In a message dated 5/26/2009 4:44:22 P.M.
Thank you very much for your response. My husband and I are now reconsidering doing business with this company. I pray that homeowners like yourself who have been wronged will receive some type of compensation for what has been done to you all. Thank you for your site.
The next day I called our bank and stopped payment on our earnest money check. I also asked the sales rep to not put our contract forward for ratification. Fortunately, we managed to stop the transaction from proceeding, and NVR never got it's hands on our money. We are quite relieved, but also very disappointed. We had looked at homes for months. The townhome was spacious and attractive, and the partially wooded lot we had chosen was pretty much perfect. After 30 years of travel with the military, we were finally going to settle down and move into a home of our own. I never realized how potentially devastating that process could be.
My sincere sympathies go out to those who have been so affected by a company whose ethics seem to have been severely compromised by greed. To be honest, at some level I knew that I did not trust this company from the get go. There was just something wrong, but I couldn't place it. My real estate agent told me I looked scared to death the day we signed, and wanted to know why I didn't look happy. I hope that those of you who are trying to expose this travesty are successful. It is simply unacceptable that there is not more protection out there for home buyers, particularly as this is the largest and most meaningful purchase most of us will make in a lifetime.
I do have one question, though, that I believe was asked elsewhere but I did not see a reply. I know that Ryan homes and NV homes are both under the corporate umbrella of NVR. Most of the complaints I read are about the quality of Ryan homes and the practices of NVR mortgage. Do the quality issues extend to NV homes as well? NV is supposed to be the higher end division of the company, and therefore theoretically better built. Any idea if this is the case?
Thanks and good luck.
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I also had a home built by Ryan Homes. The nightmare started the day the pulled the forms from the poured foundation. Someone had nailed though the plastic flange of the basement windows, and the wall had plywood embedded into the cement walls, The nightmare continued when they poured the basement and garage floor on a 95+ degree day. In there well trained contractors the floor started cracking the day it was poured. Now my basement continues to leak and my garage floor continues to crumble and Ryan Homes refuses to do anything about it. I'm now done with them and will have it fixed on my own, and will take them to small claims court. I refuse to have them send anyone else to work on my property. These are only 2 of the open list of over 50 some odd issues I had with the house. Any one who can buy a house from them will regret it. They seem to use good material, but the quality of the contractors is deplorable. If anyone is going to file a class action against this company put my name in the hat.
Another dissatisfied Ryan Home owner in Syracuse NY
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02-27-2009
My wife and I recently terminated our purchase agreement with Ryan Homes in New York State,
and unwillingly had to forfeit our deposit. Thankfully, we made our decision to walk away from the
process before ground was broken on our new home, and therefore avoided wasting additional time
and financial resources.
We have no recourse contractually to have our deposit returned, so all that we can do at this point
is warn others who may be considering building with Ryan Homes. In short, DON'T!
Lured by the large amount of square footage for the price, we regrettably ignored various warnings from
our families and friends about Ryan's shady reputation, poor workmanship, and "bait & switch" sales tactics.
We ignored these warnings out of our own excitement with the prospect of building our first home, and getting
everything we wanted at an affordable price. However - as we progressed through the sales process and
contract signing, many of the issues that we were warned about began to arise.
We'd like to share our personal experience with all of you, but my purpose in posting today is to
inform Central New Yorkers with similar Ryan stories that we are exploring a media campaign that
will serve to publicly expose Ryan Homes' practices to the general public. We will be telling our story
and invite others share their own. We expect interest from several media outlets given the timeliness
and relevance to the housing market. As we all know - Spring is historically the busiest season for builders.
For those fortunate enough to be in the market for a new build - considering our economy - this awareness
campaign might save them from making a terrible mistake. I believe more people will be inclined
to meet with Ryan over the course of the next few months, chasing a perceived value that just isn't there.
At this point we'd like to see what your interest is before we settle on an approach. Please post your
comments and we'll follow up with contact information very soon - and details on how you can
become involved.
Thanks to those responsible for building and maintaining this site. It's sad to see so many stories about
how one company's practices can be responsible for destroying what should be such an enjoyable time and experience for buyers.
Jan 13,2009
http://www.ryanhomesinfo.com/
Sent: Sunday, January 11, 2009 12:29 PM
To: comments@keepernsol.com
Subject: Us Too!
We have recently filed a lawsuit against Ryan/NVR. We built a 7,052 sq ft Ryan home in Weddington NC. Shortly after moving in our septic began failing. After months of begging Ryan to have someone other than the original designer and installer to evaluate the problem we were forced to hire our own soil scientist and engineers only to find out the system cannot be repaired. The site was marginal from the beginning and Ryan did not have all the testing done on the site to determine whether the site was sufficient for the installation of septic. Ryan has been pumping our septic tanks every week for over 3 months. In addition we have just recently discovered that we have a serious structural defect in the basement. The support posts and beams were installed incorrectly and not supported adequately. The structural engineer stated that if any heavy furniture was place over the spot where he was standing...he would not be standing there. We have one set of neighbors have also filed a lawsuit for septic issues. Another set of neighbors just discovered mold growing up a wall in their home. I have to say they were great when it came to fixing nail pops but anything other than that and you can forget it.
K C:
01/05/2009
01/04/2009
Ron's site is one of the more complete I have ever seen. I agree with Cindy Ron -- your site is valuable to all home owners and potential buyers.
Nancy
HADD
01/04/2009
Thank you for putting your experiences online. House shoppers should heed the warning of web sites like your www.ryanhomesnightmare.com When people research a builder before buying, they often fail to go further than a quick check of the BBB. That's not sufficient. Internet gripe sites, picketing, and other forms of unconventional complaining shouldn't be dismissed. If they're complaining legally in an unconventional manner, there is a very good chance they have a serious complaint that the builder didn't address. People's legal recourse after buying a new home is far less than they think, which is why buyers often resort to unconventional methods. And, sometimes it's effective. After buying, people find out they can't sue the builder due to arbitration clauses in the contract and warranty. Or, they find out suing is financially impractical. Since lawyers know this, it's hard to find a GOOD lawyer simply because you have a VALID case. It comes down to whether the case is profitable to the law firm or not, even if the builder is in the wrong. Homeowners set up complaint sites partially to warn others. I don't believe they would go to this length if there wasn't a valid reason. These sites serve a valuable public purpose by warning consumers about bad experiences.
12/14/2008
Good evening,
I just wanted to give my deepest sympathy to you and your family for the pain Ryan Homes has caused. My fianc� and I (even after being repeatedly told by my parents who have a 32 year old Ryan built home to NEVER by a Ryan), we still considered and after reading your website (along with many others!) have been quick to change our minds. Their low prices and cheap incentives make you feel like 'it's worth a few building problems', however it's not, we will be paying a bit more for our custom built home but I will be walking away with much more assurance than a Ryan Home. We live in the Western New York area where it feels like you can't drive 5 miles without seeing a brand new Ryan development, however the newest development has many unhappy customers with VERY LARGE sign on their house 'You'll be cryin if ya' buy a Ryan!'... THANK YOU for your website and while your story is truly heart breaking please know you have saved many people the aggravation of buying a Ryan...
Kind Regards,
A and J
11/05/2008
Hello,
I was inquiring about your Ryan Home issues.
I am too having many similar problems and now my roof is leaking. Ryan homes is telling me now that I am two years out from the original date of settlement, and that they are not responsible, when you can clearly see that the roof is caving in. (They must put all their service reps through the same script schools.)
I have complained since day one of the quality issues and of course the builder will not take accountability for anything. I have never seen anything quite like this home in my life. I am seriously thinking about preparing a lawsuit against Ryan Homes.
What advice would you give?
Please feel free to contact me.
4/25/07
Hello! My husband and I live in the Western New York area. While searching for a new home, Ryan�s attractive pricing for a new built home caught our eye. While we were aware of Ryan�s undesirable history, several recent Ryan home buyers had said that they had no problems. I'll try to make this as short as possible. Prior to closing we had brought up several issues to the sales person and project manager. The biggest of these issues is our kitchen floor, which has several ridges and valleys in it, all of our doors had dings in them which were touched up with paint that did not match; and finally our trim work appears to have been installed by a visually impaired carpenter. We were assured that these issues would be rectified prior to close. The week of our closing these issues were not rectified, and the project manager and the sales person both assured us that they will be rectified during our 30 day inspection. In the fall of 06 we closed on our home. One month later we had water coming into our basement when it rained, this was entering under the front door, which was never caulked. Simple enough to fix, right? Well here we are in the spring and they never caulked it. Last week we had rain, again water entered the basement under the floor, and our floor in the foyer has buckled up and mold is growing on our trim. We have been calling almost every day to get this rectified. Daily, Ryan assures us we will be contacted by someone with in the company to resolve this issue. Unfortunately, we are still waiting. If we can see trace mold on our trim around the front door I can only imagine what is growing under the linoleum and between the sub floor and floor under that! As far as any of our other issues, those continued to get ignored as well. I have called corporate AGAIN today and I have left them a message stating that this will be my last attempt to contact them. I will be contacting our local news and an attorney by the weeks end if someone does not come over to resolve these issues. After speaking to several of our neighbors we have discovered issues that they have as well. I feel that there is strength in numbers, and I see on this web site that there are several other individuals in the same boat as us. If anyone would like to contact me via e-mail, please feel free to do so. CN@Buffalo.com. Maybe collectively we can change this horrible situation together. Thanks for your time.
4/20/07
Hello,
We are considering buying a Ryan Home..but after reading your website, I am not so sure. Problem is (of course), we love the house and the price is great. Ryan is new to Michigan...so I have not heard any feedback from them here yet. Do you know if there is any feedback to Ryan in Michigan specifically? I know that they use different crews in different places, and therefore was wondering if ALL Ryan work is bad or if it is just the "luck of the draw". I do not know what to do to research more before we consider buying. Also, do you have any more info on the NVR loan process? MY husband and I both have great credit and I know a lot of questions to ask, so I'm curious how they could cheat me regarding the loan (as long as I lock in a competitive rate). The closing costs they estimated for me seem about average.
Also, do you know what they tell people if they bring up all of these customer complaints on quality? I definitely plan on bringing it up to them, but I am expecting they have a rehearsed answer. I am not sure where to go from here.
My husband is a carpenter so we planned on him inspecting the work and quality every step of the way..but it sounds like some problems may not appear until later.
Thanks so much!
J N
4/18/07
Hi
We bought a Ryan home two years ago and the house is now seven yrs old. We have had nothing but problems ever since we moved in First time I noticed water was in the garage. It was coming down the side wall from the top and on the other side there was another leak. I called Ryan homes and they sent a warranty person out to inspect and told us the house was not warranted against leaks any longer. He saw how frustrated I became and agreed to have leaks repaired.
But now leak has reappeared in one area. Next leak I found is in the finished basement, during a recent rainstorm I went in the basement and under the basement window the carpet was saturated with water. I noticed a crack under outside of the basement window so I cut out the sheetrock under the window to find a crack going from top to bottom of the poured concrete wall and water leaking through. There are also two cracks in the wall on the side of my garage.
Again I called Ryan and I'm getting the same warranty statement and that the crack has to be 1/4 inch for them to do anything. Next I went in attic and noticed two holes in the roof sheathing although they do not leak you can see the underside of the shingles. Also the vent pipe for the heating unit in the attic has water stains on it.
A house is suppose to shelter you from the outside elements, but if you live in a Ryan built home and it's raining outside make sure you have your umbrella. I would buy a tent before I would ever buy another Ryan home.
MN
4/14/07
just looked at a Ryan home in a new Northern OHIO development. The model is very nice, and the advertised prices are reasonable. I want you to know that I hope your issues are soon resolved, and that I am thankful to have found your site, before I too became a statistic.
4/12/07
Good Morning,
I would like to tell you that I totally feel your pain in reference to Ryan Homes. I live in Maryland and purchased my Ryan Home in December of 2005. Ever since then the townhouse community had been nothing but a nightmare. However my issues don't relate so much to construction as yours do.
They had some "backdoor" deal with some slimy investor that owned the land. When they purchased it from him, the deal was he could retain 20 units and get them free to do whatever with. We were never told about this and as owners were made to sign a paper saying we wouldn't rent our unit for a year. Well this investor has rented his out to drug dealers, sex offenders, and lots of other wonderful people. The police pretty much just stay in the community and we're even known as a "hot spot" after less than two years of being a community. Mind you I paid over almost $300k for my new home as well as most others that bought in there. Only the investor got his for free.
It doesn't end there, they also gave him the right to finish the community (putting in lights, paving, etc.) We had to only wait a year for this, and he left huge holes in the road for about two months before he even paved.
They also marketed the community as having a "Forest Conservation Area" in the front. We then just found out the investor (that had the land deal) owns that land. It was decided back in 2002 that their "Forest Conservation Area" land was in fact to be developed as commercial property.
I serve on my homeowners board and we're all at the point of thinking of a class action lawsuit against Ryan. We just don't know how to really start. I want you to know that you are not alone and I'm sure there are more horror stories out there. There's not one person in my community that owns that feels absolutely devastated.
Thank you for listening and I hope this helps everyone from making a terrible decision and buying from Ryan Homes.
JT
4/11/07
Hello. I found your website and thought maybe you could be a reference of how to contact RYAN. I live in MD and have a townhouse that was bought in 1997. We always heard something funny when it rained, even soon after we got the house. They checked it and said everything was fine. Must be the wind. Well, for the past two years I have had serious water damage coming from my roof where the neighbors house meets mine. Who can I contact? I am really frustrated. The people I have talked to keep passing me on. Any info would be appreciated.
N
4/9/07
Hello,
I recently came across your webpage concerning Ryan Homes and NVR Mortgage. My girlfriend and I are in the process of looking for a home in Northeast Ohio and we looked at a Ryan Homes complex going up near us and checked it out.
Everything seemed compliant and kosher but I wanted to do some research of my own; this is when I came across your site and many more like it. I was wondering if you wouldn't mind enlightening me a little more on your BAD experience with NVR Mortgage...I have friends that also live in this Ryan Homes complex but they did not finance through NVR and have not had any problems with their home.
We already have a mortgage company we wanted to go with but there is big incentive through Ryan Homes and NVR right now that knocks $10,000 off the base price of the house IF AND ONLY IF you use NVR Mortgage.
Just looking for a little knowledge from somebody who has already gone through the experience and maybe things to WATCH OUT for...?
Any information would be GREATLY appreciated!!
Thank you,
s
4/4/07
hi, I ran across this site and I saw J's posting on 3/4/07. My husband and I are in the same situation. I am an at home mom so my husband went into the purchase agreement alone. He was told that the monthly mortgage payment would be between $1900 to $2200. Now here we are a week before closing and we are being told the payment will be $3100. This is not a mansion it is only a home with a square footage of 2800 further more my husband doesn't even make enough money per month to pay a $3100 mortgage and the current home we live in has not sold and we had to fire our realtor so it is not for sale. Ryan homes and NVR mortgage are rip offs. We will lose our deposit of $1400.00 if we do not close and they have threatened to sue us. How could we close on a home when we couldn't even make the first mortgage payment? DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH RYAN HOMES... I don't know what we are going to do. J if you are reading this, what did you do?
4/2/07
Hello!
I recently received a letter from a local law firm that is collecting information for an investigation and class action law suit in our area (Western Pennsylvania). The letter states, "Under federal law, a real estate settlement service provider is not permitted to require that a particular finance company or settlement agent be used. By requiring the use of NVR Mortgage in order to receive substantial discounts on the purchase of your home, Ryan and NVR may have violated this federal law."
As many other stated, we signed with NVR because of the incentives offered. They didn't have the lowest financing rate, but the incentives and discounts outweighed the .25% we would have saved by going elsewhere.
To everyone out there with problems, I hope Ryan Homes takes care of you. Our plan has had problems and we've gone up the chain of command until we got someone who would listen. Put up your signs about having a lemon for a house, who knows, they may do something about it!? Give it a shot! Best wishes to all.
D C
4/1/07
If you know of anyone suing Ryan Homes in Ohio, specifically North East Ohio, then please send me their contact info. I am trying to get my $10k deposit back from the pushy sales rep. Now I am even more convinced after reading all of the quality issues associated with the Ryan Home Builders. I have talked with recent owners (< 1Yr) at other Ryan developments around my town, and I have heard both good and bad comments. Ryan seems like too risky a company to do business with and now I am being told that I can't back out even though I am in the magical "10 Days of Changes" period. The rep even told me before I signed the agreement and cut him a check that I could always back out with all of my money prior to the end of the ten day period. What a liar!
Thanks,
EG
3/4/07
Hi my husband and I are two weeks out from closing on our home. We still have no concrete numbers on the financing. At first they made it sound like we had a no doc loan. We sighed a contract and also put down a deposit of 23,000 dollars. They are now telling us we can't do a no doc loan. They told us to seek out other financing and we were completely turned down for any loan. We told them that and they are now trying to give us a 12.5 interest rate. But still say they don't have anything on paper. Not even that my credit score come to find out from the other lender is only a 633. So that's why their saying I have to go with the 12.5 rate. I was told if I wouldn't of had them pull my credit my score it would not have gone down. 12.5 is so over any payment we can even come close to paying, and I'm afraid it's only going to be higher the day of closing. I think they knew all along we wouldn't get qualified. We want out of the whole deal and feel totally scammed. My question to you or anyone else is has anyone walked away without being sued? I realize they will probably keep our money which is terrible but we will loose more if we go over to the house on a 12.5 rate. If we can just get them out of our lives they can keep the money. We have thought about suing them. I know we need to talk to a lawyer but any advice will help. They have been a nightmare and have lied about financing to the lot and so much more I can't even list. If anyone has walked away from the contract and has any advice please contact me. For anyone even thinking of building with Ryan Homes don't it's not worth it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
3/4/07
hey rh,
my family and I are looking into a new development in southern new jersey, meadow valley in cape may court house to be exact. we are only in the beginning stages. we have a hold on a lot and visiting a Ryan home in Vineland, NJ tomorrow. is there any new info on this company and are there still nightmare stories. please let me know.
thank you for your insight. I am sickened of all the horror stories.
t s
2/23/07
Purchased a Ryan Home in 2004. Morning room out of square. Foyer out of square. Numerous nail pops. Electrical problems. Sidewalk and driveway sunk and cracked. Floors squeak. Dining room floor has no support on one wall. Looks a kid framed in the house. Insulation in ceiling less than 9" not R-38 rated like they stated. If you want a home that you want to rebuild buy one from them.
2/22/07
Hi my wife and I built with Ryan homes. We took possession on 4-01-06. We have had nothing but problems from day one. We were mis-led on the size of all the rooms, pressured to make choices with almost no time to think about what we wanted, and we were LIED to about Ryan homes building the most energy efficient homes. Here are some of the issues we have had to deal with.... The roof has leaked 6 different times, and after each time Ryan homes has said we found the problem and fixed it. We had our yard installed going by the stakes put in by Ryan Homes 4 or5 months after the yard was put in they re-surveyed the lot next to mine, they informed me that the stakes were moved and that half of what we thought was our back yard wasn't really ours. The windows are very drafty and on a windy day (20-25mph) our curtains would blow from the drafts that were coming in, we also have a lot of ice/moisture build up on the inside of the windows. We asked Ryan about this problem their answer was "that is normal" for the type of windows that we have. The furnace is the lowest efficient furnace you can buy. We asked them about it and the answer was, we have had a lot of concerns about this so we are going to start putting more efficient furnaces in the builds we do in the future. My neighbor had their house built at the same time, their furnace is the most efficient on the market today. Our master bath drain cracked, causing a huge mess, and the same day the pipes in the master bath froze. We had our 10 month inspection on 12-28-06 .There was some issues that needed fixed/replaced. It is 02-22-07 and we have not heard anything on when the problems were going to be handled. Ryan has a group called service first to handle all of these issues, and warranty issues. If you have to wait over 2 months to get a problem fixed then I guess service first is nothing but a lie. My basement is not finished, one day while I was down there I noticed the insulation was moving. I pulled some of it down. The cold air draft that was coming through was so bad that you could see your breath. We called service first and a month later we still have not had a call or been contacted regarding this issue either. I have threatened to put up a 20x20 sign up in my yard saying THIS LEMON IS COURTSEY OF RYAN HOMES just to try and get my issues fixed, but that does not seem to be working. I am not the kind of person that will sue, but what other options do I have? It is normal to have issues with a new construction home, but when you have the same problem over and over again it makes me think that this house was built by a bunch of people that have no idea of what they are doing. My house was built in Ohio
2/20/07
I just came across this site and want to thank you. We originally talked to a Ryan Homes sales rep back in October 2006. We were interested in building with them. We told the sales rep we were planning on building this spring. We have an appointment with her this Friday. She set up an appointment to see a Ryan Home at another sales rep house. We are going to look other builders after seeing your site. We are in the Western New York area and Ryan Homes are building all over this area. I have noticed that the homes they stated building up here 3 years ago are now up for sale. I guess this is all the information we needed to make our decision.
RG
1/7/07
We had a house built in Greenbacville, Va. The house was done in the beginning of December and we have yet to settle. NVR keeps lying...flat out lying. They came back last week after lots of threats with a 2 year fixed/ then ARM at 9.34% with a prepayment penalty. They know that we have looked at an outside lender and assured us that he couldn't do any better. We moved our family from Nevada and have been staying with family since breaking a lease the end of November. Ryan homes asked me about our Original loan...I then told them I know nothing about an original loan. He said then...we would not have built the house if you didn't have an original loan. Well we never heard of such and they have our 21,000 dollars in their pocket. If we had an original loan..our credit scores have improved according to NVR...so where is that original loan? We purchased our house for 210,000 then received 10,000 off in options. Now NVR is trying to bump the purchase price up to 220,000 as some kind of finance tactic. We told them no. The same house is already built in the same community and listed by Long and Foster realty for 169,900 . We are getting screwed. We are calling an attorney first thing Monday morning!!!
12/30/06
I have read almost everyone of your email and am now very concerned with our purchase of a Ryan home. My wife and I have put 10% down on our new house and Ryan has now completed the foundation. We have not signed any of the final papers from NVR. We are wondering if we could back out of our deal and start over. If we can back out what expenses would we incur. Our we stuck with this house or can we move on.. Please contact me as soon as possible.
Thank you,
B and J D
12/7/06
Hello,
I built a Ryan Home in Mid 2004. We have had a two year nightmare. Water in 3 walls, water in our crawl space, Mold in our crawl space & attic. The craftsmanship is non existent and does not represent what we were led to believe. Thankfully I have over 200 digital photos of all the problems. Do you know of a class action suit or attorney that I could speak with? Thank You for this site. If you are considering buying a Ryan home do your homework first.
J L
12/6/06
Hi,
I am building the house with Ryan in Maryland. We put the deposit since March 06 and promise the house will be ready in February 07 but They have not even break the ground yet. That is not the worst nightmare, our incentive is tied with NVR mortgage and they have quoted us double closing cost and fees the APR is higher than every lenders I spoke to. What should I do?
11/27/06
Hi,
My boyfriend and I are currently building a home with Ryan Homes. They are very "pushy". I wish I would have found your website a lot sooner. I have a question for you. We have recently noticed a STRONG urine smell in our basement, which has lead us to believe that our contractors are using our basement as a bathroom. It smells so strong down there that it burns your nose. I was wondering if you have received any complaints or have heard that anyone else might have had this problem? Also what would you recommend we do in this case? We haven't even closed yet but want this situation taken care of and are not sure what repercussion if any there could be for this?
Best Regards,
L
11/22/06
Help! I just stumbled upon your website. I don't know where to begin. From the Sales process in April of 2005 to now, we have been lied to, cheated and totally violated. Our home has so many dry wall issues it looks as if it was the workmanship of a 5 year old. We had a leaking bay window which eventually lead to them removing all the bricks on the front of our house. As a result they scratched all our windows. The day after they removed the bricks we had a bad rain storm. Water came pouring in the house, carpets and padding were soaked. We now have mold. My life has been consumed by this crap, Not a day goes by that I don't have a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach when I think I wasted close to 500,000.00 for a total lemon of a house. There should be a Lemon Law for houses. These people have ruined the joy of buying a new home. This has become my worst nightmare. Short of standing on the street with a sign saying DON'T BUY A RYAN HOME! I don't know what to do. All we are asking is that we bring in our own dry wall person to fix the mess they made and paint our walls with something other then white water. Our estimates range from 8,000.00 dollars to15,000.00 dollars to correct what is wrong. They said they would give us $3000.00. My neighbors have similar issues. I just don't know where to go from here. Part of me wants out of the whole thing. I just want them to PAY for have been living a complete nightmare for over a year...I wake up at night, I can't eat...friends and family are so sick of hearing me talk about the dumb house...I am glad to see there is someone out there trying to put these people out of business, or at least cause then grief...anyone associated with this company needs to take a step back and decide if they really want to continue to work for such a cheap heartless organization...whatever I can do to help spread the word just let me know...I want the world to know NOT TO BUY A RYAN HOME!
10/31/06
Hi there,
I thought I was the only one with problems with Ryan Homes until I came across your website. We purchased a Ryan Home in Dumfries, VA 3 years ago and it has been a major disappointment. The problems we have encountered include foyer chandelier not centered, unbalanced switches (fireplace and fireplace light) on each side of the fireplace, leaking windows, crooked walls, creaking loose floors etc. In addition to save money, they didn't use any plywood to cover the house when the house frame was put up..they just wrapped the frame in TYVEC (a cardboard material) and then put on the siding. So at this point , anyone can pretty much punch a hold in the wall and easily enter from the outside. Also unlike most quality builders, they didn't put any kind of molding around any of the windows in the house. Basically just cheap products were used to build in our sub community for one reason or another.
I even threatened not to go to closing on the day we were to pick up our keys because we paid for a 4 foot extension in the family room (thereby giving us a 4 foot extension in the room below). The whole idea was that we wanted more space in both rooms. Well they decided to place the sump pump in the area in the basement that had been extended which was more convenient for them since it was the closest place to the outside wall and thus the less they would have to dig from the center of the basement (which is where the utility room is). After arguing with them for 3 hours they decided to come back to the house and move it to the utility area after I closed on the house.
I definitely feel your pain. Ryan Homes has got to be one of the worst builders out there. That�s why they have bad ratings on the JD Power and Associates website!
10/31/06
Hey,
I came across your website and I feel sorry that you & your family had to go through all that junk with Ryan Homes. I pray that all will go in your favor with your fight with them. My wife & I moved into our Ryan Home 10 months ago in a small development in Southern New Jersey. I thought we did a good job by looking in the BBB and only reading about a handful of complaints for the state of New Jersey. I wished I could have found your website back then. We actually were going to have a local builder do our house but got out of that deal when I heard too many bad things about him. Well, I guess there aren't too many good builder's out there at all. Ryan Homes makes it sound so nice that they will sell you the American dream of buying a new home, but to be honest my old 50 year old rancher was built more solid then these new homes. Anyway I bought into their idea & trusted what the sales rep. was telling us ( First big mistake ). Even though I drove to the jobsite almost every day, I should have been asking more questions. Don't believe them when they tell you "don't worry we are taking care of everything just sit back relax & let us build your dream house". ( Second mistake ) Buying a new home should be a wonderful experience, lying & stealing from you should not be part of that process. My problem was that we were the first house to be built in the development & besides the model house their was nothing to compare it to unless we drove across town where they were building more Ryan Homes. One of the early problems was that they had started with one price but when the housing market cooled they started dropping their prices. Example my house was 269,000.00 (base price), we were told since we were the first buyers we had the best price. Two months later the price dropped to 259,000.00 & before closing it dropped to 249,000.00 after closing it dropped again to 245,000.00. ( To be fair Ryan's dropped 10,000.00 from our base price to 259,000.00 but would not go lower than that telling us that if they dropped our price further it would be like giving the house away for free). My neighbors who moved in months later that bought the same model house got theirs cheaper then me. (Go figure) Besides a lying sales rep., we had a project manager who was related to Casper the Ghost, whenever you looked for him he was no where to be found. After pointing out obvious mistakes & very sloppy caulking work, we were told again "don't worry we'll take care of it". Long story short, we did get a lawyer before closing but he told us that the contract is more favorable to Ryan's then to the buyer and that in the future the longer we stayed in the house it would build value. Our house problems were not huge but we had to miss work from time to time, to let workers come back to fix things. 1) Both tubs had chips repaired, one tub was not seated properly. 2) A/C heating dampener was lose & closed off heat going to the 2nd floor. 3) Circuit breaker for A/C unit got very hot & tripped, was replaced. 4) Electrical outlet in garage went bad, was replaced. 5) Shut off valve for outside spigot leaked, was repaired. 6) Dip in the floor in front of dishwasher, floor joist were repaired ( 6 hour job). 7)Two hand crank window arms were replaced. 8) Patio screen door was not proper size waited 8 months for the right one. 9) Some of the very sloppy floor molding was replaced. 10) Lots of molding was resanded & repainted (fixing sloppy work). 11) Lots of bowing over outside garage door, was fix & is now straight. 12) Trim molding around the outside door had to be sanded & repainted. 13) One basement window frame cracked badly, had to be replaced with a new one. 14) Two times during high winds a couple of shingles were blown off the roof, was repaired ( These are 25 year shingles? ) Didn't last 10 months.
All of these repairs meant that I had to take time off from work, vacation time that I could have spent with my family. Would I buy another Ryan's Home? Not likely. Did I learn from this? Yes, I learned a lot from this buying process. Do I miss my old rancher? Some nights when the wind howls, I sure miss my old rancher.
D G
10/22/06
Hi there -
I'm ( maybe ) considering buying a Ryan home in MD. Your website and comments of others are very helpful. Your efforts are appreciated by me ( and obviously many others ). I printed and kept the entire E-Mail segment from others.
Keep up the "good fight" work. Maybe you'll be rewarded someway. You might want to notify the BBB, local attorneys, councils, etc. By all means, keep the info current, including that about the CEO and CFO. Also, - ... you might want to "cross-link" your website with several others.
Thanks again, ... B
10/17/06
We are thinking of contacting an Attorney. We have lived in our home for 1 year and have had problems with drafty windows, a leak in our master bathroom that caused mold in our family room ceiling, they forgot to put a peatrap underneath our sink in the kitchen, thus we were getting sewer fumes. Now, I have foul sewer fumes in my basement and I am told that this is called Sludge. None of my other neighbors have this. It is nauseating. I am concerned for my families health. Today, I discovered in our dining room that we have a leak somewhere. My husband took up the carpet and the padding was sopping wet. He also removed the base molding and yes, mold on the drywall. We have a front porch and are wonder if they knew what they were doing then they built it. The insulation behind the plastic was wet and the wood all around it wet. We definitely have a lemon on our hands and I want out of this house. My husband has had lung problems, he has had pneumonia and my daughter is developing asthma. I do not believe these are just chance happenings. I think these health issues are a direct result of living in this poorly built Ryan Home. I can tell you that we had our home inspected and for the most part there were not that many things that needed to be fixed, BUT we have crooked walls and rather than having them TRY and repair and only make worse which is what happens every single time, we opted to leave the crooked bowed walls. We CANNOT live with mold. Can anyone tell me what type of attorney to call?
T
10/16/06
Hello,
My husband and I are considering purchasing a Ryan Homes in NJ. We happened to see two other builders (Orleans and Beazer Homes) who each stated that Ryan did not provide a quality home. We felt that they were just being typical salesman and decided to see if there were any posted complaints on the internet. Much to our surprise, we were overwhelmed by the vast amount of unsatisfied homeowners.
We actually have an appointment today to sign contract for home and NVR mortgage.
Your website is definitely food for thought �.
Thank you very much
M
10/11/06
I am so sorry to see how your house came out. We signed for our house back in July of this year and were also told you lose incentives if you do not use NVR. There must be laws against this B.S. I was a bit p***ed but in the grand scheme of things the discount far outweighed the more than double closing costs! It is very frustrating to be purchasing your "dream home" that is by no means cheap and to have these kinds of issues with financing and building. Problem as I see it is Ryan uses subcontracted laborers that are never the same from community to community therefore you could get great concrete workers and roofers but maybe poor framers. If you truly want a great home do not expect it to be built in 90 days! We too got sucked into the incentives and purchased rather quickly which I regret a bit but my deal is done and I have to live with that now. My next home (5-7 yrs) will be with a custom builder who takes his sweet old time building exactly what I want and allows me to participate through the process!
Good Luck!
10/2/06
Hi,
I saw your website on Ryan homes. It is definitely frightening to hear about all the issues some of your readers have. We just put our down payment on NV homes and I was wondering if you had any readers that have problems with NV homes. I know that NV homes and Ryan homes are sister companies so I don't know if they use the same builders. Also any insight would be great as to their NVR mortgage closing issues.
Thanks,
J
9/30/06
My wife and I purchased a new Ryan Home and moved in March, 2006. We regret having purchased a Ryan Home. Thankfully we did not use NVR financing. According to our neighbor they pulled a fast one on them just prior to close. Our major problems have been:
1) Leaking foundation near the front porch. Ryan has attempted to fix this on (4) different occasions but it still leaks. Now they want to tear out the front porch because it is believed (due to looking at pictures I took while the house was being built) that the front porch was never flashed properly. Your story with the jack hammer scares me !
2) Many warped and crooked walls inside and out. Some of the inside walls have been properly repaired, others have not. One wall was out 2 1/2" over 5 1/2'. It's been serviced (3) times and is still not right.
3) Warped and crooked brick wall on outside of house. Ryan has said they'll tear it down and re-lay the brick but the new brick probably won't match.
4) Razor blades were left in two different locations in the grass and in our mulch after Ryan Homes serviced our house. With a 4 year old child playing outside we were extremely pissed. This is in addition to the usual array of cups and paper, dust, and other debris they left around after service calls.
5) I want back and looked at pictures that I took while the house was being built and noticed that House wrap was missing in places (we live in Ohio), and that it was not shingled in places. This may be contributing to the leaking foundation.
I could go on and on. We've had over (80) quality complaints.
What I'm looking into is whether there might be the possibility of a class action lawsuit against Ryan Homes. Does the Ryan Homes contract stipulate that things must go to arbitration? If we could convince an attorney to file a class action lawsuit then we may not need to come up with a bunch of money up front. I know there's a lot of very unhappy Ryan Homeowners (many in my neighborhood) that feel that Ryan didn't fulfill their contract obligations.
I look forward to hearing back from you.
Best regards,
T
9/26/07
Hi,
just happened to read your website, and I am absolutely shocked. My husband and I bought a RH townhome in 2004, build in 2006. We have had numerous problems, including two roof leaks, flooded basement, two window condensations, cracked walls in almost every room to list a few. I am so very sorry to hear everything your family has been going through...really wish you all the best. I would have never bought this house if I had read what you shared...
I was wondering if you happen to know the company that makes RH windows. One of our windows has cracked glass, and we were told that we cannot just replace the glass, but the whole window unit, possibly not just the stash (spelling?) I thought if I can find who makes/made our windows, we can contact that company directly. Can you help?
Good luck with everything, and thank you again for your website!
D & A
9/10/06
Both me and my wife live in NY, and were both planning to buy a Ryan Home in Virginia. My wife and I had already went to Virginia and started the process then decided we�ll look around before we made a final decision. I�m so happy I stumbled on your comments. Ryan Homes just lost our business. We sympathize with your situation and I feel that NVR the financing company should be sued for forcing you into a contract you didn't want.
9/8/06
I was saddened to read your story. We are going thru some crap with them regarding our deposit. We have an out under the mortgage section but you know Ryan. I have already threatened them and NVR with mortgage fraud allegations. Anyway, thank you for your site and shedding even more light on this shoddy company.
P H
9/7/06
I'm getting nauseous now! We've just signed a contract for a new Ryan Home in Woodbridge, Virginia. I really appreciate the information you provided. I guess I'll have to be vigilant and on the look out for the bad things that may come with this builder.
Have you gotten all of your matters resolved? Did it take any litigation?
Thanks again,
D
8/22/06
Hello,
I am sorry to hear of your numerous problems with Ryan homes. We are thinking of using them in South Carolina. (Very cautious though) due to your issues. They still have the same incentives, 10 K if we use NVR. I need to check into their fees and rates.
Your letter has me very weary of doing business with them. You pay a ton of money for these homes and still have these kind of problems. How do they remain in business.? The representatives did not mention that they have had bad feedback in the past, nor that they have gotten better either. I wish they had been up front with us. Again, we have not signed yet but are very leery.
Do you know if it is a problem all over or just in your particular area.?
Thank you for spreading the word. We really appreciate it.
Thanks again
D
8/14/06
Hello,
I came across your website and now feel sick to my stomach. My wife and I just signed papers yesterday for a home in Painesville, Ohio at Liberty Greens. I have a meeting with NVR this coming Friday. They too have an incentive only if you go through NVR. I wonder if I can cancel our contract since it was only yesterday? Ryan Homes said we could cancel if we could not find satisfactory financing.
I am sorry you have had such a bad experience when buying your home. It should be a joyous occasion.
T K
8/12/06
I just looked over your website and am disgusted!! I hope you sued this guy!
7/24/06
Hi,
I came across your web site and am also in the process of building in Camillus, New York. After reading all this info I have to stop and wonder will this happen to us? Are there any more web sites I can check out? We actually are sitting down with the project manager in an hour and I am bringing all this info with me. I know they are trying to make a sale but hopefully will be honest. In the development we are moving into there have been a ton of roof problems and these houses just went up in December, they keep saying they got a bad batch of shingles but I don't believe it b/c it is the 2nd development that has gotten a bad batch of shingles. I am scared to death to spend all this money and have problems arise down the road. If you have any suggestions please e-mail me at
Thanks for all your help.
K R
07/16/06
PA
We purchased a Ryan Townhouse in PA. We were the first to be built and were told that building would start the beginning of May. At our pre-construction meeting we were told that OOPS!! They forgot to get approval for the lateral water lines to be put in and that our home would not start until the beginning of June. Meanwhile they has up till now told us that our settlement date would be at the latest Sept. 15th and we unfortunately went through NVR to get our mortgage and paid a deposit to put a cap on our mortgage rate. This cap expires Oct. 15th. The sales rep called us to tell us that our home would start the beginning of June, after constant phone call and a letter to NVR asking to remove the cap because we could loose our deposit because of Ryan Home negligence. Several days before the new start we were told that OOPS!! they forgot to get the condo documents approved through the lawyer and that would delay us another several weeks. Those several weeks went by and we were told that we would be delayed again until the first week of July (couldn�t give us a reason then). The first of week of July went by and now we are told that our home will not start until July 26th. The reason we have heard thru the grapevine is that they can�t get the building permits. We have sold our home and are now living an apartment on a month by month basis. We are paying more because it is month to month. We have been looking around at other townhouse and the sales rep found out and told us that we would loose our good faith deposit with amount to $15,000 plus the cash we paid for carpet upgrade ($6,000). As mortgage rates rise we see the price of our home climb because our cap will no longer be any good. We will probably not be able to settle until the end of November, that is if they start by the end of July.
After reading everything about Ryan Homes, I almost feel we should try to get out while we can and possibly sue them for our deposit since they sold us property that currently is not read to be built on. What do think we should do??
07/10/06
Hello,
My name is J B and my husband and I moved into our Ryan home about a month ago. So far we have the typical shoddy workmanship issues you get with the "Mexican crews"(I still don't understand how anything gets done at all since most of the Ryan homes people don't speak Spanish or Korean for that matter). We fortunately had a real estate agent who restores houses and is very knowledgeable about building and would visit the house with us every three days or so. We have had a great construction supervisor and our knock out guy was awesome. Problem--both the construction supervisor and the knock out guy quit--both too ethical to work for Ryan homes. Now we are facing our 45 day inspection and I have had a bad experience with the other supervisor in the past and don't expect to get good results this time either. (We live in Ohio's terrace ridge where the workers urinated in an upstairs closet repeatedly.....we were promised nothing like that would happen to us. We found a sump crock FULL of urine and this guy was like "it might be that, I can't really say." I offered to get it lab tested. I just wanted it cleaned out. --did I mention the port-o-let is in our front yard. Anyway, the guy who we liked and recently quit scrubbed half the basement with bleach when he found out.) So here is my worry, there were several items our supervisor promised us verbally that I expect the other guy will use his typical excuse "made of natural materials and there are variations, blah, blah, blah." I expect to have to play hard ball and have thought of a few threats--going to the local media, standing outside with a sign "ask me about my Ryan home", etc.--I assume that one will get me some legal grief though. Do you have any advice for me before we do our inspection???? Any things we may have missed before or won't know about until winter and can check now??
Any help you could give would be much appreciated.
Thank you,
J
07/06/06
I have been very busy these past weeks. In short, I had contacted the Governor a couple months ago for assistance and needed to get a package of documentation together and sent out.
As this whole issue with my new house [purchased Jan 2005] has finally gotten me way down, I have to deal with this in bits and pieces. Just so you know, I am living in a house that is quite literally, falling apart around me and has mold that is affecting my health.
I have attempted several times to find a lawyer to take my case on contingency, but I think the mold issue turns them away. As such, I finally sent letters to the Governor, the Lt. Governor, Congressman Spratt, Oprah, CNN, etc..........I have gotten some responses and have met with one lawyer, but I am still plugging along.
If you have sources of help or need more information from me, do let me know.
Meanwhile, I apologize for all the delays and wish you well.
S. H.
6/30/06
We've been considering a Ryan Home's townhouse. I thought that I should check on the internet to see if there was any negative feedback on them. They are also telling us about an incentive that is only good if we use their mortgage company. I didn't like the sound of that to begin with but they told us it would save us a lot of money. Their homes look beautiful from the surface but I am shocked to see how many people are having problems with them. I'm thinking we should look for another builder.
Thanks for the info,
N. G.
6/30/06
Hello,
I just went on the web looking for Ryan Homes and came across your site. Very interesting!!! I have spent the last week going back and forth with NVR� they were really trying to jerk my chain. I am not green to the mortgage world and that is probably what saved our butts. 3 contracts later and I am hoping they got it right. The lack of communication and switching of loan officers was frustrating enough� but the messing up of the contracts, wrong figures and rates, extra fee, double fees� and as far as their 10,000 incentive.. What a joke they are getting it all back plus some with all the fees. At one point last week my husband and I said screw their 10,000. we will give it back and find another mortgage company�.. I pressed on with NVR till I was satisfied ( I think) with the mortgage. We will see.. Closing is set for July 25,2006. I was going to file a formal complaint with the corporate office but I an sure you already did this and did not get anywhere. Just glad to see that this web site is out there for all to see and be aware of. Ryan -at-your-own-risk!!
Thanks for the insight, I am so sorry all this mess has happened to you guys. You are better people then I am� I would be in jail about now if that was my situation because a few people would be dead by now.!!!!!!
M J
6/27/06
Companies/individuals like the ones you are dealing with are cheating countless decent, honest, hardworking persons out of their hard earned money, with no accountability for the time, expense, pain, and anguish that results out of the extraordinary efforts involved in getting a resolve to an issue, in which they are painfully apparent of gross negligence.
Your contractor should be responsible for the cost of bulldozing your house, and starting over (with a competent builder of your choice), with absolutely no inconvenience or expense on your part.
That's the way it should be. If logic prevailed, why can't it be that way?
M. P.
6/22/06
I work for a major top ten home builder and have to say we would not tolerate this type of workmanship and unprofessional responses to your plight. This gives home builders a bad reputation. Honest, professional builders get bad publicity when there is no real cause.
I would direct your attorney to sue to have Ryan Homes buy back your house for the same price you paid and some extra for the hardship they put you and your family through � I cannot imagine what you really are experiencing and I have to hope you do get through it and come out on top.
Put your hardship in any public media available � newspapers, real estate publications anywhere that Ryan Homes advertises in. It will take some time but it will get there attention. Also send the CEO of Ryan Homes � Dwight C. Schar and the CFO Dennis M. Seremet emails, letters, phone calls daily of your bad experience with his company and keep it up, don�t stop until they make restitution to your satisfaction. Remember that their stock as of today is trading at $507/share so it�s not that they don�t have the money, they�re loaded.
I do feel your pain and apologize on behalf of the building industry as to the horrible way you and your family have been treated. Don�t let one bad apple spoil the building industry barrel of apples. We are a hard working, honest professional group of people just trying to make a living supplying quality homes to families like yours.
Regards,
G S
6/5/06
Hi, I have a similar story w/ Ryan Homes but not as bad as yours. Whenever you have a couple minutes would you be willing to talk and offer advice? I�m at the point of trying to decide if hiring an attorney will be money well spent or a waste. I also have some damage done by their subcontractors and wondered if I could go after them and sue the sub directly?
Thanks,
M. S.
6/1/06
Was looking at your website and I may have info that might help your case, as well as the one I am trying to bring against Ryan for mold and structural damage.
Thanks.
S
5/27/06
Could you please tell me what city this house is in? Have all your issues been resolved?
The Ryan homes we have looked at all appear well made. It' s hard to see errors after construction is finished.
Thanks, J
From: T.W. 5/19/06
I wish I had read your email before I bought a Ryan home. I generally do not send emails to those that I do not know but I was so sickened by what I read that I had to write to tell you that I too have experienced the horror of dealing with Ryan Homes and have only begun to see what we purchased is a nightmare and not a dream home. I can truly sympathize and hope that all is going ok, health wise. I too am in Ohio and have see Floyds concrete out here in our development. They definitely have some rude workers.
Thanks
T. W
3/20/06
hi, I read your report on Ryan homes and I 100% agree with your issues. I built a new home in 2000 and it was great until the 3rd year. I noticed leaking and staining on our baseboards from water getting in behind siding. Sill plate on house was soaked which will cause major damage in future years. looks like you got the "patriot" brand windows just like I did. same thing with me, condensation, even between double pane glass. These houses are built to last just as long as the warranty period. I have had contractors come back to fix the problems only to create new ones for me. good luck with your shack...................
3/14/06
We came across your site while doing research on building a new home. We are considering using Ryan Homes but appear to be reading a lot of negative articles in isolated areas of the north east on this company. Your article indicates that you will share in sight full information that we may want to consider before choosing this builder. Please tell us more. Thanks
3/8/06
where do you live..we are also suing Ryan homes
2/21/06
Good afternoon,
I do not know what to say after reviewing some of your information. Coming from a newly built home by David Cutler, I surely thought a Ryan home would be more solidly built, I guess I may be wrong to assume this scenario. I am not sure if the legal laws here in PA are as meek as the ones found in your state, but I certainly hope not. The court system there appears to be pro-builder, giving the homeowner no fighting chance for winning a legal battle.
Well, just to let you know I recently put a down payment on a home and went thru NVR Mortgage so I could get their incentive package. Already I am feeling a bit hot under the collar for my rep seems a bit distant when I question him on rates, etc. I hope my nightmare is not beginning like yours did a few years ago.
I am wondering were you stand now with everything? Has everything been fixed for you and gave you since refinanced?
In closing, thanks for sharing your tragedy with all of us who have or may be considering buying a Ryan Home. I will be honest with you, had I read this first I would not have bought a Ryan home!
Warm regards,
D. W.