From the start, we were very excited to finally be purchasing a new construction home. We toured the models at the Saratoga Estates "Manzanita" collection in El Dorado Hills and absolutely loved the open floor plans: for us it was exactly what we were looking for after a long time looking. The base packages were good when compared to other builders in the area - and they were very forward about options pricing (provided the entire price list upon request).
Once the building process was coming together (frame complete), we began to come by from time to time to check on things. We live in Santa Clara - so this meant coming up about twice a month to have a quick walkthrough. We would catch a thing here and there - like the wrong cabinet doors being installed for an example. There were a handful of things that caught our eye workmanship-wise, and we consulted our inspector as to the validity of the concern before bringing those up.
For the most part, the sales office was very responsive to any inquiries. But once we got within 30 days of escrow, we were going to talk on the phone to discuss a couple of items (brought up in email with pictures). This is where things took an interesting turn - when we finally had the follow-up call, the representative used terms like "so it sounds like you aren't satisfied...". They directed us to take some time and call back to let them know if we wanted to continue, and that we could cancel and receive a full refund of all deposits.
This seemed odd, so I took a closer look at the sales contract and one paragraph stuck out:
"10. Notwithstanding any provision contained in the Agreement, and regardless of whether or not Buyer is in default under the Agreement, if, prior to Closing, any dispute arises between Seller and Buyer with respect to construction or completion of the Residence, the conduct or actions of Seller's agents, contractors, and/or field personnel, or the obligations of Seller and Buyer pursuant to this Agreement, and if Seller, in its sole discretion, determines that Seller will be unable to resolve such dispute on terms acceptable to Seller, then in addition to any other rights and remedies available to Seller under this Agreement, Seller shall have the unilateral right to elect to cancel this Agreement by providing written notice thereof to Buyer and Escrow Agent, in which event the Deposit shall be returned to Buyer and the parties shall have no further rights or obligations under this Agreement. This Paragraph 10 shall not give the Seller the right to cancel this Agreement due to changes in market conditions that may affect the value of the Property or the terms of available financing."
Taking this into consideration, I returned the call and said that we had no problems, and that if they are standing by the work, we will continue to work with them. This was met with them saying that they would now have to talk to the owner to see if they wanted to go forward still. Seems a bit fishy - a little like they wanted us to bite on an easy out, but we didn't take the bait.
The call came the next day, with the expected outcome: they didn't feel comfortable moving forward. They said they pride themselves on the quality of their work, and that from the beginning, we didn't appear satisfied - they even used the fact we hired a 3rd party inspector as an example of our dissatisfaction: adding that they have their own inspectors and the county which should be more than sufficient. Let me ask you this: would a builder that is so sure of their work quality have a problem with a buyer hiring their own inspector? Or better yet - what idiot would buy a house without their own inspector?
Certainly the timing of this all seems suspicious - contracting in Nov/Dec 2020 to purchase, and all of a sudden the market gets much hotter.... But they were just concerned we weren't happy enough throughout the process? Well, judge for yourself. read more