Many of you know that couple of months ago I purchased a condo. Buying a home, especially your first home, is a huge task and can be very stressful. Today I'm sharing my buying experience with Landmark Homes in a honest and open way. Don't get me wrong I love my home but I think there needs to be a real conversation around how complicated, troublesome and awesome it can all be.
After looking for a long time, and I mean like over a year, I found a Landmark Homes built condo. While there was ton of builders and ton of options I wanted to go with a company that has been around for a long time, but mostly a company that would build their condos like they build homes. Landmark homes is recognized for being a leader in the industry and building beautiful quality homes and that's what I wanted for my condo.
The good:
The sales associate at the show suite, Pat, was great. Pat was very informative which I think would be an amazing fit for first time home buyers - she knew her stuff and was very fast to respond to emails and calls. Since I work in banking and this was not my first home purchase I knew what to expect and the process I found the information to be a lot but better more info than not enough right?
The process of purchasing the home was easy and simple. I had ton of time and information to get things like my mortgage, down payment and lawyer in place. (even tho after some conversation with Pat it felt way more complicated than necessary but overall good.)
The design studio was great. The lady who I was set up with was very patient, listened to what I wanted and gave me ton of options to choose from. I felt confident that I picked the right colors and finishes.
My walk though, was explained in extensive detail by Pat, and then I met with the construction supervisor to do the actual walkthrough. I went and checked all the things, marked things that we thought would need to be fixed and left. This is where the things kind of went from good/great to bad. We never recieved the report but I was confident that things we have discussed would be fixed.
The condo itself if beautiful, high ceilings, lots of light a sound barrier wall, concrete floors - everything I needed and wanted.
The bad:
Fast forward to possession day - Jake was there to meet us and in the 33 days or so from my walk through to possession new things have come up, one of them being few things that had to be repainted and my floor was kind of funny in two sports. Once again, Jake assured us that we would have someone come in and deal with both things, but I still didn't receive a report.
The paint guy showed up in matter of days and was extremely professional and good at his job. My floor, I never heard anything about. I sent two emails to Landmark to follow up but no one ever got back to me.
At two months, all new built homes have a walk through/check in. The gentleman from Landmark Homes that came in dealt with houses not condos so he couldn't answer some of the things I was asking about. My biggest concern being my floor which in the 2 months of me taking possession went really bad. (I m talking boards popping up in multiple places, sagging in some areas and separating). The guy doing the inspection heard my concerns and said that someone would be in touch shortly.
The ugly:
The floor guys did get in touch this time and set a time to come fix the floor. The gentlemen who came in was from the flooring company, not Landmark homes and went over all 4 areas that are now concerning. In that appointment I have learned that a) one area was fixed previously b) that it is a much bigger issue than just replacing few boards c) that Landmark knew about issues with the floor and ignored it d) that they won't be happy about this.
He took bunch of photos and videos and has advised that he needs to talk to Landmark and will get back to me.
It's been over a week and I have heard nothing, I have emailed and called but no answer or response. I have also asked for the report from Landmark but my email got no response.
So in conclusion, just because you are paying about 15% more on average than with other builders in order to deal with Landmark you might not get better quality and their customer service and follow up is sub par at best. The finishes are nowhere near the quality they promise. Once the home/condo is built good luck trying to resolve anything.
I would love to hear your home buying experiences. Thank you for reading.
I would love to hear your home buying experiences. Thank you for reading.
