What are the reasons? (Tampa: rental, HOA, insurance)

[kmarc]

Originally Posted by AES328

For the record, I live in a Lennar home that was built in 2013, and the private home inspector I hired (quite possibly the most anal retentive man I have ever known) to do a new and a 1-year full assessment was "floored" (his own words) at how well built the structure was.

The only issues I've had so far were some minor cosmetic (and normal) ones, like a small settlement crack in the garage floor... more of a hairline crack really.... and a couple cracked tiles which have since been replaced under warranty. No outer structural cracking which according to him is rare for new builds. The water heater's circuit board needed to be replaced as well but that's not a Lennar problem. Apparently the manufacturer switched part providers and the new one had some serious quality control problems. The guy who came out to repair it said he has performed the same fix for almost every house in the neighborhood.

Is it perfect? Nope. Did I pay a metric **** ton of money for it like I would have for a comparable property in the DC area? Not even close.

To paraphrase our Maximum Leader, "If you like your Lennar home, you can keep your Lennar home."

Seriously, sounds like it will work out for you. I don't go looking on review sites for information, what I've heard about Lennar and KB came from stories on the local news, and in the case of Lennar, I started hearing things back in the late 1980s when I was living in South Florida and Lennar was building there. I haven't heard anything negative about Beazer in the media.

I've also spoken with a handful of people over the past few years who have been residents of a subdivision in Ruskin. They mentioned problems with the building of the common areas and amenities, but I didn't hear anything about construction defects, specifically. The other problem I heard about was alleged gang activity in the subdivision, but that's not Lennar's fault. One guy was very unhappy he'd paid a top bubble price of $250,000 and he said the house across the street from him later sold for $85,000. Again, not Lennar's fault.

[mrviking]

One thing I have noticed down here with a lot of homes esp those built in the 80's and 90's where wood was used on the second stories. Florida sun is a @#$%, please check the outside of your homes esp the southern exposure of your home. The builder grade paint does not last forever. Re-paint and caulk where needed its a must in florida. My other favorite is that lots of homes down here have sprinklers on timers. Plus lots of people when building there homes installed hardwood floors. Keeping the windows open when the sprinklers are on is not always the best thing to do.

[MAniacTHW]

Originally Posted by kmarc

what I've heard about Lennar and KB came from stories on the local news, and in the case of Lennar, I started hearing things back in the late 1980s when I was living in South Florida and Lennar was building there. I haven't heard anything negative about Beazer in the media.

No, no... It's because only people with problems leave reviews . That's why you'll never find anything rated highly on the internet. Ever.

[kmarc]

Originally Posted by MAniacTHW

No, no... It's because only people with problems leave reviews . That's why you'll never find anything rated highly on the internet. Ever.

I dunno, I think it's a matter of the product, service or business that's being reviewed, and also what is the purpose for reading reviews. I've found TripAdvisor, for example, to be helpful and fairly accurate.

But you have to know how to interpret the reviews. A few bum reviews in the midst of mostly positive reviews usually means a few disgruntled customers and I can overlook that. Clusters of mostly negative reviews gives me pause, though. I like to see if there's anything in the media or any legal actions. That's where you get the real picture. And even then, beware, because the media likes to blow things up, especially if the business isn't an advertiser.

I once saved myself some time and trouble looking up a small business before a job interview. Mostly bad reviews. As the job entailed working with customers, I cancelled the interview, because I'd have to work against that reputation, whether or not it was deserved.

[lavender]

You could always go and visit a site of homes already built by the builder (obviously same type) and ask some of the folks who live there, make sure they are owners rather than renters though. It is true that a lot of sites post more negative than positive because folks love to complain but when they are happy the move on to other things. Not always the case and you will find some good ones. Homes built in a hurry in the boom, might need a better look over than now, where they are burgeoning again and have to compete with resales still. Just my opinion though.

[mrviking]

Originally Posted by lavender

You could always go and visit a site of homes already built by the builder (obviously same type) and ask some of the folks who live there, make sure they are owners rather than renters though. It is true that a lot of sites post more negative than positive because folks love to complain but when they are happy the move on to other things. Not always the case and you will find some good ones. Homes built in a hurry in the boom, might need a better look over than now, where they are burgeoning again and have to compete with resales still. Just my opinion though.

Yep, when things are crazy Good labor is in short supply. That's why the supers on the job site are so important. One of the best I saw when in the field was Suarez Housing. There supers were all over the house checking everything.

[Getting_there]

Yes, I can definitely understand that more people who are not satisfied with a service would post a negative review as opposed to people who are satisfied. And I would definitely get a home inspector in before buying, I wouldn't even think twice about it. Just seems like every home I saw in the different communities, one home was nicer than the next. You have to understand that from where I live, a $200,000 home will get you a home in a not good district and in need of major repairs. And forget about the yearly taxes.

[ApolloBeachRetiree]

I looked at Lennar when I was house hunting in 2013. I wrote them off because many of the features I wanted would have had to have been added after closing. They build houses their way and are not flexible. I chose Westbay as our builder. Our house has some things I am not pleased with - but - wwe do love our house and are pleased overall with Westbay.

[AES328]

Originally Posted by ApolloBeachRetiree

I looked at Lennar when I was house hunting in 2013. I wrote them off because many of the features I wanted would have had to been added after closing. They build houses their way and are not flexible. I chose Westbay as our builder. Our house has some things I am not pleased with - but - wwe do love our house and are pleased overall with Westbay.

Beazer and Centex are worse. They do things their way and just about everything is an extra cost. Lennar at least gives you a move-in ready home to start, without having to buy upgrades, of which there are plenty.

[ApolloBeachRetiree]

Originally Posted by AES328

Beazer and Centex are worse. They do things their way and just about everything is an extra cost. Lennar at least gives you a move-in ready home to start, without having to buy upgrades, of which there are plenty.

Yes, and the second reason I wrote them off was that the homes I saw made me think "cookie-cutter". They all looked the same with limited variety.