Jim Walter Homes/Mid State Homes Moldy lumber used by Jim Walter Homes in constructing our new home. Tampa Florida

Jim Walter Homes are one of the worst rip-offs in America. The company is more of a scam and a con than a decent homebuilder. My lumber and materials sat outside uncovered for months. I was told not to worry and that they (JWH) would make everything right. It's now many months and nothing has gone well. The home is one of the worst examples of poor workmanship you can find in my area.
THIS COMPANY IS A PREDATOR!
THEY ARE NOT TRUTHFUL!

I sold homes for Jim Walter Homes in Orange Park Florida and then became a Mortgage Manager in the Ocala office. My office was in the same building as the construction manager. I have seen the problems from the inside. Scheduling was always a problem. Construction managers came and went. You might have as many as three construction managers during the construction of your home. Sales commisions were paid after the foundation was dug and not when materials were delivered. Many times raw material just sat in the weather as well as unfinished homes.

As the mortgage manager I would call the new home owner a month before their first payment was due to remind them of this payment. Some homeowners had some real problems with their homes and would threaten with holding payment until they were satisfied. My position was that I was with Mid-States Mortgage and not Jim Walter Homes, and I had a signed tender that had been sent to me indicating the homeowner had recieved all they had ordered and were satisfied and their agreement with the mortgage company was that the mortgage payments would start sixty days after the home was tendered. It was time to pony up. You wont believe the stories I heard about the signing of these tenders.

The homeowner has no option other than to pay. Most customers were not of great wealth and retaining legal counsel was unaffordable. If I couldn't create a possitive cash flow the home would be foreclosed and resold "as is where is".
Jim Walter Homes are constructed by subcontractors. The man with the lowest price gets the work. Many times the lowest price just didn't show up to do the work. Nothing was scheduled well. The framers weren't contacted until the foundation was finished. The choice was availability and price, not quality. And so went the rest of the construction. Get it done when you can by anyone for the right price, ignore the customer.

Sometimes it was just a good old boy system. Let me tell you of Steve. Steve was a plumbing subcontractor and been working for JWH for many years. One Saturday morning I got a call from a new homeowner who had just moved in and relatives were arriving to celebrate Christmas on Monday in this new home. The problem was there was no hot water in the kitchen. There was hot water in the bathroom and the hose bibs outside, but not the kitchen. As a sales person we were told not to get involved in customers complaints just pass them on. I called Steve and made him correct the problem that morning. I wasn't supossed to do that. We had many homes Steve was plumbing and the inspecters would red tag the constuction until the toilet no longer had hot water and the bathtub did. Well the manager had a talk with Steve and let him know he could no longer plumb for JWH but since Steve also had an electricians license he could subcontact the eletrical work. This made no sense to me, just a good old boy deal.

Jim Walter Homes has always built on your lot affordable homes for people of modest means, the concept is good the implimintation just lacks focus.

We are undergoing the same problem after legal help and more we are taking them to court we didn't have the money either we have to put up a peice of land to get an attorney to fight for us it is not fair try to email us we need to come togather and fight I have enough files to knock a dent in them . this is the same company that was involved in the deaths of the coal workers and wanted to put a cap on their payments and stop paying I don't care my email is info@favorandgrace.biz email me let's stop them from hurting people.