Do Not Fall For The Sales Pitch!
My wife and I signed a contract with KB Homes to build a house in Elgin on Sunday, August 16. The sales pitch was very much focused on the timing of the build. We were told that if we wrote a check for the earnest money that day, we would take advantage of some "deal." We were also promised a 6 month construction timeline.
We did everything we were asked to do immediately. We drove out from Austin more than once on a moment's notice to deliver paperwork. We were very excited and pleased with how everything seemed to be moving quickly at first. Within the first week to ten days, we had financing approved and everything ready for the design appointment. Then we waited.
We called and emailed the design studio. No response. On September 1, we reached out to our sales guy to let him know we had not heard anything. He promised to set it up. Nothing. On September 19 we reached out to our sales guy again. Finally, we received a voicemail from the design studio offering October 13 for the initial meeting. Of course, nobody answered the phone or called us back when we tried to return that call. When we, again, went through the sales guy to reach them, we were scheduled for October 22. Of course we both had to take off work for this, but we did and attended a 2 hour long zoom meeting.
The contract KB sends you contains a timeline. That timeline shows that you will be done making selections and construction will start 6 weeks after you sign. At the 6 weeks point, we had not even had the first meeting. Our first meeting was held over 8 weeks after we signed the contract. While we were worried and were reaching out regularly to our sales guy and his manager, we were repeatedly assured that construction would still happen on the timeline in the contract.
All that changed after our design meeting. Following the first meeting, we were told we would have to have a second meeting. We tried to just take care of everything at the first meeting- we had already made all our decisions. We were refused. And the second meeting could not be scheduled until NOVEMBER 18. That was fully 3 months after we signed the contract.
KB told us they could not apply for permits or do anything else until we met with their design team. They also told us there was nothing we could do to meet sooner. Finally, they sent us a new construction timeline that pushed our completion date back from February to May. When I mentioned that the original timeline was part of the contract that we had signed and paid earnest money for, KB told us we were out of luck.
We would now have to extend an apartment lease on a month to month basis, and pay significantly higher rent for at least 3 months more than we had planned. KB refused to make any concessions for the significant extra costs they caused. My wife and I finally pointed out that under the contract, they were obligated to get us into a home by the original date. Their own lack of staffing and ineptitude at the design center did not constitute the "circumstances outside their control" contained in the contract. Their response was to offer us our earnest money back.
We agreed on October 26 to terminate the contract and have our earnest money returned. If that had happened, I would not be here writing this warning. Instead, it is now December 7, and we have not seen the money. We have gotten no communication whatsoever from KB in the 6 week since they promised to return our money.
In the meantime, my wife and I signed a contract with another builder in Elgin as soon as KB terminated our contract. We used money we had set aside for Christmas presents to pay that earnest money. That company started construction immediately. Our kids might not have many Christmas presents since KB is keeping the money we intended to use for those, but we will have a nice new house to move into very soon. read more