[tabs]

I have to shake my head in amazement. I really felt STUPID when I got caught buying a Defective Home. But I have figured there ar at least 170 other home buyers in the same development that are stupid right along with me. But if I thought I was treated shabbily, my new neighbors have far surpassed me.

I have a new neighbor 2 doors down. They moved in about 2 weeks ago from AZ. They bought the same model as mine. When they did their "Walk Through" to note any defects that needed to be repaired by the builder before closing, they noticed several lenghty cracks in the Dry Wall in the Garage, Living Room and Front Bedroom. Along with 22 or so other items mostly minor that needed correcting. There was some disagreement on the amount of closing costs, which were eventually ironed out by the Builders Attorney.

However now that the house has closed escrow, the new owners can't get ahold of the Builders Sales Manager. Trying to get any of the items fixed on the list has now become near impossible. The Builders explaination for the cracking was "The house is settling" and thats to be expected.

Anyway yesterday I went and met the new neighbors, and was informed by them as to what had transpired. The one thing that got my attention was a 10 foot crack in the slab in the garage that was 3/8 inch wide. It had been epoxied. I then told her the facts about the neighborhood and gave her my attorneys number. I basically told her that the closest 2 houses that had been there for some time, were both Construction Defect Buybacks resulting from a law suit. That the other two houses closest to her in my direction were in litigation over construction defect.

Unfortunately it is my belief that the location of her house makes it a ticking bomb with a short fuse. The house has been finished since August and is allready the exhibiting damage I described. It will start to disintergrate so that it will be unlivable in about 2 years. In between they will get to watch the cracks grow on a daily basis. My neighbor across the street does just that.

A lot of people that I tell this to think well how bad can this be? Once you've seen it, they become believers. what I don't get is why people in my neighborhood don't get more upset about this. Even homeowners with cracks are passive and think oh well if we just take out some Dry Wall and replace it, it will be OK. Believing what the Builder tells them. Wrong you have to fix the foundation of the home, otherwise it will crack again. They don't realize the Builder isn't going to fix the REAL problem unless you win a judgement against him. They remain ignorant of the facts and aren't willing to realize that their investment in their homes is at stake. Sure their homes are worth something, but at what kind of reduced level. If you've had any testing done your house is unsaleable due to the fact that you have to disclose the defect information. On really bad houses even major patching won't hide the fact for very long.

Now heres the upshot of the whole thing. The Builder did a Manometer test on my house in early June. After the technician was done with my house , he went over and did a manometer test on my new neighbors house. I went over and talked to the tech while he was doiing the test on my neighbors house. He indicated to me that his pleminary findings indicated the house was allready at the extreme end of what acceptable tolerances are on slabs. This was without the house having the roof loaded or stucco applied. So the Builders Sales agent knew the house the house was defective, lied to the prospective buyers in claiming it was only normal settling. Then to try and jerk the people around on closing costs... You would think that after the number of complaints and lawsuits from homeowners that the Builder and his agents would at least try and clean up their act. But all they do is keep on lying and cheating their buyers.