DO NOT buy a home from Dream Finders. My husband and I picked this builder because we believed they were a quality builder. This is not the case. They were advised to compact the soil to reduce settlement in the soils report and they didn't, even though it was in the report and we pointed it out to them. One month after they poured the concrete we have cracks all in the basement and the driveway. We began our contract on July 2016, our house was suppose to be complete in March 2017 and it's March now, and they are still at framing. It does NOT take eight months to get to framing. Other houses around us that started after ours are almost already built. If you drive around the neighborhood, you will find shotty workmanship everywhere, retaining walls are falling down, driveways are cracked after 1 month.
After a wind storm many of the houses were missing large spots of shingles, where homes from other builders were fine. The foreman doesn't find the issues, we have had to point out all of them. Including a sewer pipe that wouldn't pass inspection. Had this had been missed, it would have been extremely costly. Our front bedroom is so far out of level, you can visually tell from the street. We have a window well that was suppose to be removed. Instead of putting the sump pit in the mechanical area, they put it in a bedroom. They are planning on putting our breaker box in the middle of the rec room instead of the mech room. They didn't put the house as low as they could have and now we have a sloped back yard instead of flat. The interest rates are continuing to rise and we are stuck with a very expensive house with many expensive issues that will be left to us. They don't care at all about their customers. The CEO wouldn't answer my emails. We have asked for a refund many times as they are at a point where they can scale the house to a moderate price and let us out, but they will not agree. Their contract does NOT protect you as a buyer. I wish I would have spent more time reading it as it only helps them continue to screw over the customer. The head of the Colorado Division is gone, and no one here knows what is going on, since the company is based in FL. The only person who cares are the two agents, and the rest of the company could care less about customer service or making it right for the customer. My husband and I built our last home with our own hands, and it didn't take this long. As the other gentleman said we tell people (realtors, engineers, lawyers, and other builders) about our experience and they are appauled by what is going on with this builder. Please stay away, you will be sorry otherwise.
Dreamfinders are the worst builder i've ever met. I have built 4 custom homes and had very positive experiences with all 4 prior to number 5 with dreamfinders. I also know several other builders and they are shocked to hear the experience i am having with dreamfinders. Everyone at Dreamfinders over promises and underperforms. They do not have any relationships with their subcontractors and struggle to get any work done. We went under contract on a home in June of this year, this home was a spec house that was completely framed just waiting to be finished. It is now mid December and we are not even to drywall yet. We have had beautiful weather into December, yet they failed to get the roof done or complete exterior framing and stucco and stone, now we have weather issues. They have excuses for everything and blame their lack of productivity on lack of subs in the marketplace, yet a home directly next door was completely built in the past 6 months, and other builders in the same neighborhood are building homes and working circles arounfd Dreamfinders. We asked for a set of plans in the beginning as well as a build schedule, we neve received the plans, and finally got a build schedule 6 months later of which they are already behind on. They do not care about their customers nor want to do anything to make things right. We have begged since early on in the project to let us out and they refused, we caught on pretty quick that they were a shoddy builder yet they continue to hold our feet to the fire and continue to disappoint. Whatever you do, do not buy a home from Dreamfinders, you will regret doing business with them.
We were introduced to Dream Finders through our realtor. After being sold on the idea of building a new home in Fernandina Beach, with the seller paying all of the closing costs and prepaids if we used their preffered lender, we picked out the lot and paid a deposit of $6,600. That amount is extremely high considering other developments require a deposit of 2% of the base price. The base price of the model we chose was $219,000 and by my calculations the deposit amount should have been $4380. This is the first time I have ever entered into a contract to build or even buy a house, so I relied on what the sales Lady (Melanie Simpson) was telling me was truthful. Boy was I wrong.
I was not allowed to preview any of the "options" Dream Finders offered at the design center prior to signing the contract nor was I given a limit on the price of home I could build in their development. They keep everything hidden, especially the design part, only allowing 2 hours to pick out cabinets, fixtures, and flooring. I was directed to their preferred lender to prequalify for the mortgage. All documents were submitted and was pre-qualified for $272,000.00 before we went to the design center. Keep in mind 30 days had past since entering into the agreement and this was just a pre-qual, not an underwritten loan with their preferred lender.
The lender called me just before my appointment at the design center to tell me that he had a problem with getting an approval from underwriting. He suggested that I apply for FHA financing, as it would be easier to qualify and my down payment would only be 3.5%. On May 27th the lender sent a new pre-qualification/FHA. I explained to him that I was concerned because the price for the home with the structural changes was already at $272,000 and I had not been to design.
At the end of May, we travelled to Jacksonville for our scheduled appointment at he design center. Every option there has a price tag. I asked the question several times "What is my limit in this development"? and "Am I over improving"? I had intentions of adding a swimming pool to the new house with a conservative quote of $40,000. Eveyone from the design team and the Lender and the sales team only said, "It's going to be beautiful".
The following week I got an email from Melanie Simpson at the sales center in Heron Isles. She informed me that The price of the home was now $340,000. She also said that they would need an additional $59,000 before construction and that she didnt believe that the house would appraise for that amount in this development. I then found out that Dream Finders has listings for the exact same floor plan, directly across the street from mine, for $259,000. After I put in the pool my house would be nearly $400,000 or $140,00 more than anything in the development. She then told me I could scale back the home or pay the $59,000 non refundable deposit.
I immediatley contacted my agent and the lender and explained that they required an additional $59,000 and that the home would not appraise at the amount it cost to build. The lender told me that at this price point I would not be approved for FHA financing. The entire sales agreement is contingent upon being approved for financing.
When I told Dream Finders that we would not be able to build on their site due to denial of financing, they have refused to refund my deposit. Stating that I could agree to build somewhere else and they would hold my deposit for 6 months until I found a lot and then I would have to pay another non-refundable deposit.
When I requested that my deposit be refunded, they told me that I was in default and that I was required to have a fully underwritten loan approval within 45 days. May 15th, 2016 would have been 45 days. My appointment at their design center was scheduled by Dream Finders on May 25th. 10 days past this deadline before we even had any idea what the final price of the home or the loan amount had been determined.
These are unscrupulous sales tactics. They should have disclosed the price limitations in their development, they kept all the costs of the options to build their "Dream" house a secret until I found out I could only build one of their spec homes. After informing them of the financing disqualification they refused to refund my deposit and said that is between me and my lender, who by the way is their preferred lender.
What a nightmare. If you are considering building with these people, I suggest you hire a real estate attorney before you sign anything.
Dream Finders Homes LLC Reviews
DO NOT buy a home from Dream Finders. My husband and I picked this builder because we believed they were a quality builder. This is not the case. They were advised to compact the soil to reduce settlement in the soils report and they didn't, even though it was in the report and we pointed it out to them. One month after they poured the concrete we have cracks all in the basement and the driveway. We began our contract on July 2016, our house was suppose to be complete in March 2017 and it's March now, and they are still at framing. It does NOT take eight months to get to framing. Other houses around us that started after ours are almost already built. If you drive around the neighborhood, you will find shotty workmanship everywhere, retaining walls are falling down, driveways are cracked after 1 month.
After a wind storm many of the houses were missing large spots of shingles, where homes from other builders were fine. The foreman doesn't find the issues, we have had to point out all of them. Including a sewer pipe that wouldn't pass inspection. Had this had been missed, it would have been extremely costly. Our front bedroom is so far out of level, you can visually tell from the street. We have a window well that was suppose to be removed. Instead of putting the sump pit in the mechanical area, they put it in a bedroom. They are planning on putting our breaker box in the middle of the rec room instead of the mech room. They didn't put the house as low as they could have and now we have a sloped back yard instead of flat. The interest rates are continuing to rise and we are stuck with a very expensive house with many expensive issues that will be left to us. They don't care at all about their customers. The CEO wouldn't answer my emails. We have asked for a refund many times as they are at a point where they can scale the house to a moderate price and let us out, but they will not agree. Their contract does NOT protect you as a buyer. I wish I would have spent more time reading it as it only helps them continue to screw over the customer. The head of the Colorado Division is gone, and no one here knows what is going on, since the company is based in FL. The only person who cares are the two agents, and the rest of the company could care less about customer service or making it right for the customer. My husband and I built our last home with our own hands, and it didn't take this long. As the other gentleman said we tell people (realtors, engineers, lawyers, and other builders) about our experience and they are appauled by what is going on with this builder. Please stay away, you will be sorry otherwise.
Dreamfinders are the worst builder i've ever met. I have built 4 custom homes and had very positive experiences with all 4 prior to number 5 with dreamfinders. I also know several other builders and they are shocked to hear the experience i am having with dreamfinders. Everyone at Dreamfinders over promises and underperforms. They do not have any relationships with their subcontractors and struggle to get any work done. We went under contract on a home in June of this year, this home was a spec house that was completely framed just waiting to be finished. It is now mid December and we are not even to drywall yet. We have had beautiful weather into December, yet they failed to get the roof done or complete exterior framing and stucco and stone, now we have weather issues. They have excuses for everything and blame their lack of productivity on lack of subs in the marketplace, yet a home directly next door was completely built in the past 6 months, and other builders in the same neighborhood are building homes and working circles arounfd Dreamfinders. We asked for a set of plans in the beginning as well as a build schedule, we neve received the plans, and finally got a build schedule 6 months later of which they are already behind on. They do not care about their customers nor want to do anything to make things right. We have begged since early on in the project to let us out and they refused, we caught on pretty quick that they were a shoddy builder yet they continue to hold our feet to the fire and continue to disappoint. Whatever you do, do not buy a home from Dreamfinders, you will regret doing business with them.
We were introduced to Dream Finders through our realtor. After being sold on the idea of building a new home in Fernandina Beach, with the seller paying all of the closing costs and prepaids if we used their preffered lender, we picked out the lot and paid a deposit of $6,600. That amount is extremely high considering other developments require a deposit of 2% of the base price. The base price of the model we chose was $219,000 and by my calculations the deposit amount should have been $4380. This is the first time I have ever entered into a contract to build or even buy a house, so I relied on what the sales Lady (Melanie Simpson) was telling me was truthful. Boy was I wrong.
I was not allowed to preview any of the "options" Dream Finders offered at the design center prior to signing the contract nor was I given a limit on the price of home I could build in their development. They keep everything hidden, especially the design part, only allowing 2 hours to pick out cabinets, fixtures, and flooring. I was directed to their preferred lender to prequalify for the mortgage. All documents were submitted and was pre-qualified for $272,000.00 before we went to the design center. Keep in mind 30 days had past since entering into the agreement and this was just a pre-qual, not an underwritten loan with their preferred lender.
The lender called me just before my appointment at the design center to tell me that he had a problem with getting an approval from underwriting. He suggested that I apply for FHA financing, as it would be easier to qualify and my down payment would only be 3.5%. On May 27th the lender sent a new pre-qualification/FHA. I explained to him that I was concerned because the price for the home with the structural changes was already at $272,000 and I had not been to design.
At the end of May, we travelled to Jacksonville for our scheduled appointment at he design center. Every option there has a price tag. I asked the question several times "What is my limit in this development"? and "Am I over improving"? I had intentions of adding a swimming pool to the new house with a conservative quote of $40,000. Eveyone from the design team and the Lender and the sales team only said, "It's going to be beautiful".
The following week I got an email from Melanie Simpson at the sales center in Heron Isles. She informed me that The price of the home was now $340,000. She also said that they would need an additional $59,000 before construction and that she didnt believe that the house would appraise for that amount in this development. I then found out that Dream Finders has listings for the exact same floor plan, directly across the street from mine, for $259,000. After I put in the pool my house would be nearly $400,000 or $140,00 more than anything in the development. She then told me I could scale back the home or pay the $59,000 non refundable deposit.
I immediatley contacted my agent and the lender and explained that they required an additional $59,000 and that the home would not appraise at the amount it cost to build. The lender told me that at this price point I would not be approved for FHA financing. The entire sales agreement is contingent upon being approved for financing.
When I told Dream Finders that we would not be able to build on their site due to denial of financing, they have refused to refund my deposit. Stating that I could agree to build somewhere else and they would hold my deposit for 6 months until I found a lot and then I would have to pay another non-refundable deposit.
When I requested that my deposit be refunded, they told me that I was in default and that I was required to have a fully underwritten loan approval within 45 days. May 15th, 2016 would have been 45 days. My appointment at their design center was scheduled by Dream Finders on May 25th. 10 days past this deadline before we even had any idea what the final price of the home or the loan amount had been determined.
These are unscrupulous sales tactics. They should have disclosed the price limitations in their development, they kept all the costs of the options to build their "Dream" house a secret until I found out I could only build one of their spec homes. After informing them of the financing disqualification they refused to refund my deposit and said that is between me and my lender, who by the way is their preferred lender.
What a nightmare. If you are considering building with these people, I suggest you hire a real estate attorney before you sign anything.