LGI Homes You cannot buy a home for $600.00 a month,period. The Woodlands Texas

I was with a buyer and the sales person specifically stated the $1000 does NOT get applied to the closing costs. Oh! and they refuse to pay Realtors right as the client is about to sign the contract.

A reputable builder would want a Realtor to bring them more clients, not screw them over for a few thousand dollars.

 So.... I am a LGI home buyer. The 500$ is an earnest money deposit that is included in ANY purchase of a home. It goes towards the closing cost, which LGI pays the rest of. Saved me and my husband 7,000$ out of pocket. The advertised price is principal and interest, which it states on the flyer. After taxes and insurance it is going to be more. Just wanted to clarify that the individual who posted did not know/provide all the facts.

I just went through this process with LGI. You have to understand the way house payments work to understand how the payment went from $595 to $1000.  If you'll look again at the flyer, it says $595 a month P&I. That's principle and interest. That's the actual payment on the house. To that you have to add taxes, insurance, and home owner association fees.  Mine went from $799 to $1319 with all the stuff added on. There's no scam here, you just have to understand the terminology. 

The $500 is earnest money to hold the house you're interested in until you close. LGI says there is no down payment and there isn't. A down payment would be closer to $5000 to $7500. Once you're approved the $500 goes toward closing costs. LGI pays the rest of the closing costs which is unusual. For me closing would have been about $7000. I'll take that $500 any day of the week. 

I had a great experience with LGI. You just have to know what you're getting into. 

Currently they are working with either USDA loans or some sort of Bond program that will allow a $0 down payment mortgage.  For that, you HAVE to have a 640 credit score on 2 of your credit reports.  There is really no way around it.  When you go in, they will look at your credit (before you get to see the house) and then they will tell you everything you need to do to get your score up above a 640...that is the ONLY good thing about this company.  I think you have to put down $500 before they will pull your credit again after you do all the steps you need to get to the 640.  
If you can get your score to a 640 (30% of your score is how much credit you have vs how much you use.  stay under the 30% on your credit cards and they will help a lot); you have many options like the USDA and the FHA and down payment assistance programs.  You don't have to use LGI.

So i have read the reviews on here about LGI Homes but @Klumsy can you tell me a little more about the process of getting into your home? My credit score is 550. How did they help you with your credit and how long did it take to get it fixed. Please advise. 

Neenee

Thank you!  We're happy as our kids love the room they now have.  As for the payment, I am really an open book.  Since it wasn't based on credit for us, we just had to qualify.  Then we got a low interest rate because of the home market.  So I think it was like 799 per month for the 5 bdrm driftwood plan.  (At one of our old apts, we paid 1200!) So then we have to tack on about 400 for the other fees like interest, tax and insurance.  HOA's aren't included, ours is $240 a year, so we just put 20 aside a month so we don't even have to worry about it, as suggested by LGI.  We pay 1198 a month.  Which I am okay with since I am a fan of paying the taxes now, instead of later..but I'm not sure how some of the other LGI areas do it.  I've just seen people scrambling to get their tax income money back so they can pay their taxes... which I prefer to keep mine.  Personally, I'd ask during the first meeting so you know if you should even continue.  I know the Colorado is the one, or like the one, that is advertised for 629.  I know that when I've looked up the reviews on LGI, it seemed that the sterling lakes area consumers seemed to have a different experience than me, but they could have changed since then, some were from 2006.  Again, I would say at least go and look yourself.  Everyone has different expectations when they go into this stuff.  My husband and I went into this with low expectations because we were just going to look and start our process of looking into homes.  We did the tour and I told him as we were going down the stairs that he needed to make this happen.  I fell in love with the house and it was exactly the amount of room we needed.  I would go in with an open mind, don't have high expectations, that way you can't get let down.  :)  Just make sure that if you don't feel comfortable or if you're not feeling it, you can always leave.  You have no contractual obligation to look! Maybe make a checklist of all the questions and note some of the things other comments have mentioned to ask them about.  You're the one who has to live in the home with your family, if you don't love it...you'll resent your decision for the entire time you live there!  Sorry for rambling!  I hope that helps!

@clumzyklutz

FIRST OFF I WANT TO SAY CONGRATS ON YALL NEW HOME. I DONT HAVE ANYTHING NEGATIVE TO SAY ABOUT LGI.IVE JUST BEEN TRYING TO DO MY RESEARCH ON THE COMPANY. PRETTY MUCH ALL THE REVIEWS WERE HORRIBLE. EVERYONE IS ENTITLED TO THEIR OWN EXPERINCE AND I AM A FIRM BELIEVER OF 2 SIDES TO EVERY STORY.I REALLY WANT TO PURCHASE A HOME WITH THEM IN THE AREA STERLING LAKES OFF OF 288 NEAR PEARLAND,TX FOR MY TWO TODDLERS AND I. I WOULD BE CONSIDERD A FIRST TIME BUYER AND I REALLY LOVE THE COLORADO 3 BED 2 1/2 BATH 2 STORY FLOOR PLAN. HOW MUCH WAS UR HOME INCLUDING THE HOA AND THE FEES? IF U WOULD EMAIL ME @ (((ROR redacted)))   thanks

CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report.

Just as an update from my comment left in August:

It's now January and we were approved for our loan and closed on our house in December.  Since we get one month "free" (mortgage paid in arrears) we have moved in and let me say that we're loving it.  We have a 5 bedroom home and with 3 kids and a mother in law, we needed all the room we could get.  

There were only a few cons that I could find.  The back yards aren't sodded, so we are planting grass seed in the Spring.  The back of the house did not come with blinds, so we had to add those as well.  We are ceiling fan people, so we had to add 7 ceiling fans, but luckily they were already pre-wired for them.  Also, we ONLY have a garage door, so we have to get a garage door opener.  As we now live in the country, the internet out here is almost nothing and we cannot get standard cable.  Although, there are Comcast flags and wires in our backyard, we just need them to go to a head.  We're pretty sure that they will be coming out soon.  Before it was just trailers and cows out there, now there is a large subdivision and the area is near a freeway that is up and coming with new stuff.  There are 200 lots, so we have hope still!  We miss our Comcast, as went from having high speed internet, at about 30-40 mbps to 1.5mbps with AT&T DSL...which is the highest they can offer to the area right now.   We also had to get Directv, which I am not extremely thrilled about.  It's a country neighborhood, so there isn't really much out here and we have to drive 15 minutes to town.  The neighbors seem nice for the most part, but there are a few that I could do without.  I guess since it's no money down and no closing, a lot of people can qualify so you get a diverse bunch...but I just can't stand this one neighbor who has to have his music and bass loud as he drives by!  Again, all minor stuff that did not outweigh the good.  Also, we just had to call submit a warranty ticket for our AC yesterday.  It was not LGI's fault though.  It was the Directv guy when he was in our attic.  (We submitted the ticket at 9:00 PM and 5 minutes later our contractor contacted us and in the morning, we had a guy out!)  LGI's warranty is still going to repair and cover the cost, even though it was due to an outside party. 

Overall, we're very happy about the move.  We have so many features that we love about the house.  We've fixed the cons that we could, but we're not too worried about the rest.  I'm just very grateful to get in this house that's 5 bedrooms when most of the ones we were looking at were 200k+ and those were for used.  This is a brand new home so we have the luxury of making it our own before anyone else!  Not to mention the space that we now have!  All 5 bedrooms are very big and our laundry room is so big that our new REALLY large front loading washer and dryer look small because there is so much extra room!  We were also able to fit a very large refrigerator in the big space that they left.  There was a Whirlpool fridge that came with it, but there wasn't enough room in it for us, so I bought a new one and just put the old one in the garage for our drinks!  

I think that we got our money's worth with this house, so I hope that the few negative reviews don't discourage some from at least looking.  I understand that every experience and area is going to be different and pushy/rude sales people can turn people off completely.  We may have just gotten lucky because our sales woman was very nice.  I would at least taking a look before deciding that it's not worth it.  I was very skeptical when I saw the ad for the flyer, but I took a chance and it worked out well for my family! 

Back in 2007, new to the Houston area and renting a dumpy condo off 290, I got an LGI mailer and visited the Rosenburg/Richmond site.  I was shown a one-story, four-bedroom home on a cul de sac.  It had solid core doors, granite countertops, water heater in the garage and a beautiful front yard...for about $140K.  A week later, I visited an awful Lennar location in Houston but, the next day, visited a nicer Lennar project in Katy.  I bought a Lennar for $166K - WHAT A MISTAKE - hollow core doors, composite countertops, a water heater in the attic (heat goes UP, not down and a leaking water heater may someday cost me thousands in ceiling repair) and the crappiest, weediest sodding for a front yard and a worse job in the back yard.

Why did I buy the Lennar and not the LGI?  LGI didn't sod the back yard.  The development was early on and too many Freddie-Fannie buyers had their old cars up on blocks for my taste.  The back yard, however, didn't have all the utility boxes like my Lennar does and it was huge in the shape of a baseball field.  Looking back, I could have had it landscaped and decorated to look like one and it would have been great for whiffle ball.

Lennar builds garbage - LGI builds quality.

What I would give to go back to 2007 and buy the LGI...I'd have working outside outlets (my Lennar outlets don't)...not to mention, Lennar has the entire kitchen, living room, dining room and study lights and wall outlets on ONE, SINGLE, SOLITARY 15 AMP BREAKER.  When I click print, my UPS clicks on backup power and my study lights dim until the printer goes back to sleep mode.  I had it looked at during my warranty year...when the hooked up two wall outlets in the study - because they hadn't connected them during construction.  Lennar is JUNK, JUNK, JUNK.

I'm praying for a freak tornado to take this thing down to the foundation!!!

I'm sorry to hear about your problems.  Unfortunately, my husband and I did not have the same experience.  To the contrary, we had an excellent experience.

We too received an mailer in our apartment complex's mailbox.  We're looking to move out by February 1st and we are looking to purchase a home.  So when I saw the mailer, I was very curious.  

I went online to see the house we were looking at was about 800.  Well, that is not including taxes and HOA fees, etc.  So after we went in, our good faith estimate was about 1255.  That is with a 4.25% interest rate, which we are VERY excited about.  

We're very thankful to them because while my husband makes near 6 figures a year and I make less, we both have credit issues.  Well, LGI has enrolled us in their credit repair program and they're working on raising our credit up so that way we can qualify for the 0 money down program.

We did have to fork over 500 dollars, but that will be returned to us at closing.  So basically, it's free.  Any place you go though is going to ask you when you enter into a contract for earnest money.  That's what it was designated as.  

Since we were planning on making a down payment, we are now using that money to fix up our credit and for household needs.  We're almost at the mark we need to get to qualify, we just need to have them take off a few our outstanding (10+ years) bills that keep coming back to haunt us. 

Ever since I made the initial call, my sales woman has been very knowledgeable and very helpful.  She has done everything she can to make sure we can get into the home we want.   She was never disrespectful and always kind and courteous.  

I do like that they looked at our credit and made us do our financial stuff first because I did not want to see a house, fall in love with it and then find out I don't qualify.  I love the house we're about to move into!  

I'm sorry that you had a bad experience, but I REALLY hope you didn't think you could own a home for $595 a month and not pay taxes, insurance and all of the other fees that homeowners pay.  That stuff they cannot put all on a mailer and you have to go in and see.


Jessica, Houston, TX

(BTW, every time I post a positive comment consumer report, I get people saying I must work for that company.  I hate trolls.  No one ever posts good stories...only horror.  Just as an FYI, I do NOT work for LGI Homes.  They were not even on my radar for homes until I got the mailer just like everyone else.)

First of all at LGI you CAN purchase a home for less than $600.00 that is P&I with no money down. You go to the office and talk with a broker at LGI Homes they explain to you that they do everything from start to finish, meaning purchase land, develop it, build homes finance and service the homes. They do not have "model homes" because it it a wast of time & money and they do not outsource therefore they have control of the quality of each step of the process from start to finish resulting in not only a great product but also a great savings that is passed along to you the proud owner of your part of the American dream!

Second the price of the home of course depends on what the square footage of the home is for example, a small 2 bed 1 bath 1 car garage the square footage is 850 of LIVING SPACE they do not count the garage. All the appliances as well as plumbing water heater etc is of VERY GOOD QUALITY the yards are fenced the front yard is landscaped. The homes are built with energy savings in mind with plenty of extras, too many to mention here. This is the perfect home for a single person and with a mortgage broken down for this example is:

Principal & Interest $575.32 (this is the price of the home)
Hazard Insurance 50.00 (mandatory for any home purchased)
Property Taxes 140.00 (Gotta pay Uncle Sam)
Home Owner Dues 12.50 (Pays for community areas in neighborhood)

MONTHLY TOTAL $777.82


And last but not least the $500.00 is for an earnest money contract any home buyer should do their homework and know that money is to secure the home until closing, at which time the $500.00 is returned to you I will say it again to you the proud owner of your part of the American dream!

Also, they don't pre-qualify over the phone and from my experience as well as the experience of some of my friends with LGI Homes they DO NOT speak to other people in a rude manner.

Before slamming a company you should research the information and talk to others about them BEFORE making it public (this will save you the embarrassment of public humiliation.

".... they told my fiance they needed $500.00 for a "proof of financial responsibility" fee."

And they did say "fee" which I think means you don't get it back....

But I suggest that you gather up all of the ads and flyers (keep all pages intact so that the newspaper and dates are identified) and schedule a review with the authorities. Let the government folk sort it out for you. That is why you pay taxes. (You could be looking at an old ad- say from 1985? "Sorry, it was a mistake....")

Besides, if LGI Homes is proven to be playing games, would it really be smart to do business with them???