Buyer beware! It's hard to tell if these people are just inept or dishonest or a little of bothQuite frankly, we really don't know what is going on with them, but their actions are certainly suspectThat said, we have come up with what appears to be a plausible explanation
At the beginning, while purchasing a new build, we submitted a VA loan pre-qualification form that was initially accepted by the salespersonA few days later, it was rejected by the main officeWe then submitted an FHA pre-qual as an alternativeThere was no resistance expressed this time around so we naturally assumed that it was acceptedWrongThe FHA pre-qual was rejected two months later
Two months during which time we jumped through all of Dorn's hoops and gave them a substantial amount of earnest and construction moneyRejected after all parties had signed off on the the contractDespite having what is called a "fully executed contract," Dorn announced that if we didn't obtain a conventional loan they were going to unilaterally cancel the contractIt was like we didn't even have a contract
It turned out, according to their own salesperson, Dorn has a history of problems with appraisals, hence the aversion to VA and FHA loans which have buiprotection for the buyerIf the house appraises lower than the amount set by Dorn, the buyer can opt out without a penalty and have all of their money returned to themWith a conventional loan, it was explained to us, the buyer is stuck for the difference, protecting the sellerIn short, paying more for the house than the appraiser says that it is worthVoila! By requiring a conventional loan, Dorn's appraisal problems disappearNo matter that they are sticking it to the buyerNo matter that they are sticking to vets
The thing, for us, is that Dorn didn't tell us up front that they only accept cash and conventional loansIn our case, all of the preliminary steps had been completedThe city had okayed all of the permits and our house was supposed to begin constructionThen Dorn sprung the conventional loan requirement on usAlthough they tried to coerce us into obtaining the loan of their choice, it was not the loan of our choiceIt appears to be something akin to a bait and switch ploy: get us percent committed then switch up on us
As it turned out, we released them from their contractual obligationWe certainly did not want to try to force them to build us a house after we lost confidence in themAs they had no leg to stand on, we received a full refundNo official apologyNo compensation offered for wasting our time and energy for four plus monthsJust here's your money back, now get lost
If you should choose to ignore this warning, do yourself a favor and have a lawyer take a look at the "contract" before signing itIt is heavily skewed towards the seller, and I mean heavily, offering little or no protection to the buyer (an example of which is that they thought they could just cancel it on their own volition without any arbitration)Our realtor said that she had never seen anything like it before, despite having spent many years in the business, in two different countriesDorn's whole approach smacks of paranoia
Because of the scenic surroundings, we ignored the red flagsDon't make the same mistakeBe strong! There are plenty of other builders in the areaGood luck
NOTE: For similar reviews, please refer to Dorn Homes Prescott YELP
not even close to custermer service worthy, there house s suck no follow up at all
Buyer beware! It's hard to tell if these people are just inept or dishonest or a little of bothQuite frankly, we really don't know what is going on with them, but their actions are certainly suspectThat said, we have come up with what appears to be a plausible explanation
At the beginning, while purchasing a new build, we submitted a VA loan pre-qualification form that was initially accepted by the salespersonA few days later, it was rejected by the main officeWe then submitted an FHA pre-qual as an alternativeThere was no resistance expressed this time around so we naturally assumed that it was acceptedWrongThe FHA pre-qual was rejected two months later
Two months during which time we jumped through all of Dorn's hoops and gave them a substantial amount of earnest and construction moneyRejected after all parties had signed off on the the contractDespite having what is called a "fully executed contract," Dorn announced that if we didn't obtain a conventional loan they were going to unilaterally cancel the contractIt was like we didn't even have a contract
It turned out, according to their own salesperson, Dorn has a history of problems with appraisals, hence the aversion to VA and FHA loans which have buiprotection for the buyerIf the house appraises lower than the amount set by Dorn, the buyer can opt out without a penalty and have all of their money returned to themWith a conventional loan, it was explained to us, the buyer is stuck for the difference, protecting the sellerIn short, paying more for the house than the appraiser says that it is worthVoila! By requiring a conventional loan, Dorn's appraisal problems disappearNo matter that they are sticking it to the buyerNo matter that they are sticking to vets
The thing, for us, is that Dorn didn't tell us up front that they only accept cash and conventional loansIn our case, all of the preliminary steps had been completedThe city had okayed all of the permits and our house was supposed to begin constructionThen Dorn sprung the conventional loan requirement on usAlthough they tried to coerce us into obtaining the loan of their choice, it was not the loan of our choiceIt appears to be something akin to a bait and switch ploy: get us percent committed then switch up on us
As it turned out, we released them from their contractual obligationWe certainly did not want to try to force them to build us a house after we lost confidence in themAs they had no leg to stand on, we received a full refundNo official apologyNo compensation offered for wasting our time and energy for four plus monthsJust here's your money back, now get lost
If you should choose to ignore this warning, do yourself a favor and have a lawyer take a look at the "contract" before signing itIt is heavily skewed towards the seller, and I mean heavily, offering little or no protection to the buyer (an example of which is that they thought they could just cancel it on their own volition without any arbitration)Our realtor said that she had never seen anything like it before, despite having spent many years in the business, in two different countriesDorn's whole approach smacks of paranoia
Because of the scenic surroundings, we ignored the red flagsDon't make the same mistakeBe strong! There are plenty of other builders in the areaGood luck
NOTE: For similar reviews, please refer to Dorn Homes Prescott YELP