amadeuz

Sweet!

Yeah, my friend said when he went home at 4:10 PM, I-10 was great. No traffic at all.

Best freeway in Houston now.

I heard the 610 to I10 merger is now 2 lanes.

All westbound lanes of I-10 from 610 to BW8 are open! Awesome. It now takes me about 25 minutes from inside the loop to energy corridor. Amazing. Love it.

That's a bummer. It sure doesn't look like two months' worth of work. Phrasing may be key here -- I'm 99% certain the westbound mainlanes will open before the new HOV facility.

I noticed some westbound lanes right before beltway 8 have been opened. Now we just need the westbound lanes right after 610 open! Slowly getting there.

Somehow, I think you would have had the same problems with any builder.

Nope, I don't think I would have.

Some people are complainers, and just need a cause.

Some people see problems everywhere and when something happens to them, they think they are special and that everything should be perfect.

Some people take their little problem or concern and use that as an excuse to create a bunch of drama.

Cykat, not sayin' you would, just some people.

No drama, and I'm not special, just spreadin' the word.

I don't think the original question was ever answered. When will the WESTbound lanes of I-10 be open? Eastbound lanes are already in final config. At the moment, I think I-10 heading away (westbound) from downtown is worse than heading into downtown (eastbound) in the morning. As a reverse commuter this kills me (Inner Loop to Energy Corridor).

BTW, the northbound and southbound ramps to BW8 from I-10 eastbound are now open. Finally.

I have a couple of friends who own UrbanLofts townhomes. I haven't heard any complaints from them. Don't have any direct experience with HHN except from what I've read and an open house. I will say the owners of HHN appear to value customer service. Do a search on HHN and you'll find a thread where one of the HHN owners actually posted on here. That speaks volumes to me.

Having been to my friends' UrbanLofts homes multiple times, I would say HHN and UrbanLofts offer two completely different styles though. UrbanLofts offers a very contemporary "urban" look." HHN, on the other hand, has a more traditional "transitional" style. Choose what you like, but definitely try to ask around and get as much info as possible. A home purchase is a big decision and has the potential for costly consequences.

PS You may have read one of my threads on another builder. If so, I appreciate the affirmation of my efforts.

This is a good thread. I always wondered the same thing. However, I think you need to adjust the 300k number. If you want to live in the most desirable places Inside the Loop (aka West U, Braes Heights, Bellaire) 300k won't buy you much at all. I live in Braeswood Place and always wonder what kind of people are buying these 800k+ new construction homes.

But it's just not Inside the Loop anymore either. Try looking for homes in Memorial, Energy Corridor, or Spring Branch. 300k won't get you much anymore. But if you look in other parts of the country, people like us wouldn't even dream of living in the nicest neighborhoods. So have to take things in perspective I guess.

Bump as I am currently having the same questions.

I hope I am not too late. I would avoid Intown Homes, as it is a Frank Liu company. I have some friends who own an InTown home and their experiences was not good. You can read about my experience with another one of his companies in another thread. Just do a search on Lovett Homes. Outward quality of these homes may appear good, but once a problem develops you are out of luck. Customer service in a Frank Liu company is non-existent. Please private message me if you have further questions.

After composing a more complete post and only finding this forum today, what I thought I uploaded is lost somewhere out there.

In brief,

As a owner/partner of HHN Homes, I welcome you to call me (1-888-713-HOUSE ext "0") or email lbrastew@hhnhomes.com 7 days a week.

We are a hands on company from the top down and do not hide behind our employees and have always welcomed the oppportunity to speak or meet directly with our homeowners during and after their home buying.

We are financially strong, committed to build homes that are affordable and to carefully listen to what people say about us, in an effort to improve.

Read these posts, gather your information, and then call me directly to talk, meet at a model, and hear it directly from the horse's mouth. As I say at the end of every home closing to our buyers, "Call me, we are not going anywhere". I meant it then and I mean it now, if you have questions about HHN, want to meet with one of the owners/partners, and learn more about us...Call me.

1-888-713-HOUSE (ext "0")

lbrastew@hhnhomes.com

www.hhnhomes.com

Linda B. Stewart

Owner/Partner

As I have been accused of only posting in my own thread, I've decided to take the big step of posting in other threads to enhance my "credibility." Now this post is what I am talking about. A homebuilder who appears to be committed to customer service and does not want to hide behind a legion of sales reps and attorneys. You can tell company's who care about their reputation when they check forums like these and actually post on them. Although, I've only walked through a few HHN homes, outward quality seems to be good. But more importantly, the company owners seem willing to talk face to face with potential buyers. This is always a good sign. Bravo, HHN and Linda! You've made my short list of homebuilding companies to recommend.

Actually, I think you have offended him in a current one.

I realize that you believe you are performing a valuable public service in warning others of your mistake. However, given that this is the only thread you have posted to (save for two posts in another thread, but on the same subject), your obscession with the topic severely impacts your believability and credibility. Myself, other than hiring an inspector, as I would for any home, your posts have not scared me away from Lovett at all. But, I would be extraordinarily wary of buying a home next door to you.

Really? How have I offended him? I haven't attacked his personal character, judgment, intelligence or anything. I just want him to get off my case.

You are entitled to your opinion of my believability and credibility and I respect that, but I'm positive that at least one person has read this thread and had second thoughts about going with Lovett. Just read some of the posts.

Oh, and I hope I never buy a home next door to you either. Sheesh, now the real characters are coming out of the woodwork.

Like the editor says, move on. Better luck next time and God help the next person you buy a home from. I pray it is not me for you are jaded beyond salvation. Mind you, I am not a religious person but in desperate times I will gladly seek help with troubled souls.

Well, hello there BuilderBob. Once again another inflammatory post by you. I don't understand this insistence by you and editor to "move on." I have "moved on" from the incidents of several years ago, but as I said, I'm keeping the thread alive to inform and advocate.

Nor am I jaded. I still consider custom building, and if I do choose to do so, I'll be going in much the wiser.

At any rate, if you gain anything from this thread, you should learn the lesson to treat your clients right because, who knows, your next client could be the next me. I don't think you would be happy seeing a thread entitled "Beware of BuilderBob."

Let's not diminish his personal vendetta by pointing out facts. It's far more important that he get this off his chest. Over and over. In someone else's forum.

Mr. Editor, have I offended you in some past life? If you are so sick of my warning others about Lovett, why do you even bother reading this thread? And besides, this is really my party since I was the original poster. Most people who are not enjoying the party usually just leave. Nobody is forcing you read this thread. If it's because your job, well, I'm sorry, I have no control over that.

With possibly the exception of my response to BuilderBob (whose post I must admit irritated me), I don't think I've ever made any personal ad hominem attacks on another poster. Furthermore, I've only posted all the details of my story ONCE. My other posts were only in response to others. As I've repeated many times, my purpose is to advocate, warn and inform. As such, I really resent these snide little comments from you. This just happens to be something I'm passionate about because I don't want others to make the same mistake. So if you have a problem with that, well I don't know what to say.

OK, yeah, so 10K may have been an excessive estimate, lol. Out of curiosity, whatever happened to that utility bank? Was it permanent?

It's still there. Lovett tried to cover it up with black paint and some bushes. It's still an eyesore to me. We, of course, walked away from the home after losing in arbitration. PM me if you are interested in seeing it. The home is in the museum district. They should've made the utility bank perpendicular to the street. I've since seen many patio homes with this proper configuration. Instead, Lovett made the utility bank parallel to the street completely blocking the view to the street.

What has all of this squeaking gotten you? I doubt an incorrectly tiled bathroom in a new home will make people avoid Lovet

And come on...we know you're responsible for at least half of those views

Edit: This thread has been going on for nearly 3 years? Dead horse seems pretty accurate

Well, that's the rub, isn't it? I'm not really gaining anything from the views. However, if this thread has given at least one person pause before buying a Lovett home, well, my mission has been accomplished. No way to tell for sure, but before this thread, there was nothing about Lovett on the web besides its website. Furthermore, it's not just about an incorrectly tiled bathroom, it was the customer service. I think people have been misunderstanding my main point. I've admitted that there are probably some decent quality Lovett homes, but as a company, their customer service stinks.

Interesting that there are volumes of stuff out there on car manufacturers, but very little on home builders. Funny because the average person probably spends 10x to 50x the amount on a new home than on a car.

BTW, I may have some spare time on my hands, but not enough to be clicking on this thread 10,000 times, maybe just a 1,000.

No, it's because we like train wrecks.

Huh?

I would also like to proudly note that this thread has over twice as many views than any other thread under the Houston Real Estate topic. So obviously being the "loud and rude" one in the corner does have its benefits.

Expressing one's opinion is fine. Doing it twice is OK. Beating a dead horse is pointless and annoying. There are a few Lovett-haters here who don't seem to understand when they're the loud, rude guest in the corner who keeps telling the same boring stories over and over and just won't take a hint and talk about something else or leave the party.

Since when have I been loud or rude? And why is telling others to be wary of Lovett beating a dead horse? That's like saying repeatedly warning others about the dangers of smoking is beating a dead horse. Yeah, I know it ain't life or death, but what's the big deal about making sure other people are informed. Hey, you may be tired of the topic, but I'm sure potential homebuyers appreciate the info.

What, you've never heard the saying the squeaky wheel gets the grease? Well, I ain't apologizing for being the squeaky wheel. SQUEAK! SQUEAK!

I'm glad I'm still monitoring this thread. As the original poster, I take a little bit of offense to this suggestion. I had no part in what other posters had to say in this thread. Nor did I have anything to do with the website (which has since been taken down). The fact that this thread has generated so many responses speaks for itself. The fact that people are willing to take time to post something means that there is something going on with Lovett. How come we haven't heard stories about reputable builders such as Covington or Rohe Wright?

As for Lovett's reputation outside this board, I would like at least an iota of support for the statement diggity made. I can provide several anecdotes about Lovett's so called sterling reputation. So no, I have not moved on and will not move on. I will continue to spread the word. Avoid Lovett.

That's probably because a couple of years ago a group of about three griefers created a bunch of accounts on HAIF and all jumped in creating multiple threads bashing Lovett. It took a while before they moved on. How many of them were actually disgruntled Lovett customers and how many were merely helping spread what they were told is hard to say.

Well, it's been awhile since anybody has posted on this thread. However, I'm so glad it has generated so many responses. In fact, this thread still pops up as the number 2 link if you do a search for Lovett Homes. Awesome! The power of the type-written word! Anyway, I am posting to inform you all that Lovett Homes has tried to start a blog in an apparent effort to generate some positive press. I'm not going to post the link, but there have only been minimal responses to the blog so far. Kinda pathetic if you ask me. I wonder, though, if that lame attempt at a blog is also a response to this thread. Bet Frank Liu never knew how effective an open Internet forum could be. Anyway, thanks again for all of your responses. Stay away from Lovett!

Well, it's no secret that the tenor of this particular thread has always been biased and negative to begin with. It shouldn't surprise you that when a builder gets on this thread, spouting out money and capitalism as the American way, somebody is going to say something. I'm sure builderbob will soon respond with an equally indignant retort of some kind. I was just awestruck that a builder had the audacity to tell all of us consumers that we are all a bunch of woodsheds, and that we should know better.

Wow. In addition to the comments above, I have seen these lately:

1. "wrong again, as always"

2. "I think I may know more about what you write than you do"

The tenor of the group has changed over the last several months.

Well, builderbob, thanks for representing the builder side of things so candidly. Now I know why the homebuilding experience sucks. So you are telling me that when you buy a home, that you should never get what you pay for. If the contract says I get A and B and the builder says, screw you, you get X and Y...hey that's the builder's perogative. Nice. Your "point" has also been clearly made. Salary bonus. Understood.

What I think you as a builder should understand is that buying a home is a very emotional experience. Do you ever think about where the buyer is coming from? This may be a buyer's first home. They are spending a serious amount of money on a home. They are financially and emotionally invested. How are we supposed to feel we don't get what we want and then get blown off? Who's demanding perfection? You mean I can't expect to have an empty backyard or the tile colors that I chose for a bathroom?! So if I buy a car with a black interior and I end up getting a car with a tan interior...too bad so sad?!? That's ridiculous.

I don't think YOU as a builder understands how much protection you get from your lobbyists and the law. I love how proud of the fact that you make X amount as a builder, when I as a consumer, who probably doesn't make half what you make, but can't expect to get a house that we want. Nice attitude buddy. When I buy a car at least consumer protection laws apply. Not so for homes. What remedies do we have? This forum. Arbitration. BBB? Ha! Really attractive choices. In other words, we should harken back to medieval days of buyer beware.

You know what I think about builders could do? At least give two cents about what the buyer is saying. Don't blow us off and come back with a flat no. At least understand where we coming from. You've made it abundantly clear why you don't want to do change orders. You will lose money. Fine. At least give us the courtesy of being somewhat flexible. Geez. I sincerely hope your opinions do not reflect the majority of builders out there.

American Capitalism, "the right of any business." Well, let me salute the flag and then bend over for you, my friend.

My 2 cents...

"Will not negotiate price"??? Who cares.... That is the right of any business. That is American Capitalism. Don't buy it if the price is not in your reach.

"One sided contract"??? Of coarse it is.... Why else would there be a contract. If you don't like the verbage in the contract, don't sign it.

These two topics are lame excuses to whine about poor choices. I have been a builder for "X" number of years for various builders, production and custom. It never ceases to amaze me that people will complain about the deal they got on their home... That deal is controlled by your signature at contract and closing. You either close the deal or walk away. You should have made a solid decision before signing the earnest money contract.

The statement above is the only thing a buyer has total control over until they sign. Defects in construction and poor quality and poor customer service are obviously the builder's responsibility.

I know of Lovett Homes and their style of building. Structurally speaking, I would trust their townhome product against a Perry Home product any day of the week, Lumber quality is better and they use twice as much. Lovett Homes, Perry Homes, TriCon Homes and all the others are production builders. Lovett's townhome product is a high end production home. If you bought a Lovett Townhome for $600,00.00 or less, you bought a production home. Like it or not, it is not a true custom home. Ask a true custom builder about this and you will see I am correct.

Quality is set by every Homebuilder in the presentation of their model home. If you bought based on what you saw in a model home then that is the highest level of quality you can expect. Anything else is a bonus from that point on. The model home is the product they are selling.

Every homebuilder tries to load up their superintendants with as many homes as they can handle or not handle. I have had as many as 22 homes under my care at once. Is that a manageable load? NO, clearly not. Is it my choice? NO, I would rather have six to ten houses and be able to enjoy my family and friends. At the same time my bread and butter is bonus money. The faster I can build the home, typically the more I make on the back end in bonus. A good superintendant should be able to make 30 to 40 percent of his salary in bonus.

Change orders requested by buyers are discouraged because it causes delays in the construction time. Many times the builder will purposely inflate the cost of the change order to persuade the buyer not to make the change. Don't buy appliances from the builder. They are always at least 30 percent higher than the store. Believe it or not, a lot of buyers will ask the builder to do something that is not allowed by the Building Code. Or they want us to "change it" after the inspection. Sometimes the buyer will even threaten to back out of the contract if we don't change something after the city has inspected it. Especially in the cases where a fence threatens the size of the yard the buyer thought they were going to get. Or the eletric utilities had to be relocated because Centerpoint came out and decided their was not enough clearance and would pose a fire or electrocution hazzard. Oh yea... That's all my fault.

Why do buyers think they are going to "make sure their house is perfect"? NO SUCH ANIMAL!!! We are human, we don't know what perfection is and by all means do not have the technology or financial means to achieve it. Keep praying. It is as close as you will get to perfection... If you have to get twelve inches from the sheetrock to see a paint imperfection then you have an anal personality and need to live in a bubble with the highest air filtration available for fear of the tiniest dust particle entering your airspace. Do you really think your going to move in without hitting the walls at some point? Do you think you are never going to wear high heals on those $20,000.00 wood floors and not leave a dent where you put your heel down??? Get real people.

This is why a lot of talented builders leave the industry. People think they can treat us like animals. If you treat me like an animal, then I will shut you down on every request just to make you even more mad. Guess what.... I will almost always win.

Now look at it this way. If you treat me as an equal, I will be equally cordial and responsive to your concerns and your requests. Sounds bad doesn't it? Well, have a forty something man or woman; who thinks you are uneducated; talk down to you all the while you know your income is equal to his or her combined household income. That is the childish part on my behalf. At the least, I have to satisfy the contractual obligations. I do not have to be nice.

This is a rant that I would never admit to in public. I have only once yelled at a buyer and that was due to him cussing me. In the worst of situations I have tried to benefit the buyer. I just get tired of people throwing out wild assumptions about homebuilders as a whole.

Later, ,atbe I will expand on this to give insight on how the corporate side makes the construction process rediculous.

Sorry to hear about your situation wannabe. I know how it feels to be screwed over by InTown aka Lovett. Not a pleasant feeling. Unfortunately, if you signed the sales contract and handed over your deposit, I don't think you have any remedy to get your money back. That contact you signed is completely stacked against you. I do recall that there was some clause in the contract stating that if the home wasn't finished within a year that you might be able to get your money back, but I'm not sure. Anyway, that means you would have to wait a year. You can always consult a lawyer.

My advice is it's not worth it dealing with a company like InTown aka Lovett. Walk away. Believe me, we tried the legal route and it didn't work. The money loss hurts now, but you will be better off with another company that builds better homes and holds true to its word. And help others like yourself by spreading the word about Lovett and InTown. Avoid them like the plague!

HELP!

This not what I wanted to hear. I am currently under contract with Intown Homes in Cottage Grove. They have delayed the start of my home for over 1 1/2 months. We keep getting the the same tag line - "we think we are going to start on this date, no, wait it is going to be this date..we think"! They have started several other properties, but the sold out section where we are building just sits empty! Running out of patience!

Does anyone know if you can get your money back out of upgrade purchases? I am running out of time.

I agree with you wholeheartedly. I think that someone within their company may have Googled Lovett and the complaint website pulled up and then found the link to the forum or someone told them about it. Either way, they would have been better to let it be. I will say that they do build a very attractive looking traditional home, I was impressed with the elevations on the homes on their site as well as the interiors. Very similar to homes in my area. I was puzzled however when I clicked on the area on their website pertaining to 'Customer Care' it was an arbitration clause and had a place to click agreeing to the clause. That seems rather stupid and not a wonderful way to build confidence in customers. I was expecting something like 'We go above and beyond' instead of 'You will probably complain about our construction and want to sue us'. Okay...I just clicked on the 'agree' portion of their "Customer Care' page, it is for the convenience of their customers when they have a complaint about their new house....may be convenient but does not build confidence.

Thank you for your polite response. Yes, they do appear to be nice homes at first glance. However, I believe a builder should be more than just the way a home looks; it should be the whole package from start to finish and beyond. I think Lovett has focused on the appearance of their homes to the neglect of anything else that matters.

And yes, I have noticed the arbitration clause on their website. It's interesting isn't it? Any company that posts an arbitration clause on their website should give someone pause before proceeding with them. I unfortunately didn't notice it until too late. They must employ a bunch of lawyers though, huh?

You may not believe me, but I did not make that post. I'm pretty sure, "informed" is either a company representative or even the actual salesperson I dealt with during my forgettable experience with Lovett. Hey, at least I know I'm getting somebody's attention over there.

I was wondering the exact same thing. 'Informed' joined the forum yesterday and specifically to respond to the complaint regarding Lovett Homes. Coincidence? I think not.

And you are...?

Seems to me if you're so 'informed' you could be a bit more specific.

In light of recent comments by "informed" I must respond. dbigtex56, your suspicions are correct and I think for the first time, an actual Lovett employee has been reading this forum! In fact, I am almost positive that it may be the salesperson we dealt with. Otherwise, why would "informed" respond only to me and not the other participants who have had poor experiences. I find it laughable that "informed" is making these ad hominem attacks on me, accusing me of "half-truths and lies" in view of our experience with Lovett.

This person plainly does not know what they are talking about. First, a court of law cannot possibly have been involved since Lovett has an arbitration clause in their contract, giving the consumers no chance to hear their case before a jury or the right to appeal. In arbitration, your complaint is only heard by one arbitrator or a panel of arbitrators. It is an expensive proceeding which many people cannot afford. However, despite this, Lovett has gone through many arbitrations. Obviously, this is a testament to what type of company it is. Secondly, anybody can verify the truth of what's in the Lovett contract. People need to be aware of the unconscionable provisions in that contract.

As to "half truths and lies," why would I lie about my own experience? There's no gain for me in doing so. As a consumer, the best defense is information. Having gone through a bad experience, I want others to make an informed decision based on as many resources as they can. This forum just happens to be one of those resources. Albeit, it is biased, but at least people will have an inkling that everything's not fine and dandy at Lovett.

At any rate, if you actually took the time to read through this forum, I'm not the only one that has a beef with Lovett. Why don't you respond to the other people who have had problems with your company?! Furthermore, I've never made any personal ad hominem attacks on anybody in this thread. So please refrain in kind, "informed."

Texas911, if you don't have beef with Lovett then why the heck are you even reading and posting on this thread? Obviously, you've never been screwed over for thousands of dollars before by a greedy and nefarious company like Lovett. So no one is taking advantage of this thread. We are voicing our opinions and will continue to do so.

On another note, thank you all for your participation in this forum. I encourage everybody out there to continue posting your bad experiences with Lovett Homes. Due to external circumstances, I won't be posting here as much. I would just like to offer some more advice on people looking at buying from Lovett.

Do not EVER buy a spec home from these people during pre-construction phase. I personally would never even buy a completed home from Lovett after my own experiences, but if you must, wait until the home is at least 90% completed so you can do your own inspection and know exactly what you are buying. Read the contract very carefully. It will be completely one sided in their favor. It includes an arbitration clause and a DTPA waiver among other unfavorable clauses. Unfortunately, this DTPA waiver will be held enforceable if you sign it. In other words, you really don't have much legal relief.

Please know that this is a contract of adhesion, i.e. a take it or leave it contract. If you feel uncomfortable at all with signing such a contract, DO NOT SIGN IT. Even if you love the house. I repeat, even if you love the house. YOU WILL BE SCREWED BY IT. In addition, Lovett requires a 10,000 dollar NON REFUNDABLE deposit. Rarely do homebuilders require such a hefty upfront fee. Only a homebuilder who expects a customer to back out because of their shoddy workmanship or horrendouse customer service asks for this kind of deposit.

Do not believe a single thing coming out of that Lovett snake oil salesperson's mouth. Be sure to get EVERY SINGLE THING in WRITING and IN that contract. You want a parking spot...IN WRITING. You want a gate...IN WRITING. Once you sign that contract, that salesperson could care less about your needs. Just be aware of that.

Lots of first time posters and surprise surprise, this thread is directly linked from www.lovetthomes.org. I think this forum is being taken advantage of.

::This post edited by Editor::