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<blockquote data-quote="KPRC2" data-source="post: 30488" data-attributes="member: 148">We tell you every day that prices for just about everything are up. That includes building materials for a new home. It’s one thing to agree to pay the higher costs, but a lot of new home buyers are telling KPRC 2 Investigates that builders are demanding more money for homes after they’ve locked in the price and signed a contract.One of the cardinal rules of any big financial purchase is to get everything in writing. But in these cases with new home construction, builders are throwing these contracts out the window and leaving buyers in a lurch.<img src="https://www.click2houston.com/resizer/dco7-SNan-nsuruN-XkeRoxp1d4=/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gmg/73AWHCLJ6RHWJKCEQVDYPXLLKA.png" alt="Homebuilder changes the prices after signing a contract. A Katy teacher says what is happening is not fair. KPRC2 Investigates." class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />From an empty lot to the foundation, framework, and now walls, Christina Montalvan and her family watched their dream of a home in Brookshire take shape. They would drive past the home every week to check on the progress.“And every time we go by, my three kids are like, ‘Mama’s house! Mama’s house!’ and my 3-year-old daughter, she likes going to see her room,” said Montalvan.Christina Montalvan is a school teacher. She found the home her family could afford in this Brookshire subdivision in April 2021. She signed a contract with builder Manuel Cabrera for $180,000 with a closing date of October 29, 2021. In October the house still wasn’t ready.“We’ve been doing extensions every single month,” she said.<img src="https://www.click2houston.com/resizer/dFCl8KCLdq_CpM09QaHV7mPSm_Y=/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gmg/AL4V3QC6GRF65PSEK6EU2JNF2Q.png" alt="Homebuilder changes the prices after signing a contract. A Katy teacher says what is happening is not fair. KPRC2 Investigates." class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />When Montalvan’s apartment lease was up, her family had to go month to month while they waited for their home. This has been a great expense.“Thankfully, my apartments allowed me to stay, but it’s $600 more a month, Which is more than one of my checks,” Montalvan explains.<h3>Purchase price increased from $180,000 to $220,000</h3>Then in April, she got a text from the seller’s agent. It said:“Citing the economic impact from the pandemic and an increase in costs...The builder is asking to increase the purchase price to $220,000 or be released from the contract.”In seconds, Montalvan’s dream of a home was out of reach, $40,000 more. That’s when she called our Investigates team for help.<h3>Issue: More builders are raising prices</h3>We had <a href="https://www.randolph-law.com/" target="_blank">real estate attorney Jonathan Randolph</a> look through all of the paperwork. Randolph said he’s seeing a lot of builders going back on prices they agreed to as the cost of everything from lumber to nails to drywall adds up.<img src="https://www.click2houston.com/resizer/EUcLZKAR06xsu1X0_DJaCyv_nec=/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gmg/DP6JUTQGTRCIRE2DPNDSAO4W6Q.png" alt="Real estate attorney Jonathan Randolph reviews contract between home builder and buyer. Builder is backing out of the contract, leaving the future homeowner in a bind." class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />“This incident that she’s in keeps happening over and over,” said Randolph.Some builders do have a clause in their contracts that allows them to raise the price of the home if their costs increase significantly. Montalvan’s contract doesn’t have that language.“There’s no wiggle room for that contractor, that contractor is going to have to honor that contract as stated,” Randolph explained.Except he’s not. The builder didn’t return our calls or email. And a representative of the <a href="https://www.ghba.org/" target="_blank">Greater Houston Builder’s Association</a> told us these situations are having, “a greater impact on lower-end home builders with tighter margins.”And buyers like Montalvan can’t pay for an attorney to hold the builder to their end of the deal. Meanwhile, the house sits incomplete and Montalvan’s family in limbo.<img src="https://www.click2houston.com/resizer/jaIWsxw7KuIKggngEutU39KLs98=/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gmg/7MENKEC3RVAITA5253WJPKA7B4.png" alt="Homebuilder changes the prices after signing a contract. A Katy teacher says what is happening is not fair. KPRC2 Investigates." class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />“My kids were like, ‘Mommy, Mommy, there’s our house.’ And I was like, ‘I don’t even know if that’s our house anymore.’”The extension on the contract between Montalvan and the builder expires at the end of this month. She worries the builder will let it expire and then just sell the home to someone else for the increased asking price.One option for Montalvan is to apply for legal help. <a href="https://legalhelphouston.org/about-hvl/" target="_blank">Houston Volunteer Lawyers</a> and <a href="https://www.lonestarlegal.org/get-help/" target="_blank">Lone Star Legal Aid</a> offer free legal help to people within a certain income range. Also, these organizations may not coverFull text from Seller’s agent:“Due to the ongoing and existing economic impact from the Covid pandemic as it relates to both the building material, labor availability, and the subsequent increase in cost to build this home the builder is informing that it has taken and exhausted the builders budget on the construction of this house project. The builder is asking to either increase the purchase price to $220.000 to match the truer cost it has taken to build this house or be released from the contract and return the earnest money to your clients while he explores all options for the completion of this house. He apologizes for this news and is equally discouraged as to what has happened during this incredibly tough and unforeseeable building market. Thank you so much. Thank you,Wendy, Transaction Coordinator”<a href="https://www.click2houston.com/news/investigates/2022/05/23/kprc-2-investigates-builder-backs-out-of-deal-leaves-family-with-no-home/" target="_blank">Continue reading...</a></blockquote>

[QUOTE="KPRC2, post: 30488, member: 148"] We tell you every day that prices for just about everything are up. That includes building materials for a new home. It’s one thing to agree to pay the higher costs, but a lot of new home buyers are telling KPRC 2 Investigates that builders are demanding more money for homes after they’ve locked in the price and signed a contract. One of the cardinal rules of any big financial purchase is to get everything in writing. But in these cases with new home construction, builders are throwing these contracts out the window and leaving buyers in a lurch. [IMG alt="Homebuilder changes the prices after signing a contract. A Katy teacher says what is happening is not fair. KPRC2 Investigates."]https://www.click2houston.com/resizer/dco7-SNan-nsuruN-XkeRoxp1d4=/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gmg/73AWHCLJ6RHWJKCEQVDYPXLLKA.png[/IMG] From an empty lot to the foundation, framework, and now walls, Christina Montalvan and her family watched their dream of a home in Brookshire take shape. They would drive past the home every week to check on the progress. “And every time we go by, my three kids are like, ‘Mama’s house! Mama’s house!’ and my 3-year-old daughter, she likes going to see her room,” said Montalvan. Christina Montalvan is a school teacher. She found the home her family could afford in this Brookshire subdivision in April 2021. She signed a contract with builder Manuel Cabrera for $180,000 with a closing date of October 29, 2021. In October the house still wasn’t ready. “We’ve been doing extensions every single month,” she said. [IMG alt="Homebuilder changes the prices after signing a contract. A Katy teacher says what is happening is not fair. KPRC2 Investigates."]https://www.click2houston.com/resizer/dFCl8KCLdq_CpM09QaHV7mPSm_Y=/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gmg/AL4V3QC6GRF65PSEK6EU2JNF2Q.png[/IMG] When Montalvan’s apartment lease was up, her family had to go month to month while they waited for their home. This has been a great expense. “Thankfully, my apartments allowed me to stay, but it’s $600 more a month, Which is more than one of my checks,” Montalvan explains. [HEADING=2]Purchase price increased from $180,000 to $220,000[/HEADING] Then in April, she got a text from the seller’s agent. It said: [I]“Citing the economic impact from the pandemic and an increase in costs... The builder is asking to increase the purchase price to $220,000 or be released from the contract.”[/I] In seconds, Montalvan’s dream of a home was out of reach, $40,000 more. That’s when she called our Investigates team for help. [HEADING=2]Issue: More builders are raising prices[/HEADING] We had [URL='https://www.randolph-law.com/']real estate attorney Jonathan Randolph[/URL] look through all of the paperwork. Randolph said he’s seeing a lot of builders going back on prices they agreed to as the cost of everything from lumber to nails to drywall adds up. [IMG alt="Real estate attorney Jonathan Randolph reviews contract between home builder and buyer. Builder is backing out of the contract, leaving the future homeowner in a bind."]https://www.click2houston.com/resizer/EUcLZKAR06xsu1X0_DJaCyv_nec=/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gmg/DP6JUTQGTRCIRE2DPNDSAO4W6Q.png[/IMG] “This incident that she’s in keeps happening over and over,” said Randolph. Some builders do have a clause in their contracts that allows them to raise the price of the home if their costs increase significantly. Montalvan’s contract doesn’t have that language. “There’s no wiggle room for that contractor, that contractor is going to have to honor that contract as stated,” Randolph explained. Except he’s not. The builder didn’t return our calls or email. And a representative of the [URL='https://www.ghba.org/']Greater Houston Builder’s Association[/URL] told us these situations are having, “a greater impact on lower-end home builders with tighter margins.” And buyers like Montalvan can’t pay for an attorney to hold the builder to their end of the deal. Meanwhile, the house sits incomplete and Montalvan’s family in limbo. [IMG alt="Homebuilder changes the prices after signing a contract. A Katy teacher says what is happening is not fair. KPRC2 Investigates."]https://www.click2houston.com/resizer/jaIWsxw7KuIKggngEutU39KLs98=/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gmg/7MENKEC3RVAITA5253WJPKA7B4.png[/IMG] “My kids were like, ‘Mommy, Mommy, there’s our house.’ And I was like, ‘I don’t even know if that’s our house anymore.’” The extension on the contract between Montalvan and the builder expires at the end of this month. She worries the builder will let it expire and then just sell the home to someone else for the increased asking price. One option for Montalvan is to apply for legal help. [URL='https://legalhelphouston.org/about-hvl/']Houston Volunteer Lawyers[/URL] and [URL='https://www.lonestarlegal.org/get-help/']Lone Star Legal Aid[/URL] offer free legal help to people within a certain income range. Also, these organizations may not cover [B]Full text from Seller’s agent:[/B] [I]“Due to the ongoing and existing economic impact from the Covid pandemic as it relates to both the building material, labor availability, and the subsequent increase in cost to build this home the builder is informing that it has taken and exhausted the builders budget on the construction of this house project. The builder is asking to either increase the purchase price to $220.000 to match the truer cost it has taken to build this house or be released from the contract and return the earnest money to your clients while he explores all options for the completion of this house. He apologizes for this news and is equally discouraged as to what has happened during this incredibly tough and unforeseeable building market. Thank you so much. Thank you, Wendy, Transaction Coordinator”[/I] [url="https://www.click2houston.com/news/investigates/2022/05/23/kprc-2-investigates-builder-backs-out-of-deal-leaves-family-with-no-home/"]Continue reading...[/url] [/QUOTE]

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