I need some inputs from folks who have purchased homes from Lennar (montevallo, legacy at canyon Creek, etc). I like some of their homes in legacy at canyon Creek (new construction) but have been hearing that Lennar uses cheap materials. Can anyone share their experience with Lennar homes? Have you been satisfied with your purchase? TC: 250k L5 #housing #seattle #lennar
If you bite, get an inspection. At these prices and interest rates, and knowing there’s a potential for something to be missed, inspect inspect inspect.
Yeah definitely planning to get additional inspection done. Thanks for your input.
Lennar/pacific ridge/dr Horton/ is garbage. Toll or mainvue is the way to go
Toll and mainvue in Bothell are equally garbage.
I liked Mainvue as well. Unfortunately neither of these builders are building near Bothell :( They are also more expensive and out of my budget
Everything built by tract builders in last 2-3 years is garbage quality, no exception. It’s just an outcome of Covid supply chain, you can’t escape it. Yes you will have quality problems
Thanks, Sherlock.
We bought in Montevallo. I had the same concerns as you have about Lennar's quality as the overall outlook for Lennar is pretty bad on the internet but after talking to some previous owners and doing research, came to know that Lennar's quality in a state is highly dependent on the sub-contractors they use and their quality in Washington is pretty good. In any case, I pressed hard with my sales agent to agree to pre-drywall inspection, in addition to the regular final inspection that people do. Overall, both inspections went pretty well with no major issues. The inspector said that quality of building materials isn't bad and above average in some cases (like the hvac) and there are no issues with worksmanship. One thing that has been stellar since the move-in has been the warranty support, not just for us but for everyone in the community. Any issues, minor or major gets taken care of very quickly and the community has been assigned a dedicated support manager. We have had couple of small issues but everything else has been good. Having said all that please also set your expectations that Lennar isn't providing you with the best materials - like the trim moldings are less wide than what you see in Murray Franklin homes, or the carpet padding is thin and carpets are average quality, or that they provide you with high quality laminate flooring rather than LVP or engineered hardwood or that the tiles used in bathrooms and backsplashes are the cheaper kind ($2/sq ft). Now workmanship is pretty good in all these areas but materials used have not been the best and they don't provide you the option to upgrade - so as long as you are good with that tradeoff, go for it.
Thank you for the detailed response. This is extremely useful. :)
Had a question - is the pre-drywall inspection critical? Or can these issues be caught during regular final inspection?
To sum up the challenges faced by low quality builders: Builders are responsive as long as the repairs are simple/easy to fix. If there are cracks in the walls/foundation issues, that’s when they try to escape and deny support. So, many get lucky and don’t have to go thru this. If you end up in that situation, usually Lennar has low reputation of helping customers in such scenarios
OP — did you end up with the Legacy home? We’re considering too and very close to putting an offer.
We are also looking at same community. Did you go forward?
No we did not. I've heard way too many negative things about Lennar and my agent advised against it as well
Understood, thanks for responding! I am also hearing not-so-great things about Lennar and DR Horton but it's not like there are a ton of options out there.
Power lines ?
Many recommended getting inspection done. Is this kind of inspection possible after the offer is accepted? The house I’m looking it is still 4 months away from completion.
Not a lennar home knee myself, but my friends are. I like their touch and finish in Bothell. Nothing seems to be cheap, that said this house was constructed in 2018, not sure about the new ones. Saw a few Lennar homes recently in Austin, not even close to the look and finish what I did in Bothell here. Not sure if their quality has changed.
Thank you for the response. From what I have heard from a few real estate agents, the owners start having problems within the first couple of years. But I have also seen some posts on Lennar reducing the seller's commission which is why some agents are against recommending. Thanks for your input, definitely helps. :)
2018 is a completely different world in terms of build quality. Recent builds are shamefully bad, even visible from exterior