ComplaintsforCantin Homes, LLC

• Initial Complaint

  04/09/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Signed a preconstruction loan contract with builder using builders lender (Achieva Credit Union) Had difficulty accessing lender for questions. Asked multiple times about a timeline making sure we were on track and were told we're were. Out of the blue , lender told us we weren't able to close on time and builder now demanded an extra $9000 and wouldn't extend the closing by 10 days. Cantin Homes clearly had a relationship with the lender and didn't have the customers best interest in mind. They kept $15,000 of our $30,000 deposit.

  Business response

  05/19/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/04/11) */ This client had per our construction contract 60 days to obtain financing and failed to meet deadlines for paperwork to the bank several times. Our construction contract clearly states if they do not have financing by the time indicated we may adjust our price. The buyers were unwilling to take the price increase of $9000 and therefore chose to breach their contract with us. As we are all aware prices have taken an unprecedented increase in a record time. We are trying to keep up and not lose money building homes. Any delays in the process result in our prices being increased, we are not a huge builder that can lock in all of our pricing with suppliers. The client also stated that she did not understand the contract but had infact signed it with the realtor who had gone through each page with her. The owners stated that they needed more time to close on the loan and would not accept the price increase. After discussing the issue with our attorney we decided to give them back half of their deposit when in fact per our contract were entitled to have kept the whole thing. The half of the deposit we kept we split 50% with the realtor of record as was our agreement. We were more than fair to this client. This is a case of sour grapes because we would not make an exception for them to hold their price after their time limit was up and they had failed to complete the due process. I have emails from the banker asking them repeatedly for information and to sign on certain paperwork that they did not deal with in a timely manner and this is what caused their issue. I sympathize with them losing money due to not following up but would again point out I gave them back half of their deposit when I could have kept the whole thing. I do have a business relationship with this lender and have worked with them many times but there was certainly no reason to keep them from trying to get their loan as the client is insinuating, if anything the lender tried very hard to get the closing moved up faster for them but could not due to the lending laws, holidays, and not having had the paperwork they needed sooner. This client being upset they breached a legal contract and were held liable for it should in no way reflect poorly on us. I will be looking forward to this being dismissed as baseless. Consumer Response /* (3000, 7, 2022/04/20) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) In order to meet the 60 day deadline to obtain financing, we relied on Brian at Achieva Credit Union, who was referred to us by Genevieve who worked for Canton homes. Without his guidance and direction we the customer, had a little control over the outcome of the financing process - we didn't know what we didn't know. He was unavailable to us for most of the first 3 weeks of the 8 weeks. He was busy with other customers (his words). The realtor Beth is referring to, works for Canton homes and did not go over the contract page by page with us - in fact, she said more than once when we had a question, "don't you trust me". She was talking and distracting me as I was reading the contract I had asked her more than once to allow me to read the contract quietly. Beth was not present during this time so I'm not sure how she would know that the realtor went over this in detail. We did trust the realtor as she was our property manager for the past four years and was in the process of selling our condo. So our guard was down a bit. What we realized too late, is that we should have had a buyers agent and thought Genevieve was acting as that. We now know she wasn't working in our best interest but in the interest of Canton homes. Sour grapes? Yes losing $15,000 from some thing we had a little control over, upset us deeply. Brian @Achieva Credit Union never alerted us that we were in danger of not closing on time I had many calls out to him and he was unavailable those first few weeks - this was Cantin Homes recommended lender. It is not accurate to say there are emails that exist from Brian at Achieva Credit Union to us about meeting a deadline or encouraging us to act quickly or that there was an urgency. In fact, I asked Brian more than once when I couldn't reach him weeks at a time should we be concerned about closing on time? Once he was available during the last 30 or 40 days that's when he began to act and process the loan docs. We followed up on everything asked of us when we understood what was needed. It's natural to have questions when you're investing in a $300,000 home. But I really only had one main questionAbout an escalation clause. I feel like any customer has the right to have access to answers during the process. I have all the emails to show the timeline in conversations that back up what we are saying here and many phone call attempts and conversations that unfortunately cannot be proven. Why would we drag our heels; what benefit would it be for us? We needed a lender to guide us through this process and inform us of deadlines. This is their expertise not ours. It only benefited Canton homes that we weren't able to make the deadline as now they can inflate the home price by increasing their asking price as these are unprecedented times and homes have increased by 30% over the last 6 months. We would like our $15,000 returned and hope no one ever gets taken like this again. Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2022/04/22) */ We stand by our former response and the fact that the client is lying should be noted. The realtor does in fact go over every page with the clients, I have been in the room when it is done. She absolutely went over the escalation clause and the time limits. The client told the banker she had questions about this right before the deadline and then did not bother to contact us as the builder or the realtor for 4 more days right before Thanksgiving holiday. We were within our contract and will be happy to have our attorney explain this to her at any time. She had the choice of any banker she wanted and was unwilling to consider the fast rising costs of construction and read her contract clearly if she was not sure or calling in a TIMELY MANNER, which she did not because she had relatives in town according to the client. The realtor is a transaction broker and after the deal is signed she is there to answer questions still, but none were asked. All this client needed to do was call but she waited. We gave back half her deposit when by law we were entitled to the full amount of the deposit. There will be no further settlement from us on this. We have given more than we needed to already and have had due consideration to this client. Consumer Response /* (4200, 11, 2022/05/03) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) There is no proposed resolution by Cantin Homes. Only false accusations of lying. No emails exist proving Cantin Homes' accusations. They claim their innocence by keeping $15,000 of our money without earning it. No one from Cantin Homes was in the room when we signed the contract except their real estate agent. It was myself, my husband and their agent. She DID NOT go over each page with us and repeatedly said "dont you trust me?" when I did ask questions? We did trust her since we had a previous 4 yr business relationship with her. We signed the contract on Oct 26, 2021 and was pre-approved by Achieva Credit Union (their recommended lender) on Oct 29, 2021. I have multiple emails showing that the lender wasn't able to work on our loan until after Nov. 20th. We signed Nov. 24th, and found a $5000 discrepancy in the closing costs and questioned that along with the escalation clause. I made every attempt to get my questions answered ASAP even though during this time, unaware of the danger of not closing in time. I have multiple emails showing our cooperation submitting the requested documents to the credit union in a timely manner. I asked Achieva more than once about timelines and expectations. Achieva Credit Union's employee dropped the ball because he was overwhelmed with other clients and failed to claim responsibility. Cantin Homes backed him up without event knowing the circumstances; I believe because they are business partners. Cantin Homes is creating their own narrative to cover their greed. We never had "relatives in town". We never had access to their agent to ask questions because that agent made it clear that after we signed the contract, it was the builder we were to communicate with, not her. We had no idea we were in danger of not closing in time and cannot find one email warning us of this. Without a buyer's agent we were on our own island. Cantin Homes were very unreasonable and it was to their advantage to be so. The bottom line is we lost $15,000 because we fell in love with our dream home, trusted Cantin Homes, their realtor and their recommended lender to act professionally and honestly and guide their customer through an unfamiliar process. Cantin Homes had an advantage over us and benefited from our loss. Again, what did Cantin Homes do for $15,000? I hope the Better Business Bureau can see the injustice and help prevent this from ever happening again.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩