The best place to start is at the beginning. After returning home from my deployment in Afghanistan, I began focusing on starting a family, which led me to K. Hovnanian Homes (Khov). We were shown a display house that was supposedly a model of how our home would be laid out. However, when the house was completed, it turned out to be a mirror image of what we were promised, leaving my daughter with a view of the neighbors' house instead of the open field we were led to expect. The layout on their site was completely misleading. Additionally, the wetlands near our property were represented in a different area than where our house was actually built. From my experience, the condition of the land on the day of showing the lot is likely how your property will end up looking. I've spent time working in the dense jungle bordering our lot, which the agent claimed would be suitable for my wife to play volleyball on. The area is so thick with shrubs and poison ivy that I wouldn't let my family help me remove anything. The warranty and repairs specialist we dealt with was comparable to the most basic union apprentices I've worked with. This man has visited my house multiple times, and each time he looks for the quickest and easiest way to get out of doing his job. He smiles to your face while undermining you behind your back. His name starts with a "P," and I advise you not to trust him--always double-check his work. I had settlement cracks running across the living room, and the patchwork repairs were horrendous. They installed broken cabinets, and when he returned to replace them, he shot trim nails through the cabinet, leaving them sticking out on the inside. The yard work is another matter; it's been horrendous. I brought in eight yards of topsoil to level out the hills and will have to purchase more next year to keep trying. We also discovered a factory defect with our tub. Mr. P informed us that our two-year-old had likely chipped the wall with a Barbie. After inspection, it turned out to indeed be a factory defect. Khov does not replace factory defects; they only cover the installation of materials. Now, after three years of trying to get the tub replaced so I can bathe my children, I find myself in contact with the manufacturer, playing the worst game of pass-off I've ever experienced. As a disabled veteran, I have been disappointed with Khov's lack of commitment to fixing their errors. Honestly, save yourself the trouble. I even led my parents away from Khov, recommending they go with Ryan Homes instead. I urge anyone considering Khov to do the same. I am a 13-year Seabee builder in the Navy and a 10-year union carpenter. Yes, I could fix these issues myself, but I have a problem paying to fix something I already paid professionals to do, which is how Khov markets itself--but that is simply not the case. read more

Dealing with KHOV's Michelle Arocho is a nightmare! TLDR: If you want to be misled, and have a large builder beating you over the head with their contract, then build with KHOV! Specifically, Michelle Arocho, Ohio's Director of Sales, will yell, bully and threaten you with keeping your earnest money and cancelling your contract if you try to ask for explanations or point out their mistakes. We were forced to close the house with a bully because we needed a house and we could not find anything else within the time frame. We had to wait until our house to close and got all the paperwork so that she could not touch our house and we can finally stand up for ourselves. Now we have to remember that we bought a house from a bully forever. When we signed the contract, we were told we could submit a loan commitment letter first and shop around for lenders later. In the contract, it does say we need the seller's approval if we need to change the lender. We reasonably believed that means they will approve of the change, because we told the sales rep and the loan officer from KHAM (K. Hovnanian American Mortgage) verbally and in a written email that we would change the lender 2 months before closing. No one said we were doing anything wrong. Then we submitted a request to change the lender 60 days before the closing date, and KHOV denied our request. We simply wanted to change loan officers, keeping the same lender and same loan program, because the other loan officer had better rates. The sales rep simply said, "it was too late" but "we allow you to switch to KHAM". We asked why it is not too late for switching to KHAM but not our previously approved lender, and no explanation was provided. We further pursued our request with the regional director of sales, Michelle Arocho, who started by yelling and threatening us that if we change the lender, KHOV will keep our earnest money and sell our house to someone else, because it would be a breach of contract. We told her we were misled with wrong information to begin with, and even offered to show her our emails to her sales rep and KHAM. She doubled down and said that employees' emails to us and verbal communications do not matter. According to the contract, KHOV is fulfilling it and we are the ones about to breach it. We asked why we were allowed to change to KHAM, but she contradicted her sales rep and said we could not. She threatened that the only choices we have are to keep the current lender or give up the house and earnest money. Why even hire sales reps if what they say don't matter? To KHOV, the contract is the only thing that matters throughout the process. Unfortunately, this means the sales department is free to promise anything they want, and we buyers are responsible for the consequences. She is presenting that with KHOV, customers are always right until we give them the earnest money (deposit). After that, only the contract is right! Be prepared to be yelled at and threatened if you are about to talk to her. read more