True Homes

Darris "DJ" Mathews, working for True Homes, is an incredibly charismatic businessman with a clear understanding of his industry and audience. Whatever it is that we have needed he has worked with us to draft a plan that suits our needs, even if some of them end up being niche. He's masterful in how he presents the value of homes he'll build, and in presenting the benefits of building through him. He has great connections that offer discounts through preferred partnerships. As a charismatic businessman with a clear understanding of his industry and audience, he is in a particularly unique position to convince excited individuals into providing a "refundable" $500 deposit for a plot to build on as a "gentleman's agreement" with no obligation. Only after you don't go through with the purchase after learning more about the property, the refundable deposit suddenly becomes a "Due Diligence" fee, despite not having signed anything to indicate a non-refundable fee, much less a Due Diligence fee associated with an official offer. If anywhere exists that I signed for such a fee, he did not tell me where after being asked multiple times. After being told several times the fee is refundable, and there are no obligations until X date, even if there is somewhere that before X date it becomes no longer refundable, it's dishonest to not disclose that information. We're under no obligation, at our current stage, to go through with a purchase we're not comfortable with. They simply aren't obligated to refund the "refundable" deposit that we were foolish enough to hand over via e-check over the phone. I can only hope that this type of behavior doesn't extend to True Homes as an organization. It's a $500 lesson well learned. Furthermore, there should never be a point at which you say "I don't know if I can get you back your deposit." It either is, or is not, in a contract. There shouldn't be an "I don't know, we'll see." After the runaround and contact with his boss the refund was approved. This does not negate any of the intent or gravity of the behavior of DJ, but alleviates True Homes by correcting an issue DJ "didn't know" if he could correct. Local Knowledge: Acceptable but we've found several properties he claims don't exist locally in a certain price range and feature set. Process Expertise: The chain is only as strong as the weakest link. If you don't know if you can get a deposit back or not, then what else is a weak link? It doesn't matter, the chain is still broken, bridge is still burned, and the process is still broken. Responsiveness: Fantastic Negotiation Skills: Refer to process expertise. Weakest link argument. Negotiation skills have turned a buyer away from True Homes entirely. The further we got from a deal the harder I felt pushed, the more the buying market (rather than building) was criticized, and the more things were revealed to lack transparency. Professionalism broke down past the point of him being able to make a deal.