Warning: RANT below
You may remember in the beginning of my posts the issues we had with our lot. If not, I'll give you the cliffnotes: we toured the model, fell in love, met with the SR to start the process and pick a lot. We told him we weren't interested in an interior (IE back up to another house's backyard) lot. He showed us a map, with other lots that weren't yet available but they would be released soon and they were large (twice the size of the interior lots), private and backed up to woods. We were immediately interested, since we knew we would be asking for a delayed delivery anyway, we didn't need a lot that was available to build on right then. Our SR went to the developer, who refused to give us the lot, then told us the developer said he (the developer) had no immediate plans to build on the lots, he wasn't going to be releasing them for probably a year, yada yada yada. We ended up picking an interior lot (since it was our only option if we wanted to move forward) but I (obviously) am still salty about it.
Fast forward, we were visiting the house last week and I drive past the lot we wanted. Not only did it have a Bonterra (the other builder in our section of the development) posted, it had a SOLD sticker on it. Yup, that's right, six weeks after we break ground and the prime, private wooded lots had not only been released, they had already all been sold! To say I was furious was an understatement. My husband immediately emailed our SR to find out what the deal was, since we were told that RH & the developer had a deal that RH got priority to buy the lots. The response we got was that there is a dispute now going on between RH & the developer, each accusing the other of not holding their end of the bargain. The developer is saying RH was in default of their contract because they did not sell as many lots as they agreed, RH is saying the developer breached. Either way, I am angry.
I believe our SR flat out lied from the beginning. I believe he knew that the developer wasn't happy with them about not moving the lots they (RH) already had & as a result, that he knew that the developer was going to give Bonterra those premium lots instead. But of course, he didn't want to tell us that because he didn't want to lose a sale if we decided to go with Bonterra instead. I know in most buying situations sales people stretch the truth and that there are always issues of buyers remorse and questions of "what if," but this is a HUGE (possibly lifelong) purchase and I feel like we were essentially tricked into it.
Yes, I know that I will love my house but will I ever not be angry at how much better it could have been? Or envious of our poor, unsuspecting neighbors building on "my" dream lot?
I think the sales reps don't know very much. So maybe he lied - or maybe he just doesn't know stuff.
ReplyDeleteI made a point about staying in the area/school district we were already in. I graduated four kids from that school and have ties with the community. Oh, Ryan never builds in that area. And yet? By the time my house was in build they were not only building there, there were building MY HOUSE with most of the options I chose (they went on and on during build about how nobody had ever done the things I was doing before... non-standard after non-standard, blah blah blah)
Disappointed does not even begin cover it.
Did the sales rep already know?
I have been in the sales world before and I know they don't tell the lower level sales people anything until the absolute last minute. Lots of times clients know before the lower level sales people.
I agree with Tammigirl, I think the SRs are very limited on what they know... although I'm sure there are some that will just tell you what they think you want to hear too.
ReplyDeleteI think the developers and RH go head to head a lot! I know in our community their was a battle which phase to start next and went back and forth for months. They are working on the phase next to me which will only be 14 houses and they are PRIME LOTS, gorgeous views....Developer still won't release them yet.........TODAY...who knows tomorrow. I know our PM disagrees with our developer right now because they are making a muddy muddy mess out of our street to push around dirt and it's a fight to keep our street clean.
ReplyDeleteKeep this in mind, a Savoy right next door to us (we are the last in our phase) will be nearly $30,000.00 more than mine, they one right next door!
Try to look at the positive, I'm a should woulda coulda kinda person and second guess.....everything!! So I feel your pain. So try and focus on the things you can change. This is something your truly can do NOTHING about...I know it pisses you off, but nothing you can do now :(......Be pissed then move to be pissed about something you can change...LOL
I agree with everyone. When did Bonterra start building in that community? Do they have a model home? I think the SR didn't know. If he knew from the start, I think he would have been more likely to say, "that's not our lot".
ReplyDeleteWell it's not much you can do about it now. Focus on the things you can change. I am sure you will love your house all the same.