River Pointe Leesburg VA (2013, mortgages, attorney)

[bygollyman]

I moved into*River*Pointe*in January. And at this time I would not recommend this location to anyone looking for their dream house.

Since moving in it has been a constant battle with the builders who insist on treating it as a building site. There is "never" any respite noise generally starts before 7 and goes on late into the evening. I am writing this on a Sunday morning after again getting my sleep interupted before 7:00 AM. If that were not bad enough the builders seem incapable of picking up trash, so it is not uncommon to have builing plastics strewn across the entire community. And, the builders park wherever they want to, if that so happens to be across your drive, then I am sure they will move it when they get around to it.

Build quality seems to be poor, my AC was never charged, and in the heat of the summer it took over a week to get fixed. Shower leaked causing damage to rooms underneath, which also took a while to be fixed.

Prior to miving in I enquired about when the Club house would be completed and was told June 2013. That's great because that falls in line with summer when it can really be enjoyed. Unfortunatly its now October and the Club house has yet to be even started.

Unfortunately despite contactibg the town of*Leesburg, the issues continue to persist. They told me to contact the Sherif, which I have reluctantly done once, but they have more important things to do than keep turning up here.

So.. 2 things. If you are thinking of buying in this community I suggest you wait until the builders ha e completely packed up and left.If you have already bought a house here, and you agree with this message, you must make the town know that*RiverPointe*has become a living hell! I suggest you let kristen the mayor know by email.

[BT Lover]

We found it very odd that they hadn't built the clubhouse first. Most communities start with the amenities and build the housing after that. When we did visit, we also noticed that construction was going on at all times of the day, but in all fairness, with it being warmer, they are limited with the hours they can work without affecting their health and I wouldn't want a construction worker to die building a house.

It seems like a nice enough community, but we thought it was a bit overpriced for what you received. I had read some articles about the builder where people had problems in the past with other communities and wasn't impressed by the salesperson we talked to. When we mentioned our budget and she went 50K over it, that was clearly showing me that listening wasn't a top priority.

It is horrible that you have had to go through all of this, and that they are treating you the way they are, but hopefully, they complete things soon.

[VRE332]

I have look at many builders and have come to the conclusion that most (not all) are using the cheapest vinyl windows you could imagine. The worst offender is NV/Ryan with their builder grade crap. My advice is for anyone looking for a home to look at the quality of the windows.

[mdcrim]

We have found the Sheriff's office to be very responsive about enforcing the noise laws. We've had construction behind us for awhile and they put a stop to the pre-7am work with one phone call, never to be repeated (I think they threatened them with a fine). If this community is located within the town boundaries I believe it would need to be the Leesburg Police you contact. Not sure what the town mayor would be able to do for you...

[mikeva5]

I am sorry you had a bad experience with your home. My wife and I moved into River Pointe about a year ago and we love it. Any issues (which are to be expected) with the house were immediately corrected by the warranty team. We’ve found it to be a great family friendly neighborhood.

[gomason]

Rule #1: Don't buy a home from K Hovnanian Homes. Customers are constantly complaining about their houses falling apart.

Source: My mom, former employee of K Hov.

[NC211]

Buying new construction isn't like buying a new car. When we moved here at the end of 2011, we had no choice but to buy a newly constructed home (was 70% done when we signed on the dotted line to buy it). I won't buy another "spec" home again. If I ever do buy a newly constructed home, it'll be my own custom home, and I'll be on-site every day to check how it's going.

That being said: ALL builder's have issues in this segment. It's mass production that should've been completed yesterday. You, the buyer, should rely more on the county regulations than anything a builder tells you about their "quality control" department. Each builder is going to build their home to the minimum county requirements to achieve that certificate of occupancy, so they can sell the home. If a builder is touting "we use 2x6's with a 12 inch offset, instead of 2x4's with a 16' offset", they're doing it because the county likely told them they had to, not because they want to. More supplies = more cost = less profit. If you have a significant problem with your new home, save your breath and just call the county to come out to verify the problem. Tell them you're wondering how on earth they allowed the structure to be released to the public. What will happen (depending on how long you've owned the home, typically within the first 12 months is ideal) is the county will tell the builder that they're not going to release their bond on that home until it's fixed correctly.

Home builders push their "great customer care" reputation on buyers in hopes the buyer doesn't know to just call the county. The builder wants you to call them directly, so it can be fixed without the county knowing about it. The more issues a county learns about with a specific builder, the harder it becomes for that builder to obtain building permits for future projects. Case in point - I had nearly 20 yards and a playground in our neighborhood redone by the builder for too many rocks left behind when they rolled the sod. After a year haggling with the builder and countless empty promises, I simply pulled the county guy out to walk the neighborhood with me. Said "how can this be acceptable to you for public usage". Result: All bond reduction requests going forward from the builder were denied, until the problem was fixed properly. If you call an attorney, the first thing that attorney is going to go after are those bonds. Save the legal expense, and call the county directly.

All of that being said though, the main reason why I won't buy another newly constructed spec home again, is because what you're buying is a house that is 90% complete. That last 10% is what makes a house a home, and it's on your dime to get it done. In this market, where average prices are around $600k, it takes another $60k to $100k to get it all done right. Decks, carpet that lasts longer than 24 months, paint, trim work, yard work, fence, etc.... it all adds up. If I were in the market for a home right now, I'd actually be looking at the homes built in the last boom cycle of 05'-07', instead of new, for this very reason. There are several home owners from that era who bought, market crashed, builders came in next door with smaller houses (4,000sf instead of 5,000sf), and couldn't sell their homes. Now, several of those owners have worked their mortgages down to a point where they can sell in the price points of these new home builders, and are doing so. Case in point, a few around us from that era, with sizes of around 5,500sf, sold new in 06' for nearly $1,000,000. Now they have mortgages with balances of around $750,000, and they're selling their home to move on for $800,000. That's a price point of around $145 psf. Or, you could buy a newly constructed home around the corner that measures 4,000sf for $165 psf ($660,000), and still have to spend another $60k to make it a "home" over the next two years or so. So, $720,000 for less space and more work, or $800,000 for completely tweaked and ready "home"?