Ryan Homes

On the last Friday in April, 2 days before the May 1st (May 1st was on a Monday), the Ryan Homes Agent told, "The new prices is now $10,000 higher and if you still want to place a home on that lot it would cost you an additional $10,000." Needless to say, we asked for our deposit back. We didn't sign a contract with Ryan Homes, but we did place a deposit down on lot and picked out the floor plan and amenities for that floor plan. They change the price twice on us, before May 1st and didn't seem to have any regret in doing so. I would think twice about buying Ryan Homes. There have been many bad reviews on their quality. I would give them a zero star if possible.

In March 2022, we informed the sales representative, Clare B**, and the project managers, Justin and Michael **, of noticeable issues of damage to the roof. In particular, on March 25, 2023, shingles were missing off of the roof and many shingles were loose and flapping (see attached photos). We were told that "It is actually normal when it is still winter and we have a big wind like we have in the last couple of weeks." The project managers. On Monday March 27, 2023, Michael informed us that the roof had been fixed. On April 1, 2023, we noticed that once again the roof was missing shingles and the shingles were once again flapping and brought this to the attention of the project managers. We were informed this issue was fixed again.

On April 3, 2023, we had an independent inspection of the home & the inspector noted, among several other issues with the home, that there was damage to the roof. The inspector stated in his report (which was also provided to Ryan Homes) that the roof should be inspected by a qualified roofing company for further analysis regarding the damage to the roof. In the meantime, Ryan Homes claimed that they had their same roofer (Danny) come out and fix the roof and sent us a photo of Danny up on the roof looking at his phone. Following Danny's alleged repairs to the roof, the roof still showed evidence of damage.

We informed Dave ** of Ryan Homes that we intended to obtain an inspection from a qualified roofing company and our request was met with the statement that "Ryan Homes would not agree to this because the roofing company may attempt to find issues with the roof for their own financial gain." We pushed back on this stating that we had a right to have the roof inspected by a roofer prior to closing. Dave informed us that we would have a 1 year warranty on the roof and the roofer guaranteed his work for 4 years; however, he was not in agreement with a roofer coming to inspect the roof for damage. On April 7, 2023, we contacted a local roofer to come out to the home. Upon our arrival, Michael immediately went into the home and closed and locked all doors to home including the garage door. The roofer was able to stand out on the street and see evidence of damage (patchwork to the roof & bulge along the valley of the roof).

Instead of allowing us to have the roof inspected, Jennifer from Ryan Homes called and informed us that Ryan Homes decided us to mutually release us from the Purchase Agreement & would forward us all of our earnest money back. We received the earnest money back; however, according to the Purchase Agreement, we are now entitled to interest on our earnest money along with liquidated damages due to the Seller's default which we have not received to date. Please stay far away from Ryan Homes when building a home and do not buy any homes built by them as there are several complaints online about their work product, quality, and promises to fix things within the warranty period. I am thankful that we did not follow through with this deal.

We got to pick the basics, floor, cabinets, carpets, and tile. We were very pleased with our choices. There is definitely a feeling of 'Once we have your deposit, we are moving on' but hey, that is sales for you. There were also some moments during the sales process where it was clear we were just another couple getting their houses checked off the list. But maybe naïve of me to look for a more personalized approach when you are spending 500K.

Moving more into the building process, there were definitely some delays in the original timeline we were given, but following a competitive market and Covid years, we were grateful for things to still be moving along. Our project manager, Dan, was responsive and pretty helpful in our process as well letting us visit the site and answering our questions and communicating updates as promised. Looking back, there are definitely times when I wish more information was shared, but you do not know until you know. As we approached the closing date, there was one more push back of a week, but again we wanted a completed job and were okay waiting if it meant things were fully ready. It did mean we had to pay for an extra month of storage, but Ryan Homes helped us with this expense and we are very grateful.

We were allowed to come do a walkthrough. However, I would like to suggest to Ryan Homes a much more 'thorough' walk through experience. The best way for me to explain it is like project manager stands back and looks around and sees if you find things that need to be completed or fixed i.e. missing pull out drawers in kitchen cabinets, outlets not working, and nails popping out of walls. We agreed on what we 'saw' in our 'walkthrough' because I think in any human experience it would be impossible to 'catch it all.'

Also, immediately after our walkthrough with our trusted project manager, we found out he was let go from Ryan Homes and there would be a new person on site to finish the other homes in the development. I want to make sure to say these project managers were an absolute highlight of the experience and it is extremely disheartening to hear that someone who says he will be around for things we may need was let go. We met our new project manager right after closing and he has been very helpful. I can just hope and remain optimistic that those unfinished tasks are addressed soon.

One last mention. Our move in experience. My fiancé and I decided not to get our refrigerator with Ryan Homes. Things add up extremely fast even with their pretty basic offerings so at the time, we were excited to have some choices ourselves for things like the refrigerator. We measured the space where it will go and made a purchase.

On the day of move in our refrigerator arrived only for the delivery folks not to be able to even get it onto the first landing of the bottom level. We also had to remove our banisters after living there one day so they could attempt to bring the refrigerator upstairs only to find out that was not going to help. I share this to say, make sure your project manager is very transparent about spacing i.e. just because an appliance would fit in its proper space does not mean that it will be possible to get it into your home.

Our plan is to remove a piece of our deck, rent a forklift for $600 and bring it over the deck. I share this so folks can be prepared and think of these things during a time when so much is going on and you may not be prepared for these situations. I look forward to memories in our new home and hope for an experience moving forward where the promises we were shared are upheld. Thank you.

Our daughter has diagnosed asthma which can be severe at times. We have had to rush her to the emergency room on several occasions for breathing difficulty which was attributed to mold found in our previous residence. After an emotional conversation we agreed we were not willing take a chance of having mold in a brand new home due to water coming from a brand new but faulty HVAC unit. Ryan homes was notified of our decision. Several conversations took place between Ryan Homes reps and ourselves. They promised to fix the problem, had an HVAC company out to look at the unit and stated they had the area tested for moisture which was now in the normal range. We explained that despite those fixes we were too afraid to continue with the home.

We signed the mutual release and Ryan Homes/NVR kept the entire $59,000. They did not even offer a partial refund. A company that made almost 9 billion in revenue in 2021 did not even offer to give us something back so that we could continue our home search. Any parent who has experienced a child that can't breath being rushed to an ER would walk away from this purchase. Ryan Homes uses the poorest quality materials in the construction of these homes. The appliances are not new and may be refurbished.

We wanted to lock in our interest rates early because we knew the Fed would increase rates. The sales person again explicitly told us that “NVR will offer you a rate lock for free once approved “ LIE: the rate lock was not free. The “free” part was that it could be added to the closing costs. What world do they live in where that is the definition of free? In addition, the lock in rate was only good for six months from the delivery date which no one told us. This cost us almost a 2% increase in rate because the Fed raised the rates just as we suspected. Which now ultimately cost us thousands of dollars more.

Ryan homes told us customer service was their number priority. LIE: this was the absolute worst lie we were told. Laughable really. Once we signed our contract and they took our down payment, POOF, the customer service disappeared! It was as if we were just a check mark on their commission check list. I had to send multiple aggressively worded emails just to get any sort of response. I also sent multiple emails requesting to be contacted by a director, SVP, or anyone that was in charge of managing the awful salesperson. No one ever contacted me! Not one senior person ever reached out to me! THEY JUST DIDN’T CARE. All we ever wanted was just real and honest responses instead of the months of lip service.

Next, here are some of the ignorant responses they gave us for their delays: War in Ukraine. The salesperson literally blamed the war in Ukraine for the delay of our home delivery. Unfortunately, this caught her in the act of another lie. When we signed the contract, we were very clear that we needed delivery in August. She was well aware of this and found us a home that “would” be delivered in August. We signed in February 2022, and starting in March of 2022, the delays and delivery date started to get pushed immediately. When she told us in August 2022 that the delay in delivery was due to a mechanical part (that was supposed to have already been delivered in November 2021 from Ukraine) she ALREADY knew the home could not be built and move in ready by August at the time of signing. Then she had the nerve to blame it on the war that started in April of 2022! Shame on her!!

We both were renting two separate apartments and kept asking for a delivery date because we needed to know what to do with our lease extensions. Her response to us saving money during the delays was “Well you would be paying rent anyway so it evens out”. It’s not just the rent. We had to extend both of our leases to short term leases, which in the real world is usually 3x the cost of a year’s lease. Then instead, we decided to move things to storage. Trucks, boxes, time off work, movers, etc all cost money. We were paying 3x the rent, month to month, while waiting for the delivery of our house because they refused to give use a date. PLEASE stop using this line with your buyers. It is out of touch, rude and just plain ignorant on your part. We did ask for financial compensation and they offered us very little. Yet online, they were offering to pay full closing costs for new buyers. See how much they care after you sign?

So not to be a complete negative Nancy, here is a silver lining to the whole process. The construction team and PM were the only ones with any real information and the only ones who were willing to communicate with us. The circle app was great, and the response time from the PM and his team was absolutely superb. They were the most honest group of the bunch, even when they had bad news to deliver, but at least they had the b*lls to tell us.