Forest Village - Lake Ridge Builders, Spring, TX

you may want to check out this builders work or have the house inspected before buying

We always recommend buyers inspect a home prior to buying it... ever brand-new homes.

Lake Ridge builders do not stand behind there work. If they wanted good reviews they would try to do a good job and  stand behind there work.

I saw the bad stuff on the net about this home builder. I talked to people living there before I gave them any money to build. Yes I am building. I talked to 4 people on the phone, 1 has lived there about 2 years 1 about 6 mounth, 1 just closed, and the last about 6mouth. They all had nothing but good to say about the community and Susan Murray, the sale counslor. the first person i talked to was a structural engineer. He walk in all the houses in his price range in the area and said this was the only house that used 2 x 6 construction roof rafters  and that the foundation was good and that the the way built a home was better then the other builders in the area. He said that the other builds used prefab 2 x 4  trusses for the roof.

Now the only thing that came up more then one time was the morage company was hard to deal with on some of the stuff they wanted and sometime just plan got stuff in the paperwork wrong.

 

I would always have an expert inspect any 100,000+ purchase I make, it should go without saying.  I've lived in the 'hood for a couple years now and have even had two other friends build, both seem to be very pleased with the the home they got for the money.  Only complaint I hear is about knuckleheaded neighbors.

We live in the old neighborhood that is adjacent to Forest Village (Spring Forest).  We have lived here 9 years.  We never had any crime until this last year.  In the last 3 months, we have had all types of burglaries, about one every 2 weeks.  Most are smash and grab.  They break a back window and take whatever they can carry.  Some happen in the new neighborhood, some in the old.  My Dad, who is a structural engineer went with me to look at the homes while they were being built and they cut many corners.  The siding they use is NOT Hardie, it has only half the life.  The wood they are using for most of the structure is grade 3 lumber (meaning big knot holes, etc.).  The brick on the front of the garage is veneer, not real brick.  Be careful: YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!

I used to be a real estate agent and this builder has a very bad reputation.  The parent company for Lakeridge is Long Lake Ltd.  They built Postwood and Foxwood (which are riddled with foreclosures).  People who bought homes in both of those subdivisions had nightmare experiences, along with some in Lakeridge.  These people target buyers who are low income or have bad credit.  Read experiences at this website before buying in Lakeridge.   Additionally, Long Lake is a child/sister company to Woodmere Development. Woodmere purchases the land, Long Lake builds the homes. The two companies are managed under the same ownership.   Do your homework on Long Lake Ltd. and Woodmere and if you have any sense, you won't buy from them.  http://www.projectrecoverypro.com/writeme.html

 

We have lived in our Lake Ridge home for over a year-I would be very please with the house love my floor plan-our bad experience came just a few months after we moved in that we noticed cracks in the walls-its been 5 months since the workers came out to repair and the work has yet to be completed. Don't get me started on the home association we pay so much and don't have anything to show for-no park, no swimming pool, no landscaping nothing.

My husband and I were YOUNG first time homebuyers, and ignorant to the process.  Although Susan is cordial in the begining, she rushed the contract after only a preapproval.  I guess its our fault for not knowing any better, we signed the contract and put a thousand dollars earnest money down.  They gave the okay to build, and a few days later, Susan calls us back saying we were no longer approved for the loan and we weren't going to get out earnest money back, because they started building already (all they did at the time was leveled the ground and up some wood down for the foundation (no cement laid yet.)

When I came in to talk to her about it, she rushed me out because she had "an appointment" with the gentleman sitting outside, and she said "time is money..."  She didn't even give me the time of day.  When I would call her, she said "Well, I can't help you with what you don't know."  On the cancellation paperwork, she listed it as "Other - Employment Documents" instead of not being approved for the loan.  My contract clearly states that my earnest money is refundable if I was not approved for the loan and I provide documentation from the Lender within 30 days.  I did all that.

I wish I knew a way to fight this.  It was our first homebuying experience and we had picked everything out...we knew which room my (at the time) 4 month year old son would be in.  I think I cried for a week knowing that we lost the house AND $1,000.00.  ...and had it slapped in our face.  I'm sure every company is only in it for the money, but their treatment towards us is despicable!  My next door neighbor worked for Lakeridge builders before and she said that its easy to get the earnest money back and she had done it for her clients LOTS of times even after the house was FULLY BUILT.  She said that the sales councelor just didn't want to help.  I know its low of me to say this, but, as far as Susan is concerned in my book, behind that big smile and crooked teeth lies a crooked woman.

I told her that I still wanted to buy a house in that community in the future, if they just gave us time to get some items together, but she still couldn't extend the courtesy to fight for us to get our earnest money back.  They could have kept us as a customer.  She just didn't want to do the leg work.

I have lived in on this property for a year. i have had little problems but clay has came in a quick hurry to fix them. I think people are going to complain about being anywhere.. Nothing is perfect. For a first timer residence this one is not bad.

The entire body of this message is my opinion.

I have a mortgage company that funds all over the State of Texas. I also show and sell properties as a real estate broker in and around The Woodlands, Texas. Before all that I was a builder for 14 years. So this opinion is backed by a lot of experiences

I really hate to hear those kind of anonymous negative stories from something way back in 2009 (a very strange year for us real estate professionals). So many things can stop a loan dead in it's tracks no matter who the lender is. There is no such thing as a 100% close ratio. Michelle post drives home that fact.

Really guys, the key here is to get a knowledgeable professional that can scout out and smooth out any bumps in the road ahead. I have those tools, I can run your very specific loan profile directly in to Fanniemae system (not just another credit report). If the inputted information going in to Fannie's automated system is correct, then you are going to get as close to a 100% close ratio as you possibly can. I can even do this before you pick a house.

It's now May 14^th, 2011 and you are going meet the Lake Ridge builder's own sales agent Charlie Gayle. He is a very knowledgeable professional and I find him very easy to get a hold of.

I'm pretty sure I am a whole lot less rigid than a single source mortgage company. I am a direct lender but I still have an underwriter that has to bless the file. If my own underwriter does not like our loan file. Then I can go countless broker channels to get a real loan commitment (not just "pre--approval" but a real loan commitment from the wholes-seller to me)

Go to texasavenuemortgage.com click the red apply now button. I lend anywhere in Texas

I am also a fantastic Real Estate broker. You need to register my name when you first fill out the card.. the builder's customer information card.. Don't leave the real estate agent blank or put the word none. Do that, and I can't help you. Write in the name Charley Caporina, Caporina Properties located at 719 sawdust suite 201, The Woodlands, Texas 77380 phone 1-888-536-3128 my cell 281-797-1800 

Charley Caporina

From the burglaries I've heard about and were caught they were teens from Fox Run. We've lived here for 3 years and have had some issues but we've had no problems with Clay coming out to fix them. The brick is NOT veneer!!!! They are real bricks, in fact we had an addition added and the contractor actually had problems cutting through them. As we built we hired our own 3rd party inspector which I would recommend anyone who is building a house with any builder do. We looked at other more expensive builders and their quality of work wasn't much better, not to make up the price difference. I can't say no home here isn't going to have major issues ever, after all humans are building them and face it, we all make mistakes at times.

These are low income homes which sometimes gets you the bottom of the barrel when it comes to Neighbors. There use to be lots of 4 wheelers driving around but I think enough of us called the cops that it's stopped. Expect lots of cars parked in the streets and late night parties with neighbors. It's gotten better but we still can't wait to get out to something a little bit nicer

We habe lived here for almost 3 yrs. No real complaints except for the occasional person driving thru aith music too loud. As for quality, no complAint either. I habe had a lot less problems here than my lennar house we built. The big complaint here is the hoa!!! SUCKS is nt enough to describe it. God only mnows ahat they do with the money we pay. We have no park, pool, landscaping... I don't know what it goes for? I think the farther back you live in the neighborhood the better quality people you get....

I built a home in this neighborhood back in 2007, we built when there were about 40 homes in the 'hood.  For the price we paid (about 110K as I recall) we got a pretty well built home with adequate finishes (cabinets, trim, carpet, etc.). 

Susan (long since gone from atleast this 'hood) and Clay (the Super) were very pleasant to work with.  Honestly, it's a lower end home, but if you are expecting a 100K home to be built and finished with the same materials as a 250K home, then you probably aren't very good at math.

We sold the home in 2010, because we needed a bigger home, and wanted a larger lot-So we moved out of the hood with much larger lots.  We still have several friends who live there, and none of them have any complaints about the homes or the construction.

I live in the old neighborhood adjacent to Forest Village as well. The one with the acres of land and nice trees. It's a slap in the face to call this new PoS neighborhood "Forest" Village when the builders go in and tear down every single tree. This is the opposite of "Forest". "Dirt Village" would be a more fitting name. The reason that you only see closeups of these houses is because there is no beautiful scenery anywhere to be found. In case you are wondering, there are no trees and the houses are packed together like sardines. As we speak, the thug builders are tearing down every last tree in a new section they are starting to build. The section the thugs are destroying now is behind my house. I watched the other day as a racoon ran across my backyard scared for it's life. What's going to happen to the wildlife? It will all die off. I had a young deer in my backyard last week. It will end up dying as well.

I spoke with a friend last week who knew quite a few families that formerly lived in "Dirt Village". He said the foundation of the houses were poorly laid and were cracking. In case you are wondering, the land was swamp land before these houses were built. There were sections of land that had a foot of standing water almost year round. According to my friend, the builders did not bother to properly prepare the land by bringing in extra fill dirt and making sure it was well compacted.
His friends that left "Dirt Village" all had foundation issues and are now renting their houses out to other "lucky" individuals. I believe that he said they were having a hard time selling them due to the foundation issues.

You get what you pay for. In my opinion only a stupid person would buy a house from a builder who completely destroys a whole forest, kills off all the animals, packs the houses together like sardines, and uses cheap building materials and practices sloppy foundation work.

Stop buying from these unethical builders and these practices will stop, if not, they will just continue to get worse.

If the idea of living in the middle of the concrete parking lot of a major mall, closely surrounded by other houses and without any trees in sight appeals to you, then you will love this place. The nice oak trees that would have been in your yard have all been cut down, split into firewood and sold for a little bit of extra profit. It must be comforting to know that the nice oak trees that should have been a breath of fresh air in your yard are being put to good use by someone with a fireplace. And you should feel proud and stand behind Lake Ridge Builders for their desire to earn every little penny they can at your expense.

It the builder is willing to cut down your oak trees and sell them as firewood, imagine the rest of the corners that they cut just to make a little profit. This builder is obviously worried about every little penny, which should be a warning sign when is comes to the quality of the home that you are paying good money for.

You should also know that there are major gas pipelines running through this neighborhood, and I mean straight through it. The land that they built on is riddled with gas pipelines running in all directions. You can see where the gas pipelines are just by driving through the neighborhood. Obviously, the builders cannot build a house right on a gas pipeline, so basically any straight sections with no houses are the gas pipelines. Remember, this penny-pinching builder cuts down the nice trees to sell as firewood, so leaving gaps of land between the houses was because they had to, not because they wanted to. If it were legal, these sorry builders would have built the houses on top of the pipelines...anything for a profit.

Buyer Beware!