Need Advise - Cancelling Toll Brothers Contract in NJ
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Beware your attorney as well, litigation attorneys charge by the hour...there will be many hours to charge in this breach. Hopefully you can sue for attorney fees. Good luck.
We are in the same situation.Since we couldnot sell our current house,we could not close on the proposed closing date.We didnot get any extension.We were still trying to sell our current house.,but Toll sold the house within a month to someother buyer for almost the same price.They already have retained 50 k of our deposit.Inspite oh that they are behind us for the remaining 50k of the promisory note.The collection agency is chasing us for the same.
But I am a two-time Toll Brothers homeowner. I have to say that I think that Toll Brothers is getting a bum rap here.
This "mysterious" promissory note that is being referred to is not mysterious or illegal. It's one of the Plainest exhibits I was asked to sign. It's there for this simple reason:
If you don't have Toll build your house, and instead went with a private builder (for example), you would have had to take out a Construction Mortgage before they started building. Depending on the lender, you may have had to possess title to the land before securing the construction loan.
I encourage you to look into this - you will find it very difficult (at best) or impossible to find a builder to begin construction on a home until you come up with a down payment of 20% of the price.
Toll Brothers, however, will start your home with less than 20% down. They require a fixed amount, plus a percentage of structural options. In my case, they broke ground with a little more than 10% down. Therefore, since they are taking that risk and not requiring the 20%, they include the note so that if you choose to back out, and the reasons have nothing to do with their performance, they get no more money than any other builder would've gotten.
I've purchased two different homes, 9 years apart, in two different townships, and the note was never glossed over. I'm not sure how a piece of paper that says "If I cancel I understand I'll lose my deposit PLUS THIS ADDITIONAL AMOUNT" could be misinterpreted.
The current market sucks for everyone, buyers and sellers. My wife and I were considering private custom builders as our new home is substantially more than our last one. Given the current real estate market, many custom builders are strapped for cash, can't pay their subs, are late on delivery, and are going under. Try to get your deposit back from them. Given the fact that Toll has a strong balance sheet and is publically traded, we felt they were a much safer bet than the custom guys.
Lastly, at the risk of sounding self-righteous, I sold my house BEFORE I signed to buy a new one, to avoid this exact situation. We knew how much we could spend because we knew how much we got; we only would've been guessing before then. Yes, it meant my family and I had to live in temporary housing during construction. But we made it into an adventure.
The time to back out was before the basement was poured. It was 5 months from the time I signed until that was done. That's plenty of time to address any buyer's regret.
You didn't want to back out because they did a bad job, or the workmanship was shoddy, or they lied about toxic waste on your lot, or anything of the kind. You want to back out because you can't sell your house and didn't think to protect yourself with a resale contingency.
Sadly, it seems this is nothing more than a case of an overly ambitious buyer making a foolish decision on one of the most expensive purchases anyone will ever do in their lives. It's this mindset that created the real estate bubble and loan forclosures that have put the market into the toilet it's in.
I wish my home construction was as smooth as yours.
With due respect, I wish I bought a toll brothers home the same time you bought and had the same experience you had, but my case is totally different.My case is nothing to do with buyers remorse for market situation or that of a buyers who could not sell their old home.
I signed a contract with Toll Brothers back in Oct 2007, when I had a contract on my town home. My old buyer backout of the contract using POA ACT and did not give me a reason and also I had a family emergency where I had to send $50K, the TB contract which I signed was not ratified yet, I went to Toll office and told the sales person about my situation and asked that lady to transfer my deposit to a different lot and different model or less expensive house because I was not sure the next buyer I get may offer me less for my town home. But she said since you already signed the contract, they will not do anything. This is two months before they even dig the land to build the house (By law, this was fraud.. when I went to cancel the contract the contract was not signed by Robert Toll and if it is not signed by seller with out any consideration for the buyer in the contract, then the contract is not valid) she lied to me to keep me in the contract. Then I sold my town home for $30K less than my previous buyer's offer and gave all of my equity to Toll Brothers.
At contract time, I asked Toll to invite me for pre-construction meeting so that I can do my religious ceremony, she said they will do that for every buyer and that is mandatory for them but two months after I selected my design center options I went for a drive and saw the house was almost built and walls were closed, I could not do land-breaking ceremony, when I asked the sales person. she they forgot to invite me and by law she can invite me for pre-construction before or after foundation. but at that time walls were closed and I let it go. Now they made few more construction defects, they promised me they will give 9 ft ceiling in basement now the ceiling height is 8 and half, they are saying they must have put additional concrete by mistake.. is that my problem? Front elevation.. same models in the community looks different than mine.. they built my house roof shotter than other homes so elevation looks different and window looks larger. I asked them to fix it or give me compensation (20K) they don't want to do either. Bathroom ruffins, they put them in a different location than where I asked for in the contract, I pointed out the mistake in pre-drywall meeting and they corrected it and because of that correction my basement floor looks patchy. I have not done my home inspection yet, when I go for one there may be more defects. And above all when I signed the contract they said my lot will not have sidewalks and now they installed sidewalks on both sides of the house and because of that I am loosing almost 1500 sq feet of lot.
If you had this kind of experience with Toll Brothers when you bought your first home you would not have bought the second. The promissory note and the contract is not straight foward as you mentioned in your message.
In my case, I cannot sympathize on Toll for construction loan issue. I told them back in October 2007 just 20 days after I signed the contract saying my financial position has changed dramatically and I may not qualified for the mortgage anymore but even then they didn't care whether I will be able to close on the house or not, they built it, so they are not worried about their construction loan, then why should I?
I put a deposit on a Toll Brothers home of $100,000. I was told that I would get my deposit back if I could not obtain financing. They did not even dig one hole, but they are refusing to give back my deposit, even though I have been unable to get financing. In short, they stole $100,000 of my money.
I put a deposit on a Toll Brothers home of $100,000. I was told that I would get my deposit back if I could not obtain financing. They did not even dig one hole, but they are refusing to give back my deposit, even though I have been unable to get financing. In short, they stole $100,000 of my money.
They have done this to many all over this country - that is how they stay in business. If ever the term Caveat Emptor applied, it applies to Toll. DO YOUR HOMEWORK before going to contract with these people. Read what other homeowners have to say at www.mytollexperience.com
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I'm NOT a Toll Brothers Employee...
