Pulte Homes lowers price for neighbors by over $100,000 within one week Las Vegas Nevada

Here is a letter I sent to the Pulte area president:

November 30, 2007

Mr. Richard Dix, President
Pulte Homes
8345 W Sunset Rd
Las Vegas, NV 89113

I am writing to you to share my recent home buying experience with the hope that you can put yourself in my place. My husband and I looked at several communities and decided on xxxx. When my husband and I signed the contract for our home we made a lower offer and were immediately rejected by the salesman, Danny McCall. We were told prices would remain high and our discussion included our concern with Pulte’s interest, as well as our own, in protecting the integrity and dynamics of the neighborhood. We were told that Pulte looks out for its customers and would not sacrifice the integrity of the neighborhood just to sell homes. We were also told that we were buying into a family of Pulte homeowners and Pulte strives to keep their customers happy.

We decided to purchase the home with the belief that Pulte would protect our investment and remain true to their word. We even chose the smallest lot to save money on the lot premium and later found out someone closed for less on a much larger lot only two weeks prior to our closing. I recently discovered that two of my neighbors paid $159,315 and $172,400 less than what we paid. They closed within a couple weeks of our sale. Of course, I am comparing the same house which is Plan 3419. As of now, we are on the smallest lot and paid the highest price for this model. My husband contacted our sales rep, Danny, and questioned him about the huge discrepancy in the price in such a short time frame. He said that he was waiting for this conversation and was also very surprised when he heard how much Pulte was lowering the prices of the homes. He said that Pulte was taking a loss at that price. This is hard to believe since Pulte is still offering $130,000 + off of the list price. My husband asked why we were not offered the same price due to the fact that the lower prices were offered prior to our closing. Danny said that he knew about the pricing but could not tell us due to the fact that he would lose his job. Lowering the prices of the houses to this extreme has completely changed the dynamics of the neighborhood. Pulte’s slashing of prices has been devastating on many levels.

Following are a few more examples of how poorly we have been treated. We signed for comfort height toilets in all bathrooms. The sales rep made a mistake on the price and your sales manager would not even compromise on the $300 mistake. It was a very small monetary mistake, but large to us. Danny McCall also told us that the granite was 3cm and we later found out that it was 2cm from the construction superintendent. There were no actions taken to correct this mistake. Later, we discovered Pulte was reconfiguring one of the neighbor’s RV gates without cost to the customer. Also, Pulte made a mistake on one of the other neighbor’s showers which was to their financial advantage. We were also told prior to signing the contract that the landscaping on the outside of the community was going to be completed, but the manager of the lands department quit and they were way behind on deciding how they were going to finish it. After our contract was signed, we were told the landscaping was finished and nothing else was going to be done. I voiced my concern about what they had promised, how cheap and unfinished it looked, and that the dirt was already washing out when it rained. I was told that this was a rural community and the county would not allow anymore landscaping. Then in a different conversation, I was told that the homeowners association could have someone come in and do what ever the community wanted (of course at no cost to Pulte). As of now, it is a parking lot for the horse stables across the street. There are several communities within this “rural” area, as defined by Pulte, whose builders have completely finished the landscaping on the outside of their community. Why can’t Pulte finish the job as they promised?

As things are now, my thoughts are focused on how and why we were discriminated against in so many ways. Who would have thought that the supposedly happy experience of buying a Pulte home would be such a devastating experience?

Bottom line, why did we pay $172,400 more than the neighbor next door with the same house, similar options and same size lot? Why did we pay $159,315 more than the neighbors across the street on a larger lot with similar options? Why does Pulte make empty promises? We closed within a couple weeks of each other.

Lindsey
Las Vegas, Nevada