Stc Properties

We started working with Shade Tree and Marc the builder in approximately March of this year (2012). We met directly with Marc (with our realtor) and went through what we wanted to be built. This was after we had walked through a few of his models and a house he was in the process of building. We thought the quality of his homes was better than that of some other builders we had looked at. He told us he would get back to us with pricing info within the next week and it took closer to 3 weeks, which could have been our first indication of an issue, but we just figured he was busy. Our realtor then told us we should be working with the builders realtor for faster service, so we started going through him and things went faster. When we had met with the builder we put a lot on hold, we thought we would need to put money down but were told we didn't need to. In about April, our realtor suddenly informed us that the lot we thought we had on hold was no longer available! We didn't understand how that was possible but were later told by our realtor that it was admitted to her that Marc the builder had not put money on it so it was sold to someone else. He had one more lot in the development we wanted, and since there were no other walkouts available we took it without making too much of a deal. Before we put the lot on hold, the builder had his land surveyor remeasure the lot to be sure the house would fit on it. A week later we were told it was good to go and we put it on hold, signed a purchase agreement and gave the builder $5000. It took about 2 weeks for the plans to be drawn up and about a week after we got them we met with our realtor and the builders realtor to go over the plans. We chose our doors and hardware and left with the idea that we would break ground in the next couple weeks and start going to chose all of our finishes, counter tops, lighting etc. Instead, we received an email the next day from the builders realtor informing us that the lot we had was too small for the house! Even though it had been specifically remeasured to avoid that problem before we even put it on hold!? At that point we were pretty angry as that was the 2nd big mistake made by the builder. The realtor told us if we could be flexible we could fix the problem pretty quickly. He made several suggestions as to how we could change the house, but we were already aware now that they was 9 feet too many on the house! We refused to change anything since we were building specifically to get what we wanted and we told them we wanted an appropriately sized lot for the same price or we would find a new builder. Instead of doing what they could to make us happy and fix the problem, 2 weeks went by where we heard very little from anyone. My realtor told me at one point they were trying to do a lot exchange with another builder, but at this point we were fed up and didn't at all feel like we were a priority to either the builder and his realtor or our own realtor. So we decided to move on and on the 7th of June both parties (us and the builder) signed a cancellation of the purchase agreement. The builder had not yet cashed our 2 checks (each for $2500) so they were supposed to put them in the mail. Then on the 11th and 12th, he did cash our checks!! I called my realtor and heard nothing all day, so the next day I called the builders realtor and left a message.... and continued to call throughout the day. In the mean time my account had been brought negative and I was getting bank overdraft fees for my bills that went through. My dad who had written one check was left with $24, 4 days before his wedding in Mexico, so we were pretty stressed about this. I called the builders office directly about 5 times and spoke with 2 different women  and explained the situation. They told me they would put an emai/text/call into the builder, but never did get a hold of him. The builders realtor never did call me back!! I recieved an EMAIL, regarding our $5000!!!! He told us they were sorry it didn't work out and Shade Tree would cut us checks asap. I emailed him back telling him the urgency of the situation and that I wanted our checks written now and I would drive to pick them up. The next morning he said he would relay the urgency to the Shade Tree office and sent the email to them as well asking them to cut checks. I called the office and the woman there told me she did not have checks ready and couldn't write them until the builder, Marc, gave her the okay. Marc had not made any attempt to contact them (according to them) and at this point it had been 3 days since our checks were cashed. We did a public background check and found that Marc had about 7 lawsuits against him from different supply companies, one dated as recently as June 12th. We were afraid we weren't going to get our money back! I called and spoke with a lawyer to make sure I was correct in thinking that it was illegal for him to cash our checks after the cancellation had been signed, and I was. So I called the office again and threatened legal action if I did not get our money back immediately.  "Magically", 20 minutes later someone finally called to tell me that Marc had approved the checks and I was able to pick up our money! I then had to deal with the bank and getting all of the overdraft fees reversed. All in all, this was a nightmare experience. We really felt a HUGE lack of ethics and  professionalism with the builder as well as a lack of communication. We would NEVER recommend them to anyone. We do recommend doing your homework before choosing a builder....do background and legal checks on them, speak with people they have built for, look at homes they have built etc!!!