Meritage Homes

In July of 2011, we entered into a contract with Meritage Holmes of Florida to purchase a new home in the Lexington Green Area in the Providence area of Davenport, Florida. We did all that they asked to secure financing for the purchase. In November of 2011, after being asked to supply some information on employment, we were not able to do that because of a lack of gainful work.

I sent a letter canceling the agreement according to the mortgage contingency in the P&S (the time for securing the loan had ran out because of no fault of ours, we did everything their mortgage company asked of us). Their mortgage councilor and our salesperson Melanie ** agreed that we could not get financing and we would have the return of our deposit after signing two release forms. We did this in good faith.

We did not hear from them for several weeks and upon my initiation, the sales representative informed me that the Vice President Brian ** is refusing to return the deposit because of some vague language that we cannot find in the original P&S. The mortgage contingency is very clear that if we did our part of trying to secure financing and it was not successful, our deposit of over $4,300 dollars would be returned to the buyers. They want us to agree that if we bought a home from them within six months, they would credit the deposit.

After having him renege on the agreement, to return the deposit because of a failure to secure a mortgage in a timely manner flies in the face of good business and fairness to their potential and present customers. We do not wish to do business with this company in the future (lack of trust). The very idea that we had to institute a dialog with Mr. ** to find out that he was overriding a decision by his subordinates, just leaves us in a fatal negative mode. We wish full restitution of our deposit as we signed the release forms back in November of 2011.

Once we left the design center, and the items that we ordered started arriving, we knew we were in trouble. It was the wrong lighting package, wrong cabinet crown molding, wrong shower glass, and no spice rack. When they installed the big windows, they put some scratches on the window that now has to be replaced, and the master bathroom mirror had scratches on it that also had to be replaced.

After they laid the very expensive tile, we realized that it was not the same lot tile, so they had to tear it up and start again. Because we did not want to pay for the extra 2 tone paint for $1500.00, we opted out of that. We did however, ask someone if they would mind doing that for all of our issues that we have had and we have already bought the paint, but we never got a reply.

The fencing is not acceptable, the landscape is sparse with very little foliage. We are moving in next week after we have someone do the 2 tone paint. Since we have been closed since 12/29/11, this has been quite an event and a trip. Our sales person has been wonderful and without him things would not have been expedited.

I've had to deal with so many issues these past 5 years after buying our home in June of 2006 from the heater not heating the home in the winter for 2 years to drains in the upstairs bath and toilets not being installed properly causing leaks in the ceiling. We have had A/C drain not done properly, hot water lines not run properly, etcetera over and over. Now, there is another leak and I found out that the other bathroom toilet wasn't installed properly.

The house is fine, but the service after the sale has been horrible. I submitted my list for repairs before the first year was up. They closed the warranty order without fixing anything. Over the last year and a half, they have told me 4 times to resubmit my warranty request, and I have. Now, they say I'm beyond the time period for any warranty repair and haven't fixed anything.

I still have a list of things that were supposed to be fixed, yet Meritage homes of Texas refuses. Do not buy from them. They are great until they get your money.

I first met David ** over a month ago. The first thing I told him was that I would only do a VA loan. He said no problem! When we first talked to Jana **, the first thing we also told her was that we would only do a VA loan. Again and again, we heard no problem. Well to say the least, we have a problem! We were told that we were qualified through their lender, but no word about the VA. They have kept pressing us to do our final selections and pay them upfront. I asked Jana about the VA loan and she first told me it wasn't a VA loan. And when I told her it would be a deal breaker, she backtracked and said it was. I asked her to send us confirmation. And she sent me what looked like a typed letter, saying in one line as a side note that it would be a VA loan. It also contained more stipulations. When pressed for legal VA documents, she said she had none at this point. Well, I do know that if she had actually even filed, she would have documentation.

I will not go further at this time. But when I got online to find some main office information to contact, I found this site. And the first complaint was on the exact same subject. I will keep all informed about how this turns out. Maybe we can find more people who have had this same result and get something going! They seem to not care about anything but getting our money as quick as they can. This is not our first rodeo. They will have a huge fight if they want to do this in this manner!

I am writing this letter because I have tried working with various people within the Meritage organization to no avail in reference to the refund of my earnest money deposit.

Several months ago I contracted with Meritage homes to build me a home for 248,000 and received approval from Meritage Homes in house mortgage company for a VA loan for 248,000. Meritage built my home as contracted and when we were ready to close on the home I was informed that I did not qualify for the 248,000 VA loan. Mertiage than referred me to their back up lender who said the only way I could qualify for the 248,000 was to have my child support payments go away, which I was unable to do.

The backup lender informed me that I could qualify for a 208,000 VA loan amount but Meritage does not have any homes in the neighbor where I want to live in that 208,000 price range. I do not understand why Meritage is giving me such a hard time when it was your in house lender that messed up. MTH approved me initially and then at the last minute denied my loan.

According to my purchase contract with Meritage if they cannot approve my loan I am entitled to a full refund of my earnest deposit immediately.

I recently bought a Meritage home at the Deerfield North community in Plano, Texas. Meritage Homes claimed in their advertisement and flyer that the house has square footage of 3452 . However the appraisal report shows that the house's square footage is actually 3332 only. The difference is 120 sqft. This is not a small number and is big enough to accomodate another bedroom. In terms of dollar amount, I have basically lost more than $10000. Also from Meritage Homes document, I found that they misrepresented the square footage by adding at least 86 sqft of the house garage extension into the living square footage.

I have requested their DFW Director of Sales to compensate my loss of over $10000 due to the loss of square footage. But he denied it and blamed that it was the appraiser's mistake. Then I requested Meritage Homes to re-appraise the house, he refused to do it. Rather he warned me that if I choose not to close my home purchase transaction, they would take away my earnest money (which is more than $20000) and sell the house to other people.

It's hard for me to believe Meritage Homes as a public company has such poor customer service with focus on customer's money rather than customer's satisfaction. It is the most unpleasant experience to me as a customer.

The builder is the Meritage Corporation located in **** with fax number **** and its sales agent Yolanda ****. Its website is ****. The Meritage Corporation has an F rating with the Better Business Bureau on a scale from A to F. 10 failures to respond to complaints, 6 complaints not resolved and 18 complaints on earnest money not returned. I filled out a credit application for the first time as a home buyer and I did not qualify. The Meritage Homes Corporation declined my $500.00 earnest money refund.

With the realtor which is the **** , I have not heard from him nor did he help me get my earnest money refunded. I was shown three houses. The lending company has the following details: **** ****.

We closed on a newly constructed home May 2010 and we have had a number of problems since that date. I will begin with an odor in my master bath that Meritage refuse to deal with. The electrical in my home has been a reoccurring issue. We randomly lose power in rooms throughout the house. We often have to go out and flip switches on the circuit box.

Upon completion of our home, they laid the sod around the house. The sod was dead in a large section of our backyard. We complained for months, so finally, they sent someone out to replace the grass they removed the grass but did not replace it, that was maybe Aug 10. On Nov, just a couple of weeks ago, someone comes out lay a couple of blocks of grass then leaves. He returned the day before Thanksgiving. He laid one more block of grass, then left.

Needless to say, the yard still has a large section that still needs grass, but to top it all off, the grass that he has laid is also dead grass that looks like hay. The plumbing and the AC were issues that we have had to address numerous times. The bathroom toilets seem to keep lines of black stuff around the toilet bowls and I don't know what that means. The floors in my master bedroom and the game room have squeaked from the first day we moved in. The master bedroom floor also moves every time that we walk across it. They finally sent someone out after many complaints to repair the flooring. Now the game room floor does not squeak as much. The master bedroom floor however still moves when you walk across it. When we walk across our bedroom the mirror shakes and door rattles.

The carpet in the house is another problem. It was not laid very well from the beginning. There are gaps between the wall and the carpet, around the steps there are missing pieces of carpet, and there is a space where you can see the wood that they did not paint or a lack of carpet to cover the wood. The carpet on the steps or the wood was not evenly laid. Two steps that were lose or not tacked down properly so if you stepped on them just the right way the wood would flip up. Our garage disposal is starting to rust within the sink; the plumber stated this is normal! When they installed the glass sliding door they neglected to pour the cement underneath the door to support it, so after as result the door would not lock and it was off track.

They came out after many complaints of not being able to secure my home and sent someone to pour the cement. When we were at the design center, we requested our bathroom windows be obscured well. They only did the master bath and not the others stating it was not documented in the request. The bedroom downstairs, they neglected to install a light within the closet stating they have floor plans that do not come with lights in the closet. I had issues with losing the hot water in the house and sometimes it would take them a couple of days to restore the hot water. One of the AC units was not hooked up and I was told that the unit is draining in the toilet. What should I expect as a result! The plumber stated there should be no problems with the AC unit draining in the toilet. The plumber came into our home and provided us his business card stating once the warranty runs out we can call him for repairs.

Well, this leads me to believe that I cannot trust this plumber as he is trying to line up business for himself off the clock. So how can I trust his professional opinion today? Should I expect to not get quality work so that he can wait for the business later? They did a really poor job with dripping paint throughout the house on the carpet. The painters did a very messy job with painting the base boards in the house; the paint is smeared on the tile throughout the house.

I can keep going as we have so many issues and Meritage is very bad about fixing the mess that their staff created. I have written emails and placed calls to their corporate office and nothing. After working with the original supervisor for the construction of our home and getting know where fast; he refused to respond to my calls or emails. They replaced him and had us call the warranty department who gave us a contractor that worked for Meritage well eventually he was removed, and then they gave us the warranty department manager, now their intern.

We still do not have the results we expected from Meritage. My husband is active duty military and he has not been home with our children and I for much of the time that we have been in our home. I am very concerned about the electrical system in our home but Meritage does not seem to care about my home or my family. I have been fighting with Meritage since May a week after we moved in our home and today I continue to fight with Meritage.

I have to add one more important note. Meritage utilize undocumented workers to do repairs on homes. They will not call the vendor who installed some of the products in our home. I had to state to Meritage that I will not allow the undocumented workers to work in my home. I spoke with the vendor who installed the carpet in my home he came out several times identified the issues with the carpet but has done nothing to repair the carpet. He stated if Meritage sent out someone else to work on the carpet that our 5 month old warranty is no longer valid. I have so many issues with our brand new home and even more issues with Meritage any help that I can get is welcomed. As I stated previously my husband is military and currently away so I welcome the assistance that I can get in resolving my issues with Meritage.

I can't even begin to address all the problems we have had with Meritage Homes on this site, so I'll start with just one. At the time of our home purchase (summer of 2009), we were told by the salesperson that our children would be able to walk to the schools (.25 miles from our home). At that time, there was an open field which provided direct access to both an elementary school and a middle school. We were aware of the fact that Meritage was planning to build Phase III in this field, but were never told that walking access would be completely eliminated once construction of the new phase began.

In fact, I would go as far to say that we were purposefully misled by the sales agent. I believe that he intended to omit this very necessary piece of information in order to close the sale. The proximity to the schools was the number one reason why we made our purchase. Fast forward to now (Sept 2010), walking access to both schools has been completely closed off; Meritage built a fence running the entire length of the new neighborhood and failed to provide any walking path in any form to the families of hundreds of children that formerly walked to and from school daily. Not only is it a gross oversight by Meritage in terms of being mindful of their clients' needs, but it is deceptive, to say the least, to sell homes with the impression that children can indeed walk to the schools.

Even worse is that after many of us homeowners in this neighborhood made countless calls to the Meritage corporate office and after we signed a petition, Meritage still failed to provide any sort of explanation or compensation. We even took our story to the local news. Meritage replied with a standard statement that was insulting at best. I could go on and on about the shoddy workmanship, the promises to get certain things fixed, the waiting on repairs, etc., but I simply don't have the stomach for it anymore. All I can say is that we hope to sell our home sooner rather than later. I will never buy from Meritage again and I will never recommend it to anyone.

B from Vallejo. Please contact me regarding your discovery of illegal contributions re: Concord CA office of Meritage Homes. We are in litigation and interested in your discovery.

We have complained about smell for over three years and now have found out we have Chinese toxic drywall. Meritage now admits it but swears they did not know about it three years ago. We asked that they bring in meters years ago but they refused and now we have been exposed to it and are beginning to have health problems. They want to come in and completely gut the house, vent out the chemical and issue me a certificate that certifies that the house is now free of chemical. I do not want that as the house is so poorly built that I don't think it would ever be liveable. Anyway, we now have joined a class action lawsuit and have a home we cannot sell. I am retired and I put my saving into this house and now I cannot afford to move so we will just keep breathing the fumes and hope for the best.

Purchased new home 18 months ago. Natural stone has beige color over white stone that is applied on front of the house. This beige material is literally washing, flaking, falling off, and leaving a pitted, diluted, uneven and weathered look. Very unattractive compared to when it was built only 18 months ago. The builder Bret is defensive and said nothing is wrong. This can't be normal. Durability of this stone is very poor, and Meritage does not care about its customers.

I bought this house in 2006. Ever since buying this house I have been having problems. Roof leak, gas leak, air condition problem and now water leak in the house.

I've had to deal with so many issues these past 6 years of after buying our home in April of 2004. From no insulation in the attic or walls. To drains in upstairs bath and toilets not being installed properly causing leaks in the ceiling. We have had A/C Drain not done properly, hot water lines not run properly etc. over and over. Now another leak to find out the other bathroom toilet wasn't installed properly.

There are warranty items that are still pending even after 2 1/2 years after closing the home. They were reported within the warranty period and have never been taken care of. Now the builder says they are out of warranty. Cannot understand why they did not take care of them within the warranty period even after repeated reminders. The roof is leaking and may damage the house and I think the builder is solely responsible for all this.

It's the same as the guy from Conroe that complained earlier. So I am downstairs tonight and am doing some work on the shower that I have to fix when I hear "Water coming through the ceiling in the upstairs bathroom." Well, yes it was. I thought, I have a water leak and shut the water down. So I get up in the attic and am pulling insulation back, etc. Mind you, we have had trouble getting the A/C unit to drain properly also. So, anyway, I get looking around and I finally find it and it is not a water pipe problem. This thing must have been leaking for some time. A PVC joint was not cemented together on the A/C drip pan and was leaking water. So now we have to get that fixed also.

In addition, I also find that they never bothered to tie the water heater drip pan into the drain line and also that the grounding line for the plumbing has about an inch of insulation missing from it. Yes, about an inch, and not where it is tied into the copper plumbing at. In fact, it was stuffed under the insulation next to a rafter.

And people wonder why individuals go postal. I guess we will have to go get the lawyer after all. Either that, or I am just going to walk away from the house equity and all, what a nightmare. And yes, the same guys that built the shower downstairs built the one upstairs. Why does that one not leak yet? Because we only just started to use it.

We purchased our home in May 2010. At that time, we were at the medium-sized home of plans being offered. We are at 3500 square feet, and the smallest house being offered was 2200 square feet. Meritage Homes has now decided to discontinue all of the plans in our subdivision, except for two--ours (Brazos 3500 square feet) and the Yellow Rose (4000 square feet).

They are now offering three plans now below 2200 square feet; one is 1800 squarr feet and another, 1900 square feet. Our house value has now just gone down tremendously if these homes are built in our subdivision.

This is the last time we buy from Meritage and Big Hammond Homes. They care nothing for the homeowners who are currently living in this subdivision and have already purchased from them and everything about making a buck and closing out a subdivision. When we contacted the sales person about this, she said that it wasn't a big deal with the smaller homes going into the subdivision. And when I told her it would just devalue our home, she had nothing to say.

Word to the wise, think twice before building with Meritage or even buying in a Meritage subdivision that isn't more than 3/4 complete. Check the HOA, and make sure you are able to live with the minimum square feet house that might be built there, because they will definitely build those smaller houses in your larger subdivisions.

I signed a contract to build a $350K home, already seeing issues during framing. They switched out the normal wood--used for studs during framing--with engineered lumber that was made from recycled/reconstituted wood chips or strands and finger-jointing (the gluing of larger pieces together). The quality is so bad--it is waste wood--and they now have to go back into double up on the studs and use metal straps to pull the bottom floor framing into square. It was not until the city inspector saw it that the construction manager made a trip out to the home. Took pictures of this mess, but what to do with a contract signed?

Today is April 5th and it has been exactly two years and six months since my husband and I purchased our home (October 2007). The AC unit has been failing. Since last year, two of us living there and we have had to repair it 3 times to date. Summer of 2009, we contacted the emergency number for Meritage Homes LLC in order to get a 24hr contractor to take a look at it. We did not get a response for 3 days.

Due to the 104 degree temperature to service our emergency, we had to contact someone to fix the issue. Currently, Legacy Homes is out of business but is part of Meritage Homes LLC. The emergency contact number for Meritage Homes belongs to a resident who is not associated with the company at all. When we contact Meritage Homes, they told us that if we had it serviced outside of their contractors that the warranty is void. We got this comment today and a year ago after they contacted us three days after our emergency contact attempt. Legacy Homes did not give us paperwork on our AC unit or any contact info on Goodman AC units. They did not register our AC unit with Goodman. Our neighbor had the same issue with their unit and our homes were built not even a year apart.

Count me in as a very unhappy with Meritage Homes. It seems that they do not follow there own rules. I purchased my home in Jan 2009. At the time, we were told that houses in the community would be built where no two homes would have the same elevation next door or two doors down and even across the street. The addresses would have to be a difference of 3 numbers. Similar to what all custom homes builders set their rules by to make the community not look like a cookie cutter community.

Well to our surprise, the house being built at 1017 has the same elevation as our home, which is at **, right across the street. The model home salesperson has yet to return my call. The corporate office has yet to explain to me why this happened. When we were picking our lot at the time as we were looking for our home site, we had to go to our 3 choice because of this rule. Now it looks like a free for all in where they built, not caring what the homes look like, which will affect the price when the time comes to sell. I hope someone will explain to me why Meritage builds cookie cutter communities and charge custom homes prices. My home resale price will be greatly affected by this.

Sewer line problems on the street have began to sink and cause damage to the street and have caused the driveways to separate from the houses. These streets have caused the values of homes to go down and the developer says that it does not have anything to do with it anymore.

We purchased our Meritage home in Houston, Tx in 2005. We had a home inspector go through it who said that the builder got upset when he pointed a couple of things out but under threat of building code violations (electrical), they complied. That was the one thing he called out.

I had pointed out during the final walk through, all the flaking and missing brick mortar which they promised to fix, but that never happened. We're probably looking at re-bricking the entire back of the house at a probable cost of 10 to 15k now, 5 years later. We also had them pour a concrete porch on the back of the house that has already cracked in several places.

Our neighbors to the north side had a drainage problem they believed was caused by our house being built and Meritage Home Builders came over and put a drain on their property and hooked it into my drain. When I told them to take it out, they just ignored me and never did. About the only thing they attempted to fix were a couple of settling crack that they speckled over but never came back and repainted, typical American service.

After reading some of the complaints on this site, I think I wouldn't have bought it if I had seen this site before I bought it. I think the main thing we all ought to do is find some way to publicize this site to anyone considering making a purchase from them. It might not help us but it will make them pay attention to their new customers.

I purchased new home and it was completed in Sept. 2005. The 1st issue was I requested French doors leading to the back of the home and it was not done. I was moving to Texas from California so I was not able to keep tabs on the construction. Next, after the 1st year our upgraded appliances - microwave, refrigerator, and dishwashing machine, all died at the same time. It took a few weeks to get them out to our house to fix the microwave and washing machine. I got the refrigerator ice maker going again. Shortly thereafter, the microwave went out again and they have yet to fix/replace it again.

Two days ago, our sink, that is mounted under our granite countertop, collapsed into the cabinet below. Apparently, they only glued the sink into the underside of the granite, no type of bracketing or bolting it into the underside of the granite! My wife called yesterday, did a warranty request, and we have heard nothing yet! We have a reverse osmosis water system under the sink and I hope that was not damaged as well!

Meritage is horrible after you buy your home. Their warranty support is non-existent. The cheap appliances and shoddy workmanship is just good enough to get you through the warranty period, which for most things was 1 year. After that, things will begin to break, fall apart, and die. I just feel so taken advantage of. Don't let the prices fool you. You get what you pay for I guess.

We purchased a brand new home from Meritage Homes in 2007. The house was pre-plumbered for a water softener. In May of 2009 we installed a water softener. In September 2009 we started noticing water damage in our laundry room and kitchen walls.

Due to the house still being under warranty, we contacted Meritage Homes. They came out to view the damage. At that time they cut out a piece of dry wall to find where the leak was coming from. Once the dry wall was removed, the overflow pipe behind the dry wall had a clean cut across the pipe. Meritage's plumber informed us that we had caused the damage to the pipe when we installed our water softener.

We felt that it was impossible for us to cause the damage as they stated. We contacted an independent plumber who stated the only way this pipe could have been broken in such a way was by using a pipe cutting tool. Therefore, it would have been impossible for us to do this, due to the fact that the pipe was behind the dry wall. We have since forwarded our report to Meritage Homes and they continue to give us the runaround.

Count me in as though unhappy with their Meritage Home. I also have the tile problem. I have to rip up all the tile floors in my house (over 800 sq. ft). I ripped the hallway up already and was told they used cheap thin-set, and a lot of cheap thin-set does not make it stronger. It is going to cost me thousands of dollars to replace all the tiles in my house. I would have rather they put down vinyl floors or carpeting then doing a bad tile job. Nothing I can do since the warranty is expired. They also switched my hot and cold water lines. How hard is it to tell which is hot and cold? They have installed lights in my bathroom without junction boxes, talk about a fire hazard. My cheap $115,000 first house was better built than this one. Never will I build a new house again.

What did not happen is more like it.

I had my house built while I was in Afghanistan and my wife did the walk through. Right off the bat there were issues my wife failed to catch.

Cabinets installed with busted backs. Off center lighting. Busted Hardi plank etc. I think my wife was just star struck by a nice new house and they took advantage.

I had to hook up the drain pan for the hot water heater to the drain line since the builder failed to do that too. Most stuff I fixed myself since after they had a guy come to fix the Hardi he screwed it up worse. The supervisor obviously thinks I am an idiot with no construction experience. He told me a couple face nailed shingles are no big deal. So I told him to get off his butt and gave him some roofing compound to cover them.

Well one year later the builder put a trailer through the garage. Had to threaten them with legal action along with the insurance company threatening them to get it fixed.

Next some of their workers dropped some mortar on my truck, luckily it is a twelve year old work truck.

Now the shower seat was leaking and we found black mold. Which I put a respirator on and was forced to tear out myself. Got a lawyer crunch the numbers after the company said sue us we are not fixing it. Not worth the time and effort plus paying the lawyer.

I just registered my first complaint today. We'll see how long it takes them to respond back to me. All of my light fixtures are off center, door locks are wearing out and door jams are crooked. The tape and texture is falling from the ceiling in the kitchen. My house is 5 years old. These are cheap materials and substandard workmanship.

Legacy homes are not finished well. I bought a home in 2002. The kitchen tile started coming up this year (2009). I had a contractor look at the problem and he found that the tilers did not clean the tiles or paint off the concrete before laying the tile. As a result of the lack of preparation, the tile is all starting to pop up! This issue exists in my kitchen, one of my baths, the front entry way, and garage entry. The tiles all need to be redone to a tune of $4600! I don't recommend Meritage brand homes.

10) ACME brick on one side of the house has shed the white and gray colors and now looks orange. This is the biggest problem so far and meritage and ACME have made up a lie and stated the iron in the city water has changed the brick orange. A lawyer will love this one because when you take your finger and scrape off the white and gray features off the brick it is orange underneath. No one will return my calls and if they do they just lie and make up what ever they can think of. I will take them to court if it comes down to that. But only after I go door to door and get some support.

We purchased the home in 12/2007 (Built) and we notice this past spring that the brick above the garage is cracking in several places. We looked at the Ultimate Warranty List for Meritage Homes and the first thing on the lists says "Lifetime Warranty on Brick". I called them several times and they said the brick is actually a stone which is not brick so it is not covered. We did not order the brick so it came with the house so to me is is brick or in the brick family.

Mr. *********** was the Sales Manager for a new subdivision in Roanoke, TX. In my role as a real estate agent I showed a client a home the company had listed on MLS. We then negociated a contract through three prices with upgrades included and then removed and were told by Mr. ********* that the corporate office had approved the deal with Meritage paying all the closing costs for my client.

All my client needed to do was bring a $2,000 cashiers check to him and the deal was done. We did that and my client begain to get ready to close and move. She submitted her documents to the mortgage company she was required to use by Meritage to get the best deal for her etc.

Four days later Mr. ************* call to say that corporate will not do the deal. My client has decided not to buy a home until this Spring. Just be careful who you deal with when working with Meritage. I lost a $4,000 comission becaurs Mr. ********* did not tell the truth about the deal being approved.

we were told to go look at some less expensive homes. does meritage homes not cater to hispanics.we are 5th generation americans and very proud of that fact.

Meritage is the WORST HOME BUILDER ever!!!!! They suck they suck they suck they suck. I should have known when I had a bunch of prospective home buyers drive by and ask us if we've had any problems because that's what they'd been hearing. I had only lived here at this time, a week. It didn't take but a few days after that to realize all of the problems.

Let's go down the list, shall we?

1. It took them 4 months for them to even start our punch list. (One of the items, mind you, was an exterior door that seeped water all over the tile and grout and stained the base molding.)

2.We have MASSIVE dead trees in our yard (it was winter when we first moved in). Every time it rains or there is high winds, giant limbs break and fall all over our yard. The main customer service supervisor told me "the trees must be sick" or "well we can cut them down." Did you forget about the damn 5 feet wide stumps you'd leave behind or the fact that I paid more for the property because of "the large, beautiful, mature trees"? Or maybe you forgot about the ferns and 6 dif. species of plants that are growing from the dry, rotted trunks that fall off in clusters. When you lay a foundation to a home, there is a correct way to relocate roots to avoid this but obviously after reading all these reviews, they are cheap and take every shortcut possible. They have been avoiding further phone calls so this situation will most likely end in the courtroom.

3. NO ONE ANSWERS THEIR f- PHONES. Terrible customer service.

4. Bob the builder/contractor in DFW is a total moron I cannot believe someone actually gave him a college degree. He avoids us at all costs and tried to pawn us off to various people in the company to finish his jobs. He must of made fake business cards for them because they don't answer either. You know Meritage is cheap when they've got the builder driving a 1992 F150 that is conveniently parked at the model all day. DO YOU ACTUALLY SUPERVISE YOUR JOBS BOB because it might spare your company and homeowners the hassle. It might help people sleep better at night knowing they won't wake up to a leak, a tree falling through the roof, a foul smell, a broken hvac unit, toilet, etc.

4. The model home has been broken into 3 times in a month but spending 260k on a new home doesn't constitute a damn community gate?

5. I see several roofs in the neighborhood that have bubbles in the roof because they didn't ventilate the attic properly.

6. Every few days a strong AWFUL SMELL takes up the entire upstairs. They sent a plumber out and he found nothing. Guess that's a job well done guys. Way to put your problem solving skills to work!

7. Everytime it rains, my mailbox leaks so all of my mail is bled together. Netflix keeps wondering why all of the DVDs I send back are water damaged. Hm. Let's ask the US post office what happens when mail is tampered with. Let's also ask the mailman how annoyed he is with the flag that won't go down because the brick wasn't layed correctly.

8. I still have a leaking toilet that has turned the tile behind it a "2000 flushes" blue color.

9. Do I really need to go on here? I'm tired of wasting my time with these people. PLEASE DON't WASTE YOUR TIME WITH THEM or purchase one of their homes. It's very disappointing for us especially being that we are first time homebuyers. We love our home, don't get me wrong, but all the hassle makes me wonder if it is all worth it because we havn't been able to enjoy ourselves. If you are going to spend this much money on a home, make sure you're getting better quality. These houses go up in a week by people fresh over the border.

The home that was purchased this year so far only has one complaint. The light fixture in the dining area is off center, so therefore we are going to have to put a anchor hook in the ceiling and move it over that way. I doubt Meritage will come and fix it correctly after reading all these complaints. So far everything else is up to par but we will see as time goes on. Putting another hole in the ceiling to fix the problem. It looks stupid with the dining room table where it's supposed to be and the light so far off from where it should be. Something's got to be done.

My family purchased a home from Meritage Homes about 14 months ago. I recently graduated from University and decided to move back home. I was devastated to discover that we were unable to make our house payments. After extensive research I believe we have been subjected to unethical business practices by Meritage Homes. In December 2005, my parents purchased a house from Meritage Homes with a completion date of April 2006. However it was pushed back repeatedly and not completed until August 2006. During this time, house prices began to take a turn for the worse. Before actual completion less than one-third of the homes were sold in the 71-home community and the sales office had dramatically dropped prices.

Unfortunately, our house was appraised for $81,000 less than the $813,162 sales price. We were assured that the 2232 sq/ft home was worth the price. The sales office then processed a home equity line from our $80,000 down payment to cover the difference between the appraisal and the sale price. During construction, my parents had established a strong relationship with the sales office and trusted their recommendations without the fear of deception. However, in retrospect we believe that our trust was misguided. At one point we rejected a recommendation to forge rental documents to inflate our income.

Attempting to understand the business practices of the region office, I uncovered unfair political contributions in efforts to secure development locations. Additionally, these contributions were unreported and in violation of the fair political practices commission. These violations are clear indicators of unethical business practices by the Concord, CA region office, and Meritage Homes as a whole. After two years, the development has not been completed. More than half of the lots still remain empty, except for stacks of wood and cement frames.

Attempts to sell our home have been unsuccessful due to the price drops by the sales office and the unattractive aesthetics of an incomplete development. At this time we are no longer able to make our payments and have recently discovered that we owe another $80,000 equity line of credit used towards the house price; which was never disclosed by the sales office. I hope you will be able to shed some light on this situation. Foreclosure.

My wife and I were looking at purchasing a house in the new subdivision of Telfair in Sugarland, Texas. We love the area and subdivision. We heard great things about Meritage homes so we decided to look at their plans and inventory that is available. We looked at one house that we were very interested in. We spoke to the representative for Meritage homes and our real estate agent worked on the price. We wrote a contract on Sunday afternoon. The Meritage home representative gave us the new home booklet to read and review. We also provided a $5000 earnest money check. On Monday morning, we received news that our offer was not accepted. There was no counter offer. We were quite distraught and my real estate agent went back to the representative to work on the price.

The representative, A. Fisher, was quite rude to our agent. Our real estate agent wanted to work on the price with A., but she wouldn't provide a dollar amount to work with. After the deal went sour, our real estate agent asked for our earnest money check back. A. told him that the new home booklet would have to be returned before she would release out earnest check. We live in Beaumont, which is almost 2 hours away from Sugarland. We cannot drop everything to come back to Houston to drop off the booklet. At no time, was this information relayed to us that if we do not return the book, we won't get our check back. A. said that we wasted her time. What about our time?

As a consumer, this was not a piece of cake that we were buying. We were trying to get the best deal on a 300,000 dollars house. I understand with the economy the way it is, every business is trying to make ends meet. However, customer service should not be compromised for a sale. A. hung up on my agent and demanded the book stating that she told about the book being returned. My wife and I do not recall her telling us this. We have no use for the book if the deal was not going to go through. However, but to use the book as bartering tool to get our check back is absurd. We value her time, but we do not feel she valued our time.

We did return the book to get our check back. We feel that we should be get an apology and compensated on our time and gas for driving back and forth to Houston to get our check. We contacted Meritage Homes Customer service on Feb 10, 2009 but to no avail. We haven't received a single response.

Our homes first off had mold building in the upper ceieling of the garage. now our window,ceielings and walls have crack all through them. they have sent a engineer or so they say he is but even he states the house has excessive cracks. So you think that the follow up would be simple. I have called and called our contact person. No return calls. the home next door to me had to have the floor taken and an completely relay concret when they laid the rebar incorrectly and cause water damage on his home. It is a mess that they are moving slow own taken care and the house is just two years old.

Bricks on the front of the house by garage is seperated, windows are cracked...doors will not closed had to have the alarm system realigned just because the door would not close all the way

We went to contract 3/06 We selected our lot, model, elevation etc. While building the home the eleavation of the lot changed from completely flat to a 9% grade in the rear, prohibiting the installation of a pool due to the cost of construction. That aside (1st problem) Next Meritage Homes was in the process of buying out Greater Homes which is who we went to contract with and we were assured that the time the communiuty would be completed with Greater Homes - designs - the ink wasn't even dry before they were building "Meritage Homes designs" smaller less eye appealing more boxy (actually rectangular) the only difference was the front elevation.

That aside,(2nd problem) they also reduced the price of the homes from a 350 to 400 community to a 200 to 325 (not so bad) but now they are changing the models again (11/08) totally changing the look of the community of just 200 homes - they had only 60 homes to go to complete this community. And with just 30 to 40 homes to go, they are reducing the prices again to 175 to 225 This is not an upscale community which is what we wanted. We can not sell at what we purchased the home for because of the decline in the market and the fact that they have reduced the prices again makes it even more of a challenge.

Now they say that they need to reduce the prices to keep moving and close the community but, at what cost? We who purchased here prior are a bit better off than those purchasing now. We have nothing in common with these people - we will mark my words see a rise in crime - you can sense the upbringing of the children to where there will be robberies of the haves against the have nots - and this is directly the result of this price reduction greed of the builder. And I say that because no other builder around us has changed the their floor plans - they are all, and there are several (like 10) communities which are all under construction right now. Now back to the construction of the home - Meritage has changed superintendents in our community 3 times since we closed in 2 years (actually 22 months)Now I believe he is only workng part time.

We have cracks in our stucco - which they refused to take care of - Cracks in our concrete Driveway, Our dining Room has two windows and they are not at the same height - definetly noticeable - they refuse to take care of it. Their customer service is the worse - they try every trick in the book to try and not take care of an issue. We have other residents who have had issues with Meritage since they closed only to fall deaf ears with no stiafaction in their complaints. And when you do your walk through their contract prohibits you from holding up the closing until the repairs are made. If you don't close - they retain your deposit and your contract is cancelled - with no mediation what so ever. The contracts with the builders (here inFlorida) are the worse the contracts are 1 sided protection (builders). The best solution is to buy a home already built, have it inspected, if there are problems or repairs to be made - the seller has to pay for them or you have the option of walking away. I know its nice to have every thing brand spanking new but, !!!

I don't care whether or not you are buying a 100k home or a 1m dollar home when you get the keys it should be right or at the very least corrected when something is brought to their attention not ignored. Never buy a Meritage Home if you have the ability to choose other builders or a resale - also the price of a resale is negotiable the price from the builder is not or very small discount or they will trick you into offering to pay your closing costs as a form of reduction through their title agency ( another gimmick )

Also we did not mention that the shower door was installed improperly. We can not even shut the door. In addition to the above matter, we have one of the drawer panels in the kitchen which we do not use frequently came off. The draws are made of particle boards and not wood.Now we can use it until it gets replaced. We did not notify you because of your standard response of it is not warranteed.

We can not honestly recommend Meritage to our friends because of the poor quality they put into their homes. Something must be done to monitor the way the homes are being built by this builder.

We are extremely disappointed in the workmanship!!! A 2 1/2 year old house should not be falling apart like it is doing right now!!

My wife and I spend the last 6 months pouring our time, money, and energy into the construction of a new 2 story home and covered all the details. We settled on Meritage as a builder thinking they were reputable company. Turns out they will skimp on quality to increase their profits. I was ensured from the beginning that they would install and dual zone AC system with 2 compressors. 1 for the top floor and 1 for the down stairs.

After all this, they installed a HVAC system that under powered. They installed one 5 ton unit for the entire 3400 square foot house. They've explained that this it their NEW system, but my house is the first to get it. The damper is where the majic happins I'm told. Unexplained and unexpected . This is their Fredrickberg design and every house until mine has a double unit system. My exact identical house on the other side of the neighborhood that was built in the same time frame as mine got

2. A house that is 1 month behind mine is currently set to receive 2. My house and 2 other homes they built for inventory received their NEW IMPROVED smaller system. This stands out as a cost cutting method that in the heat of Texas is more then criminal. To skimp on of all things AC. Now I'm being told that there's nothing they can do and I have to live with it. They don't act to concerned, but of course this isn't one of their personal homes.

Of all the homes they building across southern Houston I get lucky enough to be the 1st to get this NEW smaller system. I've walked their other neighborhood and all other new biuls in a house my size is set for 2! Beyond angry and now homeless having sold our old house a months ago. All the waiting and detail now tarnished. So much for our beautiful new home. They think I'm a sucker... are you?

Completely destroyed any confidenance I had in the quality of the home and the intentions of Meritage as a quality builder. I am now hiring a professional inspector to go over it with a fine tooth comb. I have zero faith in the AC system installed on that house that we planned to be in for a long time. What a filthy way to cut cost in the heat of TEXAS! So much for everythings bigger in Texas.

I had my home built in September 2005 and have had problem every since I moved in. The first problems I was having the mirror in the master bedroom was rust and loss of color. From there everything started to happen. My upstairs restroom tile kept popping up. I have tile on the entire bottom floor of my home and it is coming up. I have had four different companies out to tell me that it wasn't install properly. Meritage planted dead grass.

I'm still trying to work and better yet try to get someone out to get these problem resolve. I have also receive a letter stating that it was nothing else they can do. I willn't stop until the problem is fixed. I've notice that a lot of complaints have been filed on Meritage in the TEXAS AREA.

My bottom floor is ugle and cracking. I'm now having to spend 1000.00 to get repairs to my bottom floor

I am not here to make a complaint, total opposite. I feel for the others that have had issues with their new homes by Meritage. We have had nothing but success with Sherri in Roseville and the rest of the staff including the superintendants. They worked with us with complete patience and respect.

If they are able to open build the next Phase, I would encourage others in the market to look at their product here in California :)

Anyway we had a great experience with Meritage Homes. Their customer service is top notch. Any little matter that we were not happy with they fixed right away. Even when I changed my mind about an island at the last minute. They gave me no grief for not wanting it anymore. All of the people associated with this company were very professional and friendly. Plus the extra gifts in the mail after closing was very thoughtful of them. Once a consumer makes the purchase there is really no need to offer gifts, but they did. We got great incentives and our home is beautiful. Thank you Meritage

they came out once to fix the carpet on the step, and to fix the closets bars, one fell again. the floor upstairs they never came back to address the issue. also the cracks in the ceiling and cornors. also the hole around the pipe in the half bath.

i recently brought a home from mertiage homes and they have been all problems.they dont fix the things they said that they would.i was given a bad bath tub and they have been out to try to fix four times,no luck and they refused to change it or do anything.they had the nerve to send out a certified letter stating that they cannot do anything more for us.the work on the house was so bad that as the time goes on we see all the terrible workmanship.so make sure that you look out when you are dealing with them.they bring you in and then they let you go with out keeping they word.

i have the worst looking tub that if i am going to sell i have to change the tub at my expense

The entire process of building a home with Meritage has been ridiculous! The sales person assisting us is new and obviously not trained properly by his corporate office. It seems that every time we turn around our sales person is changing the information he has previously given us. This information ranges from pricing and available upgrades to how long it takes to build.

Our house will be completed more than 2 months past when we were originally told it would be ready for move in. All because the sales staff did not have all of their information together! When speaking with the VP of Sales, we received excuses that had nothing to do with us. The main excuse...Meritage has doubled in size over the last 6 months and we need to be patient.

Clearly, the company's HR department is unable to keep up with the growth. If I had it to do over again, I would NOT build with Meritage Homes. If anyone reading this decides to build with Meritage, I advise taking a tape recorder to your meetings, otherwise get everything in writing & have your sales person sign off on it. Protect yourselves from their sales tactics!

Because of the delay in beginning the build of the house, we will incur substantial fees from our current residence.

ON 9/11/2007 I went to meritage to buy A new home And was told the house would be build in three months today is 4/14/2008 And the house is still not build it seems like everytime we ask about the house progess something aways comes up to block the construction of the home I feel as if they want me to give up on the house.I have been very calm about the situation but it is getting frustrating.

I gave A large Amount of money and now I have to renew my lease in the apartment that I am renting bucause the house was not build on time.

False advertising and Bait and Switch. Meritage utilized a similiar technique to lure customers into the Mesa - Desert Valley sales office. This is what they did: Meritage posted prices for the 'Heritage Series models (the mid-range home in a 4 series 500 home subdivision. The Heritage series were the fastest selling and most profitable for them. This was spring 2006 during the late peak of the AZ housing rush. Keep in mind that they (Meritage) had already increased prices tremendously to exploit the AZ housing shortage in re-sale homes.

General price range was posted on large signs outside subdivision. Specific pricing was printed on plan/model/pricing sheets within office of Desert Valley Subdivision. After we walked through the 'Heritage series models we went into the sales office to inquire about pricing. We were interested in two models Joshua Tree' and 'Palo Verde'. We spoke with sales rep: Darren. The specific price for the Joshua Tree was printed somewhere around $369,000 depending on elevation, lot and buyer upgrades or adds.

We were told though, even before discussing those options that we could not 'buy' this home or any for the advertised price. Darren informed us that he and Meritage had decided to insulate the subdivision by adding 'builder options' that would in effect outfit all homes in the subdivision equally therefore ensuring the value of the subdivison.

These forced 'options' raised the price of each home 30k to 40k. I inquired numerous times regarding this pricing structure and requested that I be able to purchase a house for the listed base price? . I was scolded by Darren, he said; maybe Meritge is not for you?. He must have meant to insinuate that if I questioned or was displeased by his pricing policies maybe I wasnt worthy to purchase or live in the subdivision.

I believe the sales tactic utilized by Meritage Desert corporation and its sales representatives was a form of fraud in which they lured in customers by advertising a specific product at a specific price, then they revealed to potential customers that the advertised good is not available at the advertised price, and in fact only an enhanced product is available at consideribaly higher price.

We decided to build a home with Meritage in the River Bend subdivision of Kingwood, TX., an area with lucrative home sales. The house was to be completed in February of 2008. However, due to job relocation to Alabama, we had to withdraw from the contract. When we signed our contract in August of 2007, the Sales Manager Steve,informed us that our earnest money will be returned in case of job transfer/relocation. However, this was not to be.

When we signed our contract we had no idea and that we would have to back off from our contract. We chose the in. When we informed Steven about the relocation in December, he seemed to support us. The house he said would be no problem to sell, which was true. There was no inventory in River Bend, a house like that would sell easily for a higher price-and it did. However, even though Meritage did not have any problems financially, we did. They got three thousand dollars of our earnest money, something that is not small change for us. Meritage Sales Manager gave us all the wrong assurances-we should never have believed him.

Loss of three thousand dollars. A large amount for us, because our relocation did not cover moving expense and we needed to money to cover it. We are now heavily in debt.

After having our closing delayed due to both front porch and back patio having cracking in the cement we finally closed on what was supposed to be a dream house but quickly turned into an ongoing nightmare. We closed on a Monday and after suffering from Meritages incompetence the first night do to them neglecting to remove the code on the thermostats we had to open all the doors and windows as not to die of heat exhaustion but hey this oversight is understandable they only close about a home per day so I can understand how they forgot, no big deal.

Friday comes along and we decide to use our master bath garden tub for the first time and end up flooding the master bath as well as the master bedroom wall, oops we forgot to hook up the Jacuzzi correctly, no problem. Saturday morning following us finding out about our unexpected water feature in the master bath I give my four year old a bath in his new upstairs bathroom, no problems until I go to take a shower in the downstairs master bath and see the pan holding water, check the master tub and sure enough it has about four inches of water, no problem right, well I go to check the half bath and you guessed it, the toilet has also backed up and has turned my five day old carpet into a swamp, nice!

Now I have to cancel scheduled movers because I dont want them tromping through water with my furniture, hey whats wrong with a little inconvenience, its our dream home after all. Wife has to spend the majority of the following week at the dream? home to allow all the plumbing and carpet work to be completed and just when we thought it was safe to turn another faucet the kitchen floods due to another Meritage plumbing faux paux, I like water!

Well surely that is all the flooding in the span of thirteen days after closing but wait there is more, the side of my house now has two very nice sized holes in the brick where they have had to sledge hammer it to gain access to fix another water leak in the wall from a line feeding an outside faucet. Mertitages response to all of this has been Were fixing it arent we? and my personal favorite This is what your warranty is for?. All of the above are just the pesky little mold causing leaks; I am not even going to go into detail about all the small stuff.

On May 4, 2007, I closed on my new home in phase 1. I purchase the Charleston model in Andover at Northern Terrace. Phase one incentive money was $15,000 for that model, and I was told that you could not negotiate the incentive money offered. Recently, I had the opportunity to meet a new neighbor who purchased the same home that I did, only in phase II. The incentive money for that model in phase II went up to $20,000. I did not have a problem with this. What I did have a problem with was that the neighbor negotiated an additional $30,000 in incentive money. When she thought about backing out of the deal, Meritage Homes found her an additional $30,000. Buyer beware...do not believe what the sales office tells you. Additionally, the same home in subsequent phases has gone down in price; therefore, I have lost money on the purchase and the home is worth less than what I purchased it for.

Unlike my neighbor, I had to pay for some of my upgrades, my backyard landscaping and my LIDs. If Meritage Homes can find additional incentive money for some home buyers. They can find it for all home buyers, including those who have already closed on their homes. I find this a different case of discrimination. The incentive money is in the contract. Her contract had $20,000 before they found her the additional $30,000.

My problem has been ongoing with trying to build a home in Craig Ranch in McKinney, TX with Meritage Homes. It is almost a year, and our home as of today, has been ripped apart in all areas. The building plan has never been followed. The house is missing a window, no stone on the outside fireplace as per plan, no metal roof on turret as per plan. The fence company put their fence post in concrete over the swimming pool lines that they went through, the landscaping is set out and it is not per the Craig Ranch plan. Last Friday they had to rip out the fireplace as it was not build correctly. The light hanging in the kitchen is off center.

Everything that a subcontractor touches has become a new problem as no one who works on the home is capable of fixing or building anything. THEY CAN'T FOLLOW THE PLANS! I don't expect to close for months due to all of the problems. I have furniture in storage, and was told that we should be in no later than January. This is a one story home, a simple design that can't be built or touched without problems....

At this time, the project remains ongoing, but I am extremely concerned as to the building standards that are being followed in this Craig Ranch subdivision.

Decreasein aesthetic value, decrease in property and resale value.

In response to Mr. Telya's complaint that he lost $7,000.in belongings, no one but the Telya's left the garage unlocked. It's also funny that their actual insurance claim only accounted for approximately $1,600 in losses, which was a $5,400 exageration!

It's a shame when people can dirty a reputable companies name, without any accountability for their reckless remarks!

I believe that an employee of Meritage Homes stole $7,000 of valuables from my house, of which most is irreplaceable. I believe this is due to the negligence of Meritage Homes Management. On Tuesday October 31st we closed with Meritage Homes on the home Mesa. I was issued house keys, garage openers, keys to the mail box, and keys to the single garage door, and other items. After closing I dropped off a few of my belongings into the garage. Since the garage openers were not working, I went in through the front door and opened both garage doors from the inside.

The house comes with a three car garage. The garage door is split into a two car garage door, and a single garage door. The single garage door is not attached to a garage opener, and it needs to be opened manually, which I did from the inside. I unloaded my belongings which included the missing items, as well as other sports gear (baseball bats, golf clubs, basketball, football, etc…). Before leaving, we had an employee of Meritage Homes come in to touch up the kitchen cabinets.

Afterwards I locked up, closing the garage door from the inside, and leaving through the front door, and made sure it was locked. I did not return until that following Saturday. My brother and I, along with our families moved some of our belongings from his garage. We made two trips and in the evening decided to head back and stay at his house in Glendale AZ, an hour north. My wife and mother-in-law decided to stay back and start unpacking. Since we were unloading everything in the garage, we had opened both garage doors from the inside (garage openers were not working, they had not yet been programmed) Before leaving for the night, and being concerned that my wife and mother-in-law were staying back, I decided to check all the keys and doors, everything seemed fine. Afterwards I closed the two car garage door from inside and walking out through the single garage door and pulling it down, I check the handle and it was not locked. I grabbed the keys from the inside and tried to lock it, but the keys were not working. I checked the number on the key and the garage door handle, and they did not match.

I did not think anything of it, but did tell my wife to lock the inside door and to contact Christy, the sale person for Meritage Homes, and have the keys changed. The garage door handle and keys were changed the second week of November. All this time the garage door remained unlocked, and it had remained unlocked unknown to us for the first few days after we closed. Even if it was locked, who had the real keys to the garage door?

After we had moved in, we were trying to locate the home phones and they could not be found anywhere. We thought they might have been thrown away mistakenly. On Sunday, November 19th, I was searching for my paintball guns and could not find them. I asked my wife and she said she hadn't seen them. Then it dawned on me. I started searching for my silver coins, my foreign currency and my baseball cards. I couldn't find any of it. Then I realized that all these items I had dropped off that Tuesday after we had closed.

I hadn't known about the unlocked garage door, and wasn't aware of the wrong key. I put one and one together, and realized that someone must have stolen these items. I informed Meritage Homes, and they said they can't do anything about it. I reminded them that they were the ones that gave me wrong keys to the garage and it was unlocked all this time. If I had known it wasn't locked I would not have dropped off my stuff there, and that even if I had known I wouldn't have been able to lock it because they had issued me wrong keys, and where were the real keys?

I told them that I believe this was done intentionally, giving whoever robbed us, the opportunity to walk in without a problem. They told me to take it up with my insurance company.

The items I lost cost mean more then their value. I spent 10 years collecting the silver coin, and a number of years collecting the baseball cards. I had given my father-in-law a personalized zippo lighter in 1998, which he kept and did not use. He passed away in 1999. My brother served in Iraq and helped me purchase Iraqi Dinar. I'm not waiting for him to go back to Iraq.

We visited a Meritage Homes, a new home builder in January of 06. They had 4 levels of home for purchase. Provance, Heritage, Monarch, and Estates. When you requested a pricing sheet, they listed the base price for the models in a series, for example - Model #1. $369,000. They would then inform you that you cannot buy the house for that amount because All our houses are INVENTORY Homes, everything is pre-selected and pre-planned. They chose all the options ie. glass block, french doors, etc.. Meritage said the advantage of this practice ensured that all the homes are purchased and optioned out at the same level, thereby home values are ensured. Also the wait time was reduced to six months because they had already picked lots and begun construction on all their homes.

I felt that this policy was an unfair trade practice because it was False Advertising to advertise a 'base' price in writing (that would imply the home could purchased for that price) As a result, the actual cost/price is 35k to 40k higher than the listed base price. 'We realize that home builders can change their advertised price on a home whenever they want. That is not our complaint. Although we thought it unfair, we entered into a purchase contract on Feb 21. They continued their plans and broke ground on their pre-planned lots (including ours).

We are now two monthes into construction. We have been in contact with the builder weekly. And we regularly inquire into the next level up homes the Monarch series (these homes were priced 30k to 100k higher before so-called options) We found out last week that this Monarch series has been very slow to sell and as a result Meritage lowered the price 30K, included a pool and stopped falsely advertising a base price. A buyer can now purchase a home for the actual printed base price. We have requested that they allow us to transfer to the reduced properties. They stated that we would forfiet our $10,000 earnest deposit.

This change in policy has the effect of: Lowering the value of our unfinished property and all 100 homes in the Heritage line. The entire subdivision is only 200 homes. The model series above us The Monarch at 300sq ft. larger is now priced the same as us or lower and includes a $18,000 pool. Our series The Heritage is available to new buyers at the true base price formerly unavailable to us.

House built in January 2006 and am unable to close due to landowner, builder and surveyor company get solve a problem. Basically the house was built 18 inches too far to one side. Meritage Homes Texas had to buy the lot next to the house. The builder tried to get a lot line adjustment, and we waited and it didn't work. Then they told us they would get a variance from the city/county. That didn't work. They finally figured out that $5,000 in taxes were owed on the property, which they previously thought was a $100,000K tax discrepany. Meritage has not put in a good faith effort to offer us a resolution on closing. It has been 2 months of waiting and that is all that has been offered as a resolution.

We are renting, and Meritage has offered 2 months of rent for waiting for closing. They have not offered anything more than that. They have $20,000 of our earnest money for the deposit. They have offered a refund, but since housing prices have gone up, we are losing equity.