Thoughts on Ryan Homes (purchase, business, customer)

[vwfan]

I bought a Ryan Homes townhouse in 2004, in Galyn Manor. The sales person was friendly (Brian was his name) and answered all my questions. I was young, so we had to work the financing a bit, but we eventually got everything worked out.

the NVR Mortgage part was a little hairbrained... they needed to do some work there. They told me first I would need $1k at settlement, two weeks before, they said I need $10k. I told them this wasn't incorrect and that I wasn't settling because the numbers we discussed and signed upon were drastically different. They went back, redid the numbers and said i'd need to bring a check for around $700.

At the end, I got a check for $1300. Somehow, they had to have screwed up the numbers. The house has a few problems, no matter how I drain the downstairs hosebib, it cracks in the winter, so it's just been shut off and I refused to fix it a second time. The molding guys hit a strike plate in the wall, so decided they would place the finishing nail a little higher. Well, when I went to put down some laminate wood floor and pulled the molding, the finish nail opened up the hole that was in my cold water pipe to the middle floor sink!

House holds heat and a/c nicely. Front door needs adjusted and I found a drywall bucket in my front yard. I stopped by every 2 days once they broke ground to check the status and pointed out some bad a/c and heat ducting to the townhouse project manager. I took pictures and e-mail them to him as well.

[Mr. Sparkle]

I am in the process of building a Ryan Home in AAC... A different development than Villages of Dorchester, but close enough that I worked with the sales people in the Villages of Dorchester sales office. So far my experience has been pretty good... The worst part I would say was just lowering my expectations to the fact that Ryan Homes is a bit of a "buget" builder. If you have the money, go with someone like Toll Brothers who will be much more customer oriented (but you will pay a premium for it).

They aren't going to do a lot of custom stuff for you, and they aren't going to be very flexible on some things (like they use all of their own suppliers for floors, electrical, etc and you have NO choice but to use them). Other than being inflexible, we have had a pretty good experience. The project manager is very friendly (more so than the sales person, to some extent).

I have a friend who bought a Ryan house in Villages of Dorchester last year and doesn't have any complaints.

[homevoice]

I'm new at this, so my first reply is lost..disappeared., here is the shorter version. As with anything in life their can be good and bad experiences. Do your homework, address any concerns found to the builder. Either they will be willing to address problems or not. If not don't do business with them. Meet the foreman of any builder and notice how they carry on their work., are they in charge, willing to meet with you, discuss your needs., good relations with the workers on the site etc. I have seen a builder deliver great homes to homes that were not so great, simply based on the forman they hired at that particular time. The sales rep. at any builders site is working for the BUILDER! NOT YOU! If you are not working with a Realtor, you should find one, a Realtor will represent YOUR BEST INTEREST! The builder knows that this is a buyers market and if you have a Realtor with you they know that the agent knows Real Estate and if they don't deal fairly with you that your Realtor, will suggest that you go elsewhere. I recently sold a Ryan new construction home in Charles County Md. to a client., (contract written in 10-2007, settled in 04-2008) the only "big" problem that needed to be dealt with was the huge drop in the base price ($70,000!) after my client was charged the higher price. We brought this to the builders attention and they reduced the price accordingly. (we also stayed on top of the rates for the loan, and made the lender aware that we knew the rates as well!) The foreman was the best! He happily met with the client and showed true concern about their needs and wants. The foreman was clearly in charge of the project, and you could see that the crew and contractors had respect for him. He took his job seriously and carried it out with excellence. I visited my clients yesterday in their new home and they are very happy and satisfied. NO COMPLAINTS! For Mr. Warner., first of all THANK-YOU!!!! FOR YOUR SERVICE, SACRIFICE AND DEDICATION TO OUR NATION. I love and appreciate all of our military and the sacrifices you make to keep our country SAFE AND FREE! any one who does not appreciate the military, I personaly think doesn't have a right to be here and should leave immediately! You support us, and we support YOU. Thank-you, Thank-you, Thank-you! If I was you, I would talk to a Real Estate Attorney immediately and see if you may still be able to get representation with a Realtor. At least talk to an Attorney, you may be able to clear up the whole matter, and get your deposit back if you decide not to purchase, and or get another lender, with no extra charges. Don't give up., your case sounds terrible the way you've described it, and I think you have LOT'S of room for resolution still. IN THE FUTURE - ALWAYS, GET A REALTOR!!!

[McMatt]

I have lived in 2 new ryan homes and then I ended up purchasing a ryland townhouse which I still live in. All things considered the ryan experiences were much better than the ryland experience. One of the ryan houses was a more upscale house (4500 sq ft, cost like $450K in 1995) and ryan would do tons of custom stuff if you were willing to pay for it. My ryland townhouse house had very few available options and was rather expensive for what we got. The ryland house still doesn't hold heat very well or cool off well in the summer. Basically you get what you pay for.

[Big Mountain Man]

I have owned quite a few Ryan homes and I have to say, that even with the few problems I have ever had, they took care of it right away! I have only good things to say about them. I would say its like a car. When a company makes so many of them, you will hear about the problems. I know more small builders with issues that never get resolved. I would rather have a company like Ryan there to fix a problem, then to hope some small builder can come up with the money to get thinigs taken care of. Thats my op!

[WHS68]

"I then learned that seing anything I didn't like in the documents within 5 days of receiving them would have been a way out of the contcract. But as I explained, I never actually got to see the documents."
Get a lawyer! I'm sure you can find one who has dealt with these long-term shysters before. They have never had a good reputation. Subdivision shlock.
Be smart. If you want a new home...
Find a lot. Spec your own home and get something solid and well-built, even if it's smaller than you want. Add on later when you can afford to.
If you're looking for a resale, then try to find something outside a subdivision...for starters!

[helenejen]

It will cost you less money, and you'll actually get good advice, if you have a lawyer. And don't forget to document every issue, discussion, problem with the builder. That can really serve you in the end.

Remember a realtor is primarily interested in his/her own economic interests, sometimes at the expense of the client. If you don't buy, the realtor doesn't get paid.

[Hrvat]

I live in Atlanta but am considering moving to Maryland and looked at the Ryan Homes Hallie Hill and Village of Meadow Creek communities both in Carroll County a few weeks ago.

We've looked at communities here in Atlanta, in SE Florida, Maryland and North Carolina and of the couple of dozen ones we visited the two Ryan communities are the only two that did not follow up with us by email, phone or letter. I've actually called and left messages and sent a follow up email to the Ryan sales offices and have yet to hear back.

If the sales staff is this inattentive I can only imagine what it would be like to try to have a home built by them from ~600 miles away.

[jarmstr1]

I am thinking about buying a new Ryan home in Richmond, VA in Glen Allen - any suggestions or comments?

[trying2moveup]

We lived in a Ryan townhome in Frederick (md) for 8 years; it was a spec and about 3/4 of the way done when we bought it. Previous contract fell through. We had no idea about buying construction and maybe we lucked out but we had no serious problems with it. The few things that Ryan missed (some caulking, put in an electric stove when our contract clearly said gas) they fixed right away. Actually that became a good selling point in the end because if the new owners didn't like gas cooking, they could very easily get a new stove and do electric.

Anyway, no one on our street ever voiced any serious issues. But if I was buying new this time around, I would DEFINITELY pay to have my own inspector come 1) when the foundation was poured 2) after the framing was up 3) after the electric/plumbing was in and before sheetrock was up and 4) prior to closing PRIOR to Ryan's walk through prior to closing.

Ryan is a huge builder with a million subcontractors so I'm sure they have had shoddy, shoddy work. But I also think it is up to the buyer to spend the few hundred dollars during construction to inspect the property several times during the building phase ESPECIALLY if you are living 600 miles away (with whoever you choose as a builder).

As far as getting a lot and building your own - good luck on 1) finding any affordable land and 2) any lender willing to do construct to perm in this market that is NOT affiliated with a subdivision developer.