Ryan Homes incentives (Toledo, Washington: to rent, insurance, crime)

[Briolat21]

we're building with them now, and so far - we are happy with how construction is going. Of course we've been there several times a week to look at what's going on.

I'm sorry for everyone who's had problems, hopefully I'll be in the 80+% who don't.

Their repuation here is fine, in that its accurate - they are a mass builder. If we could have afforded custom - we would have, but it would have tagged another 100 - 150K on to the price tag and that's not a tax bracket we're in. For what we're getting, I'm satified with Ryan's price.

[frnchful25]

We live in a Ryan home development in Concord, Ohio and its great! Our value of our home has increased 50% in 1 year! It still looks great and any one in Ohio would love to have one. Does any one know of any neighborhoods built by ryan in Lake County ohio?

[htlong]

wait and see how your vinyl siding holds up, cheap paper thin...you will see the studs underneath it showing through soon....you get what you pay for...... drive around older ryan home sights and learn how cheap they are by looking

[rrjackson]

That's really impressive. I've never heard of any home anywhere with no problems at all. I've had e-mails from people in the same states who are disgusted with their Ryan Homes experience. One person recently wrote asking for advice on their Ryan Homes problems, and asked ME what their legal options might be, and what they should do. Something seemed off about some of their questions though.

I traced back their IP. The e-mail came from a law firm near Mclain Virginia, which is where NVR's corporate headquarters are. So why would a law firm be asking ME for legal advice, when I'm not even a lawyer? "A Name You Can Trust?" will go to what lengths to "fix" their problems?

It's great you know of so many perfect homes built by Ryan Homes, and that even you have one too. I'm sure the tens of thousands of past and future buyers who have been ripped off will take great comfort just knowing of your perfect world of perfectly built homes. So now I have to wonder even more, why this wonderful builder with it's vast resources would not lift a finger to help fix my defective home, when they knew full well they destroyed it though criminal negligence? Is it just win some/lose some justification, yet again?

And what does going to church have to do with having a quality home? I believe in separation of church and homebuilders. So many of their subcontractor's employees worship a bottle in a brown paper bag, or roll their salvation in some cigarette paper and smoke it, before they do their perfect deeds in building people's homes, in our experience. It's a very real part of the business. Sure you can get the most bang for your buck when you pay for the cheapest possible subcontractors to build a home, and then pray you get lucky. Because if things go wrong, be assured, you're screwed with this builder. And I can prove that with documentation, not just hearsay.

Originally Posted by ColorMe4315

We have been in our Ryan Home for over 2 years and in our new Dev for nearly 2 1/2 with no problems. We have been following Ryan Homes from three diff states MD/VA & PA for over ten years. We have many friends, family members and church members who have and still currently are Ryan Home owners again with no problems at all.

I am sorry to read about your problems. However, just like cars, no matter how much you paid for it you could get stuck with a lemon.

[Briolat21]

Wow. Bitter much?

This is an advice/opinion forum.. Some people haven't had problems with them. If you want to say "YET" - that's fine. It sounds like your experience has been horrible - I'm sorry for that. Our experience was pretty decent - at least on the structural issues (which I consider the most important). As far as the finish work (we just closed a week ago) - I would prefer that they hire finish crews who knew what they were doing, so that they didn't have to come out and fix it 3 more times.

But so far, they have come out and fixed things. (patching drywall, straightening switch box, etc..). Pretty much all cosmetic at this point.

There are several neighborhoods around here with older (3-10 year old Ryan homes) and personally I think the homes' siding looks fine. It is no cheaper or thinner than what I see on most other tract homes. It is not wood siding. It is not cementitious siding (like masonite). It is vinyl. It looks like vinyl. I can live with that.

As I said - so far they have been fine. Yes, I would love to be a millionare and custom build a great home with top-of-the-line materials (including rafters instead of trusses so i could have an open useable attic). But since that is not my reality, I am SO FAR satisfied with Ryan. I hope my luck holds and that yours changes for the better.

Good luck!!

[Widow in Toledo]

We purchased our Ryan seven years ago, I believe we are the 3rd owner.
Included in the purchase price was a new roof. (stay tuned it gets better)
The house was built in 1979 before Ryan was run out on a rail (I am assuming)
I have a 3 bedroom, two story, 1 1/2 bath, full basement. Lets start with the roof. Contractor pulled off the shingles to find 4 yes FOUR nails in EACH 4x8 sheet of plywood. He said the only thing holding the wood on was the weight of the shingles, since most of the nails weren't in a stud. Down spouts 2 yes TWO down spouts for the ENTIRE house. Inspector said that with just 1 inch of rain there would be = to 1000 gallons of water per minute draining out of them. Siding...A nail every 4 to 5 feet if you were lucky..NO nails unless it was a fluke in the studs. You could take the siding at the bottom and whip it off the house in one pull.. Windows..piece o crap is all you can say.... we replaced those first year we lived here. Front door...about 2 years after we moved it it started to rot.. come to find out they attached the fancy top after they put on the siding (to lazy to use flat siding behind it. No caulk so rotted door frame. Front steps caved in, all they were made of was cement block frame and then they filled the hole in with sand. Bath room.. went to replace the vanity/sink... someone was just lazy and cut a hole in the wall to slide the counter top into the drywall rather than cut the counter top to fit.
Currently we are ripping out the kitchen..and the piece o crap built on site kitchen cabinets. I didn't check these before I bought because previous owner had them refaced...they looked new! Dumb Dumb ME!!
I took out a foot of wall in the galley style kitchen that was supposed to fit a washer and dryer...why you would want one of those in your kitchen??? We pulled out the counter in the corner and guess what!! 2 inches bigger so they shoved it in the wall to hide rather than cutting to size.. apparently their motto was don't measure cut once?? We tore out the saufet(sp?) to find all the electrical laying in there oh and they ran a basement hot water tank 220 line from basement up to the second floor across the second floor joist ABOVE the kitchen ceiling then back down the kitchen wall to the basement (where it started from) down the wall back to the breaker box. Had they run it along the first floor joist to the breaker box it would have taken about 4 ft of wire instead of 50. I understand that back in the 70's and probably still today they offer the buyer A - B - C choices A being highest quality and C being lowest..
Dummy me thought my brother in laws house (another Ryan) just fell apart because they are pigs...guess not! I am also replacing the sliding glass door because the water flying off the house into the down spout on the garage is creating a tidal wave that runs across the window .. this has caused the door to leak ..
The house was a "show" house so we figured it was built better than the others simply because they were trying to snag the people who have no clue...WRONG turns out they are a equal opportunity rip off company.

Oh and now we should probably discuss the wiring that isn't code..my BF has a electrical engineering degree and said there is no way in H..l this house should have passed inspection. My kitchen remodel is turning into that house in the movie "Money Pit" !!!!!

I would never recommend buying one of their homes either from the 70's or now. I can't believe they are STILL in business!!! Do you think they might have old floor plans ?? I tried to get them from the county but they only keep them 10 years. We are currently trying to figure out why I have a drain running out of the first floor ceiling down to the basement to the soil pipe. No plumbing what so ever in that part of the house unless they put that there in case someone wanted a bathroom sink in the master bedroom ?? Which I think was an option since the upstairs bath has 2 doors one off the master and one off the hall ??? If anyone knows how to get blue prints I would love to find ones to my house. Thanks

[htlong]

Originally Posted by Briolat21

Wow. Bitter much?

This is an advice/opinion forum.. Some people haven't had problems with them. If you want to say "YET" - that's fine. It sounds like your experience has been horrible - I'm sorry for that. Our experience was pretty decent - at least on the structural issues (which I consider the most important). As far as the finish work (we just closed a week ago) - I would prefer that they hire finish crews who knew what they were doing, so that they didn't have to come out and fix it 3 more times.

But so far, they have come out and fixed things. (patching drywall, straightening switch box, etc..). Pretty much all cosmetic at this point.

There are several neighborhoods around here with older (3-10 year old Ryan homes) and personally I think the homes' siding looks fine. It is no cheaper or thinner than what I see on most other tract homes. It is not wood siding. It is not cementitious siding (like masonite). It is vinyl. It looks like vinyl. I can live with that.

As I said - so far they have been fine. Yes, I would love to be a millionare and custom build a great home with top-of-the-line materials (including rafters instead of trusses so i could have an open useable attic). But since that is not my reality, I am SO FAR satisfied with Ryan. I hope my luck holds and that yours changes for the better.

Good luck!!

bitter not me , I worked on one of their homes and one was enough,the toledo widow is speaking the truth,, you cant see what corners have been cut on your house ryan is a puddy and paint ,grab the cash and run outfit....buy it if you want..... but good luck.....

[Widow in Toledo]

Well I must say Ryan does reply to their emails! I sent an email to them and they called me on the phone the very next day! I asked the guy about blueprints he says..oh after 10 years we throw all those out...I said... yea I would want to destroy the evidence if I were you too! (I thought that was a good one myself LOL) He said pardon me?? I then told him about my electrical issues..(didn't even get into the rotted back wall, water issues..) He swore up and down that anyone working for Ryan would never buy off an inspector I just laughed and said good thing he wasn't a certain wooden puppet or his nose would be a mile long! I told him thanks but I guess I would just have to rip all the drywall off the back wall of the kitchen and have my electrician try to re-wire the house this weekend. OH and my lovely weekend turned into so much fun!
The water flying off the house due to non existent down spout issue caused the door frame to rot..causing the floor where the water traveled to also rot..causing the sub floor to rot...causing the sill plate (sp?) to ROT causing something that likes to EAT wood to move in!! Bottom line ... replaced 8 ft of sil lplate, all of the wood around the door frame (now done in treated wood) , replaced door, replacing 2 sheets of sub floor tomorrow. And I haven't even started on the electric yet! .... someone shoot me! They are building a development by Ryan just down the street from my BF in another Ohio town...seriously thinking of getting some spray paint and adding to the information on their sign....<G>

[rrjackson]

I don't see this as opinions, but maybe some actual experiences with opinions of. Some hearsay stated as facts maybe. The tit for tat stuff is annoying, not embittering. My house cost me tens of thousands for the defects and caused permanent health damages. People, including Ryan Homes people, like to disqualify that with... so and so's house was fine, like it just equals all out that way. That doesn't work unless one is self absorbed or self serving.

But if one wants to write off our experiences as just bitterness, I have no doubt we help prevent some other's from experiencing the level of disaster Ryan Homes gave us. People with problems can take Ryan Homes to our dedicated grip site, and make Ryan Homes think twice about causing another home disaster like ours, preventing a new gripe site over manageable issues. They can be more attentive to serviceable things they ignored or disregarded with us, until it was beyond their capacity to manage. I get the calls and e-mails of people totally frustrated with them through that site and other such sites. 99 out of 100 complainers I dealt with do not post or go public, they just wanted things righted.

You do not have to be a millionaire to have a quality house built though, if you have the means to be more involved and hands on. If you get a lemon home, you may have to be a millionaire to get made right though. If I could go back I would skip Ryan Homes and just hire the subcontractors I might need, and not the lowest bid ones they hire, as that's all they really do. I've paid enough fixing this Ryan Homes to buy a real home. As a mass builder they cut every corner in cost to make better margins. If I could start over I'd rather keep my share of those millions that go into their board members bonus checks each year for thinking up new ways to cut corners. I would simply try to use the wasted margins to get quality materials, special amenities, and quality workmanship, rather than leave that all to a company that only cares to make your house last one year, knowing they'll be long gone and untouchable thereafter.

[Widow in Toledo]

Well several years ago my husband and I went looking at houses to build. We actually found a company in Indiana (near Shipshawanna sp??) They built the home in their factory. Now mind you we toured at least 4 different factory's before finding this one. They will all let you go watch a house (Including your own) being built. I would have happily rented a corp. apartment and spent the 2 or 3 weeks it takes to build a home just to be there every day to catch a mistake. These homes had better construction than ones built on site...(they gotta survive driving down the road after all) My father who built his own home and was a cabinet maker was very impressed with this company. They even let you make your own blueprints (for $100) At least they weren't glorified trailers. These were REAL homes. I am bummed we didn't go through with the deal. In the end we decided it was just to much to take on. We bought this Ryan home instead. Now talk about trailer construction!! This one comes in worse than a trailer! What is the name of the gripe site you have ?? I would love to join if for no other reason than venting! LOL My suggestion to those thinking of getting a Ryan home... Go to Indiana and tour ALL the housing factories..many are built by the Amish and the construction is really top notch. I have NFI in any of them, just know quality construction when I see it. The best ones let you pick name brand fixtures and cabinets. This way replacement isn't a factor if something breaks. Try doing that in a Ryan home site built kitchen cabinet! Sawdust and glue that is all this house is made of! Good thing I live in a high end property mkt.