This happened about 2 weeks before close. We were LIVID. So we ended up having to a no money down deal. Go with a different lender.

texasdiver · 08-03-2009, 07:05 PM

Have some good friends who just built in Cinco Ranch. They ended up going with Meritage and are basically satisfied. There were some small issues but that's normal I guess. They were already living in Cinco and spent a long time comparison shopping and exploring their options on the new house they were building. So that says something I guess. At worst, they were the least bad option available.

EM1956 · 08-03-2009, 09:48 PM

We also went with Meritage. We've had a few issues with them, but nothing huge, and nothing they haven't fixed. We've only received on electric bill so far, and I think it was 140.00 for 1600 sq. feet and thermostat at 70 at night (about 10 pm) and 80 during the day during the week. Lower during the day on weekends.

But overall, very happy with our new house.

readonly · 08-04-2009, 12:07 PM

David Weekley is more reputable than Meritage, BUT more pricey per sqft and for the middle range house, the ceiling is also very low in the second floor (8 feet everywhere) for DW house. I am currently living in Meritage built house, and very happy with it.

Txgal33 · 08-04-2009, 02:58 PM

David Weekly is better for resale. Not meaning that you necessarily will get more money for your home but you will sell your home quicker because of the Davis Weekly name. We know this from experience. We owned a Weekly and were in a section with Lennar. Our home sold in 8 days and the Lennars were still sitting and had been sittiing. The buyer told us he chose us because we were Weekly.
Again though it is all in who you talk to. We never had any issues with our home and we would buy from them again but they seem to be smoking something thinking they will get what they are asking for their homes these days.

Houston321 · 08-05-2009, 06:38 AM

"the ceiling is also very low in the second floor (8 feet everywhere) for DW house"

This is misinformation. Although not a fan of Weekley, the ceiling heights are 9 feet on the second floor.

chris_ut · 08-05-2009, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Txgal33

David Weekly is better for resale. Not meaning that you necessarily will get more money for your home but you will sell your home quicker because of the Davis Weekly name. We know this from experience. We owned a Weekly and were in a section with Lennar. Our home sold in 8 days and the Lennars were still sitting and had been sittiing. The buyer told us he chose us because we were Weekly.
Again though it is all in who you talk to. We never had any issues with our home and we would buy from them again but they seem to be smoking something thinking they will get what they are asking for their homes these days.

Well I think your story shows that DW may be better for resale than Lennar in your neighborhood but I don't know that you can say DW is better for resale than Meritage based on your anecdote. I can tell you that in my neighborhood we have Lennar and Meritage and the Meritage homes sell much faster. I think the fact that your house sold fast is more to do with your competition being Lennar than your home being DW.