Traditions of America LP

Do not buy a house from these folks. I am walking away before I buy this very expensive, cheaply built house.They are anxious to get your down payment money, but no one will talk to you about how much the "extra" features, such as hardwood floors, instead of their cheap standard carpet will cost until 4 months later at your "design" appointment. Once you add the features of a "typical" home, your cost adds up to over $100,000+ in additional fees. They blatant lie or conveniently omit the details of what you will pay upfront, yet, you are required to give them a 5% deposit to hold your lot. They give you a cost sheet of add-ons, but it does not come close to the price you will pay! $500,000 + Stupidly, I signed a contract, chose a lot based on their marketing materials; which were a blatant lie. The marketing materials said the lot backed to "open space." it did not. The lot backed up to the back side of 12 town homes. -- not open space! So I had to change my lot, which cost me an extra $17,000 because the new lot had a $32000 premium. Oh and I had to put 5% down on this amount as well. That was the first of many "extra" costs that TOA charges over and above their standard cheap house. -- Note: Someone at corporate is making a lot of money on the backs of senior citizens. -- I wanted to make sure I could put a porch and landscaping in the back of the house. I made an appointment with their sales person, who was eager to sell me the house, but could not answer if I could put my own landscaping/porch in the back of the house. She stated that I had to wait until I went to my design appointment -- which, surprise, couldn't be scheduled until FOUR months after I signed the contract. She also conveniently failed to mention that the back yard items I wanted would require me to pay an extra $2000 for a custom house , and also I would not be given any costs estimates for any extras I wanted in the house until this meeting as well. I also found out that becasue I needed a custom home, my settlement would be backed up by three months from the original estimate date. I was asked to sign a contract that it would be backed up. Stupidly, I signed it. She also said I could not put in a patio on the back of my house, using my own vendor, after the house was built because of the local Township Rules-- this was a total lie. They just wanted to charge me double what their third party contractor charged requiring me to do the work through TOA. At the design meeting, I was told I could put landscaping in the back yard, but the HOA would not take care of it. Something TOA boasts in the marketing materials-- that you have no maintenance. -- Again, blatant lie. They also do not let you choose what plants are planted in the front of your house. Again, not mentioned until the design meeting. When I went to the design meeting, it was obvious that the house was so basic that any thing included in a "normal" house, was an extra charge -- for example, an exit door at the side of the garage was not included in the base house. Only cheap windows were included in the base house. This is a blatant "bait and switch" situation. They Show you a beautiful house, but none of the items in that house are included in their initial price. Also, after the design meeting, I found out that all of their vendors that you chose materials from, were at over 50 miles away, and one was even in Virginia-- the house was to be built in Lancaster County PA. TOA had no showroom set up to even look at materials because it hadn't been built yet. At this point, I knew I did not want to deal with these people any longer. They were obviously just out to make a lot of money off of their lies and half truths. I am backing out of the sale that I have now put $20,000 in to. I will update this post, after I meet with their attorneys.

TOA rip off

We entered into an agreement to purchase a TOA home after visiting their model homes in Lititz PA. The homes are beautiful and filled with upgrades that cost a fortune compared to other 55 + communities in the area, that are much better constructed. Despite our usually careful deliberation in entering agreements we agreed to sign a contract putting 10% down on the purchase of a home. Having inquired and received in writing the cost of certain upgrades only to find out that the actual costs had in some cases over doubled from the quoted cost.

We then found out that the base costs included windows (Silverline) that were the cheapest builder grade windows available at Home Depot and that these windows after a couple of years developed condensation between the panes and air leakage according to several website we reviewed and we would be responsible for replacing them after a year.They refused to consider any other similarly priced windows that had better reviews, as they only deal with certain distributors, even though we were prepared to pay any additional costs. We found this to be true of many other requests we made for certain products we wanted as this was supposed to be a custom built home. Could not get the floors we wanted but were being charged 12,000 for the wood floors they were offering.

We even requested a very common garage door style that was on their Washington model and were told it was unavailable.

The cost of upgrades was out of sight. We are now dealing with another 55 + community with a house that is basically the same size and the very same upgrades are much less, up to half the cost. For example a central vac rough in with 6 outlets is $620.half the price of a central vac rough in with 3 outlets at TOA.$1,250- Heated bathroom floor is 1,620 vs 2,285 at TOA, In wall ironing board is 575.00 and for the very same thing 1,500 at TOA. In addition we have not been asked to sign anything nor have we been charged anything for the redesign of one of the models we are considering. We have been given the exact costs of the upgrades we are interested in so that we know exactly what this will cost us before we sign a contract. That is the way we should have done business but that was not the TOA way.

When we decided to cut our loses and walk away, our contract required us to forfeit the whole down payment. After several weeks, we received a General Release Agreement from TOA requiring that we keep the existence and terms of our agreement and the agreement of sale confidential, In addition the terms of the release included being forbidden to contact ANYONE about our concerns and threatening us with a law suit and responsibility for paying their counsel fees if we did so. Needless to say we did not sign.
The designers we dealt with were delightful and we do not blame them as they are not responsible for policies or pricing.

Beware about entering into any agreement with this company despite their beautiful Club House and wonderful activities. This is not a company you want to deal with, as after the first year most problems you have, and there can be many , you will be on your own to deal with ie windows, cheap paint, floor problems etc...

Review: To: The Revdex.com From: [redacted]Date: January 10, 2014Subject: Poor Business Practices of Traditions of America (TOA) [redacted] PA [redacted]I am writing this letter to inform the Revdex.com and potential buyers of TOAs home of the poor quality management, customer service, the lack of value in their homes and to seek reimbursement for my out-of-pocket expenses.I need to start out by saying; this is my fourth new home purchase in my lifetime. The aggravation of dealing with TOA does not compare to all of my previous purchases combined. From pricing, communication, or lack thereof and follow up after closing. I used their home-free program which most likely cost me several thousands of dollars in upgrades to my previous home that my real estate agent did not believe were necessary. I re-carpeted the home and repainted rooms that were not totally necessary. I used over $3000.00 of my own money to satisfy TOAs demands. I would like to have that money back. Also, while it may have said somewhere in the fine print, but they took 1% of my real estate agents commission for my aggravation.Once I settled on a home and lot, I changed my mind to a larger model. I was told that our lot would fit the new model selection by my salesperson, which in his defense was listed as a suitable lot for that model. Many weeks later, I was called by TOA and informed that our lot was too small for our new model. TOA offered another lot, but my wife and I had to take off from work drive to [redacted] from [redacted] VA, since we were told that someone else had a lot hold on it and we needed to make a decision quickly. I asked to be reimbursed for missing work and travel expenses but was denied. This seemed extremely unfair to me and I feel I should be reimbursed for my aggravation and expenses.I tried to negotiate pricing but that was a lost cause. I believe it is very important educate potential new buyers that the price they initially thought they were paying will be much larger if the make any changes at all. There pricing for any type of upgrade is much higher than any other builder we researched. TOA charged for every little thing possible. This set the price of the home at $152.00 per sq. ft. Now I realize as a consumer I had the power to walk away. I just want to educate future residence of the actual cost, since most of the new residence coming into a 55 and older community may not realize. So, buyer-beware!After closing on my home in May of 2013, I annotated numerous deficiencies on our walk-thru. Sad to say as of the date of this letter eight months later, not all of the items from the walk-thru have been resolved. TOA still owes me about $185.00 for a kitchen light that I did not get. I cant believe its taken this long to reimburse me for such a small amount. A possible resolution is still in the works, but I was told that TOA only writes checks twice per month, which is ironic, because when I owed deposit money I was contacted almost immediately. It was the only time during the purchase that they responded quickly.After a month or so in the house, I came to realize that my A/C unit wasnt keeping up the temperatures. I checked tonnage of my unit, which did appear small and sure enough I was given a 2 ton unit for a 2528 sq. ft. two-story home. I check my neighbors unit size and realized that their unit was a 3 ton unit for a 1949 sq. ft. home. It became apparent that TOAs contractor [redacted] installed the wrong unit in my home. Now TOA and [redacted] after much wrangling agreed that a mistake was made and that [redacted] would replace the unit. Before [redacted] installed the unit, I contacted a third party A/C company and they informed me that a home of my size should have a 4 ton unit. [redacted] continued to disagree. I succumbed to [redacted] and allowed them to install the 3 ton unit, because I did not and do not have the funds to pay for a full blown energy audit. I still feel that since our home was modified from the standard Lincoln model that our unit is too small. I would like for TOA or [redacted] to pay for a third party contractor come and assess the drawings and design of the unit. I would expect a resolution of these issues and be refunded for my expenses and aggravation.Also, I want it documented that TOA is a poorly run company from the top. Whenever, I spoke to someone at the headquarters office I would come away being even more angered than when the conversations started. I got the impression that they feel they dont do anything wrong and if you dont like it feel free to walk away. There is literally no negotiating with them. Now, I realize all companies are in business to make money, but TOA charges more than other companies and this could be to cover for the many mistakes they will make during the purchase. I believe that most of their overhead expenses come from poor management, starting at the top and their choice of subcontractors that they use. The TOA worker bees themselves try very hard to satisfy the customers demands and correct deficiencies. Knowing what I know now about TOA, I would not have purchased a home with them. I also know that many other people in my development feel the same way. I have considered organizing a forum for the residence to share their experiences and write to the Revdex.com as well.Thank you in advance for assistance on the matter!Sincerely, [redacted], PA [redacted]Ph: ###-###-####Desired Settlement: Refund of $3000.00 for painting and carpet replacement that went against the judgment of my own real estate agent. One day's pay for my wife and I to take off of work to inspect the home site TOA offered after their mistake, plus mileage. This cost my wife and I $818.00. Reimbursement of $185.00 for a kitchen light I never received. And settlement by a neutral HVAC contractor to assess the drawings and design of the HVAC system.

Business

Response:

Our onsite team has been working with this

customer to resolve all outstanding issues.

Although we believe the customer’s issues are resolved, he should

contact management at our main office if he is not completely satisfied. He was reimbursed $185 for the light on

January 15, 2014. We investigated his requests for reimbursement of certain

personal expenses. Reimbursement of

these specific costs was not part of our agreement with the customer and is not

typical in our industry. We wish him the best in his new home. Below is a summary of some of our programs that

benefited this customer.ResaleTraditions of America has introduced programs to

eliminate the stress that comes with buying a new home when a customer has one

to sell. In just the past two years, our team of Resale Specialists has helped

over 300 active adults sell their homes to move into one of our 55 and over

communities. The best part: if the customer’s home doesn’t sell, they don’t

have to buy ours.Once a customer contracts with us for a new

home, we will prepare an evaluation based on estimates from local

relocation-designated agents and/or an appraisal. If the customer accepts the

value, Traditions will help them select the best agent to represent them.Design Traditions of America is dedicated to building

new homes just the way our customers have dreamed it would be. Our residents’

homes reflect their own individual style, desires and needs. Professional

designers spend time with the customer selecting from the abundant choices

found in each Pennsylvania retirement community’s Design Studio. By example,

they can create a luxurious master bath or plan a chef's kitchen, perfect for

entertaining. Unlike many builders, we encourage the customer to move walls and

customize their selections - designing a home that is theirs in every way. Warranty 60-Day InspectionA Customer Service

Representative will meet with the customer and inspect their home to identify

and correct any concerns that may have arisen in the two months since

Settlement.One-Year InspectionEleven months after

closing, a Customer Service team member will again meet with the customer to

review any necessary warranty work. We will respond to any questions or

concerns the customer has before their first anniversary in their new home.