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Defective Palm Harbor Homes |
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Saturday, 24 February 2007 |
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McGavin Ranch proof buying home is hard
Monday’s Tribune, the 179-lot, 55-plus modular house community near Southern and Ellsworth roads is home to a lot of unhappy campers. Along with the putting green, heated pool and other standard amenities of a retirement community, dozens of homeowners have had to contend with cracked bathtubs, demonic doorbells and dented vents. ... Palm Harbor also bears some responsibility for allowing its factories and contractors to put out so many defective homes, and for the delays in repairs ...
McGavin Ranch proof buying home is hard
Tribune Editorial
The situation at McGavin Ranch is a textbook study of why consumers need to be zealous in guarding their interests while making a large purchase — and what can happen if they don’t.
As Sarah N. Lynch reported in Monday’s Tribune, the 179-lot, 55-plus modular house community near Southern and Ellsworth roads is home to a lot of unhappy campers. Along with the putting green, heated pool and other standard amenities of a retirement community, dozens of homeowners have had to contend with cracked bathtubs, demonic doorbells and dented vents.
Most of the homes with major quality issues were built by Palm Harbor Homes, winner of the 2006 Manufactured Housing of the Year award and the subject of only nine complaints to the state Office of Manufactured Housing the same year. This is not a company that would have sported a lot of red flags when the future residents of McGavin Ranch were picking out their homes.
The homeowners may have been buying time, but asking for trouble, when they didn’t press for the “pre-closing†walk-through they had been promised by McGavin Ranch’s owner and the seller of the homes, MGN Homes.
Such inspections are not required under Arizona law, and an MGN spokeswoman said the company has deleted that language from their sales contracts.
Before taking that step, however, MGN was making pledges in its contracts it apparently wasn’t prepared to keep, promising walk-throughs that could have led to earlier detection of the defects, which apparently weren’t enough to set off alarms for the local, state, federal and corporate inspectors who are required to go through the homes.
Residents have taken action since moving into the homes, and at least eight have lodged complaints with the state. But the process of getting the defects rectified would have been much less painful, and likely less expensive, if the problems had been caught earlier.
As the third party in the transaction, Palm Harbor also bears some responsibility for allowing its factories and contractors to put out so many defective homes, and for the delays in repairs that are exacerbating the problem.
A vice president for the company, Ken Clay, said at a meeting with McGavin Ranch residents earlier this month that the company is facing a series of delivery and distribution challenges which is bogging down service throughout the Southwest.
Palm Harbor and MGN are both taking steps to make amends with McGavin Ranch. Palm Harbor is relaxing repair policies in light of the repair delays, and MGN has said it will no longer deal with Palm Harbor.
Being a dedicated consumer is hard work, but in this case some further investigation by the homebuyers could have saved everyone a lot of heartache.
Opinions expressed in the editorials below, labeled OUR VIEW, are those of the editorial board and the publisher. All other opinions on this page and on the Opinion 2 page are those of the authors or artists.
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/84667 |
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