Do not use this builder! They specifically prey upon minorities and low-income buyers.
We contracted with America's First Home in Summer 2004 to build a home. We were told that if we use their lender, they cover the closing costs.
We've been dealing with them for a full year, and STILL, NO HOME.
The first problem arose when we chose a model that according to one of their price sheets, had been discontinued months before we met with them. We were not notified that this house was discontinued until our interior design appointment 2 months later. They wrote us a NEW CONTRACT with a different model.
The second problem occured when we complained that after a full month of leaving messages, our sales person SARIBELLE SETIEN was not returning our calls. This caused a delay in filing for a building permit. They would not stand by the 3-4 months timeline they promised to build our home. They stated that THE CONTRACT said they can take up to 2 years before they are in violation.
The third problem came in when they rewrote the contract to add my spouse. We wanted this originally, but they advised us not to. After 5 months of thinking we were making progress with them, we were back at square one. Based on their sales pitch we should have been moved in by December/January.instead, we were signing our THIRD CONTRACT to have the home built.
THE CONTRACT states that if we walked away from the deal, our deposit would be forfeited. We figured we would just finish the process and be done with them. Housing prices in our area are SOARING, and we didn't have much choice. Finally the home was completed. We did our final walkthrough, and signed off on the construction.
We provided them with all necessary documentation regarding savings, income, bank statements, etc. All of this information was misplaced, and we had to provide it again. We spent an entire month on this process. Even the day before the closing, we could not get a copy of our closing package to have our attorney review.
To our amazement, just hours before closing, we got a call from the builder stating that the price of our house would have to increase, because of an administrative error on THE CONTRACT we had been working from. The closing costs and other fees which they were supposed to pay would not be covered by them after all. The cost of the home went up $15,000! They gave us the following options:
A) bring this amount to closing (their lender has all of our financial docs and KNEW we did not have enough money to cover this)
B) let them rewrite the contract reflecting the higher price (which raises our monthly payment just out of our reach-INSTANT FORECLOSURE!)
C) default on the contract so they could sell the home at a much higher price (and after wasting a year, we are back to paying RENT).
When we voiced our dissatisfaction, Citizens Trust Mortgage, their lender called repeatedly to strongarm us into signing the new contract. The representative BEN BECKER even warned us not to bring a lawyer into the situation, because we would LOSE.
This company switches contracts to cover up their mistakes, and to increase their profits. They use unassuming customers to get the homes built, then sell them off to investors for higher profit.
We are sitting in an apartment with boxes wondering what to do next! Beware!
0 comments