Business ProfileforK. Hovnanian Homes - Houston

We tried to close on a KHOV home twice in the past 40 days or so to no avail. The first time, we settled on a price, we paid the earnest money, signed the papers, and even got our picture taken at the new build site. We got a call the next day saying that some of the upgrades were not accounted for and we would have to pay an extra $20K or so. This is no way to do business. The sales lady even had the nerve to tell us $20K wasn't that big of a deal. The second time, we tried another KHOV home in a different section with different people. Again, agreed on a price, paid earnest money, and signed the papers. Well of course we got a call the next day saying that we owed another $20K roughly. This time the reason was that the incentive that they offered brought the home below its base price. (Not our problem or fault!) So they said they voided the contract and sent a "new offer." When is it that one side of a transaction can void a contract at will and the other is just helpless? Needless to say, we won't be dealing with KHOV again. This is truly amazing that this happened and completely unacceptable. I hope the higher-ups know how their company is treating people like us.

In the first situation, the price the potential customer wanted to pay did not include recent upgrades which had been planned for the home and for this reason the contract was not accepted by K. Hovnanian. It is not an uncommon practice for builders to change the upgrades in a spec home while it is under construction, which will result in a change in the price of the home; which is done before K. Hovnanian accepts a contract. The second situation K. Hovnanian offered the incentives to be applied to closing costs not the base price of the home, but the offer was refused.