TimberCreek Developers Kept $2000 Earnest Money without signed contract Paxton Illinois

One of our customers just recently alerted us to Mr. White's false report.  I am responding four years later from documents in his file and from memory. 

From the first sentence, Mr White's complaint is misleading and unfounded.  Here is what really happened.  TimberCreek had a spec house foundation in the ground in Deer Run Subdivision in Mahomet, IL.  The basement floor was not poured yet when Mr. White and his wife came by and decided to purchase the home.  They signed a memorandum of purchase and wrote a $2000 check for earnest money to TimberCreek Developers.  (No where did the agreement say the check could not be deposited as alleged).  In addition to signing a memorandum, the buyers also increased the price of the home by adding and changing features in the home that were not originally included. 

These included:
1.  underground plumbing for a wet-bar
2.  underground plumbing for a sink in a basement craft room
3.  additional Andersen window in master bedroom
4.  additional Andersen window in garage
5.  tray ceilings in the master bedroom and dining room
6.  custom tiled shower in master bath
7.  under-mount bar sink
8.  drafting changes to floor plan 
9.  microlam beams added in master suite because of floor plan changes per the buyer
   
We changed the plan, put in the plumbing, ordered the beams and windows, and continued building, but after increasing the price of the home, the buyers (for reasons unknown) eventually decided not to sign a contract and demanded their earnest money returned.  We offered to return the money if they reimbursed us for over $5000 of expenditures incurred per their requests.  They refused and claimed that TimberCreek had only made "rearrangements to the blueprint."   

In the end, the buyers' attorney dropped them as clients for their unbecoming conduct and they sued us themselves for $2000 in Small Claims Court.  Unfortunately, the judge ruled in their favor because we only had a signed memorandum instead of a signed real estate contract.  (We would have had a signed real estate contract had they signed it). 

TimberCreek suffered monetary damage by trusting an unscrupulous buyer and the buyer had the audacity to post a ripoff report.  You be the judge as to who has integrity...