Lennar is a Scam. Period.
On Friday, September 18th, 2020, my realtor and I arrived at my newly built Lennar home for my first walkthrough before closing. We found that minor repairs had not been made yet (paint was still chipped, one of the windows hadn’t been sealed, the floors were covered in paint(?) stains despite having just been cleaned, a vent in the bathroom was hanging down out of the ceiling, etc.), and the major ones (roof, stairs, etc.), as specified by the inspection report, hadn’t been made yet, either. I asked the Lennar rep who was doing my walkthrough, James “Jim” Ridings, for the blue tape so my realtor and I could mark minor repairs, and his response was, “Oh, we don’t do that,” and he told me to “point out” things that needed fixing and he would just “take notes.” Jim conducted the walkthrough, dismissing everything we pointed out as “Oh, that’ll get done during final clean” or “Yeah, they’ll do that later.” There was even an issue with the caulking/sealant to the door leading to the garage, and a line of ants were marching from one hole in the caulking to another hole in the caulking on the other side of the threshold, and I pointed to it, asking for it to be resealed AND HE SAID, “Well, ants are gonna get in no matter what you do, and we don’t spray for insects, anyway.” My realtor and I looked at each other in disbelief. I looked at him and said, “Seal it anyway.” After that abysmal walkthrough, Jim asked me to sign a document which stated that I found no issues with the house. I said no. Specifically, I said, “I’m not going to sign that until all of the repairs are made,” and the reinspection was scheduled for later that day, so there was no way of knowing if the HVAC, roof, and stairs had been fixed and up to code. He insisted that I sign the document, and again I told him no, not until everything was fixed. So, he went outside, found a construction associate, and took him through the house with a bucket of paint and a brush, touching up spots on the walls, but spilling paint drops on the floor in the process. The ants and caulking didn’t get fixed until I point-blank asked him for the third time to fix it. HERE’S THE PROBLEMATIC PART. (Yes, somehow it gets worse.) At this point in the walkthrough, the vent in the bathroom was still hanging out of the ceiling and I didn’t know yet if the roof, HVAC, or any other major repairs had been made. Jim came up to me with an iPad, the document (stating that I found "no issues with the house" when clearly there were) pulled up, my signature PRE-LOADED into the signature line. He showed it to me, did not wait for me to respond, clicked “Sign” and “Finish,” and said, “You’re good to go!” My jaw dropped and my agent and I were both stunned. Reread that if you need to. To be very clear: the Lennar rep, Jim Ridings, without my acknowledgment or consent, SIGNED IT FOR ME ANYWAY. That’s a crime. He FORGED MY SIGNATURE on a legal document that was contractually part of a $200K+ purchase agreement. My attorney said I could take them to court if I wanted to, but I don’t have the time or mental bandwidth to do that, not for $500. And, honestly, that’s probably what they bank on — people who, for whatever reason, can’t or won’t take them to court for such a small amount. Anyway, the house failed reinspection, too. Even if everything had gone smoothly with that reinspection, I still would have cancelled, because what absolutely did it for me was being gaslighted, disrespected, and bulldozed by Lennar, in more ways than just Jim committing electronic forgery. I never received any word that disciplinary action would be taken with Jim; I never received any word from any manager, at all, about anything. Shortly after cancelling, I got a call from one of the construction associates who was working on my house. He let me know that the home had been vandalized and broken into over the weekend, and the appliances had been stolen. Not that I needed another sign, but I got one anyway. I dodged a bullet by running, not walking, away from this company. Highly recommend you do the same.
By Sarah L.