Megan Whitson

Review of Centex Homes - The Jones Compa...

For quite some time, my husband and I were both ab...

For quite some time, my husband and I were both absolutely set on remaining in our current Ladd Park Subdivision. An overall lack of semi-private, level lots in The Crest left us feeling discouraged. Just prior to a more formal meeting with Megan McCann at The Crest (would have had us just settling on a less favorable lot), I received an encouraging update from Lauren Mink at Falls Grove - Jones Company had just aquired some additional lots from Ryan Homes. One lot in particular (Lot 418) was described as a large, flat lot with common area behind --- absolutely something we were struggling to be able to achieve at The Crest. We drove out and walked Lot 418 with Lauren Mink. We both vividly recall Lauren in a dress, with rain boots on, and a tape measure in hand describing how flat the lot was and measuring an estimated "at least 40 ft" of flat yard area behind the proposed footprint of the home. At that time, we brought up interest in adding a playset and trampoline (and potentially even a pool later) to the rear yard --- Lauren left us feeling absolutely confident that this could easily be achieved. I followed up with our agent and he drove out there on his own as he returned to town a few days later. As he drove out there, he recalled wondering how great the lot must be in order to convince us to move from Franklin to College Grove to build our dream home. He is also confident that hesaw a very flat lot with (as Lauren also stated in an email) a slight pitch in the rear left (something that seemed impossible to achieve in The Crest).
Connecting the "Sales" side commitment at the beginning of our process to the "Construction" side commitment of the end of our process. Lauren Mink's email on September 20, 2019 (during our lot selection process) specifically states: "...Lot 418 is wide and flat with a slight drop in the very back (backs to common space)."Following an extensive conversation with Joe Hollingsworth on site at Lot 418 on Wednesday, June 24th, 2020, we feel strongly that the only way to achieve the level rear yard that they were sold by Lauren Mink during their lot selection process would be to have a retaining wall installed along the rear property line. Achieving greater than 30 ft of level area between the back edge of the poured patio and the rear edge of our lot without any steep slope grading required on any area of our lot. The VP of Jones, Perry Pratt, declined our ask for a retaining wall which is the only way to give us the lot we thought we were getting when sold the lot. After being declined the retaining wall, we asked that at the very least Jones could sod our backyard as that is (per Joe) essential to preserving the resulting slope at the rear of our lot. Again, we have been denied our request. Leaving us with two expensive solutions to get a lot we somewhat thought we were getting when we signed the contract.Buyers, beware. We are VERY unhappy.