we started all the paperwork near the end of the year last year for getting a palm harbor home and land. we found the land ourselves and worked on the paperwork to get it included in a land/home package (that was the easy part lol) then dealt with palm harbor and their banks to get a mortgage (tried some places ourselves but couldnt get one because they only do already built homes...etc). finally got that approved and paperwork submitted (keeping on them and reminding them that we had until May 31st to move) on April 1st. they were able to get the house through the assembly line a week early and could have gotten the house set before all the rain we had but they didnt even try because it said it might rain.
plus they told us that the electricity wasnt going to be too much to get it connected to the house (ended up being a lot more than they said it'd be). so we used up a lot of our savings to get electricity set up (and they were delayed because of the rain too)
so the house was on the land in early May but with all the rain it delayed them a lot. so they finally get it together (and im stressing because of needing to pack, figuring out what we can do if we cant get into the house...etc)
they finally got it together (though they blamed us for some of the delay, saying we werent letting them know if the land was dry enough - we were an hour away from the property and couldnt get out there to check plus how do we know how dry it needs to be for them?!)
last week of may we are still waiting for the guys to be able to do the inside finishing so we can get the keys and move in. they finally showed up and spent over 2 days working inside (guess the factory did a really bad job with a lot of the stuff so they had to fix a bunch) and they even walked on my brand new carpets with muddy boots. so i already have carpet stains). we were also waiting for them to get the electricity hooked to the electric rack outside so the electric company could put a meter on it (they wont do that until everything is connected at the rack) and they take 3-5 days to get out there to do it and cant tell them early because they could come early and if it isnt ready we get charged for it...
we did a few walk throughs of the house during the work they were doing and didnt see everything (unfortunately).
roof leaked were the stove vent goes out *
light fixtures broken/covers missing *
doors not hanging right
cabinet doors not hanging right
AC not working
Fridge not working * (the freezer worked just not the fridge)
drawers broken/really loose *
missing door stops * (bought some ourselves)
missing cap to faucet handle *
creaking floors
door frame panel things missing
kitchen desk warped *
sinks not sealed
showers not sealed *
island not screwed down right *
counter top pieces not glued down *
we got most (*) of that taken care of finally... took weeks (and AC is working but it is jerry-rigged to work - still not fixed yet) and the few things that we havent gotten done we gave up on since someday we'll upgrade stuff
we were able to move our stuff to the house on the 30th but couldnt stay because there was no power yet. so we got a hotel room for a few nights with the cats and fish (lol) and that is when my car got broken into and so had to hand out more money
finally got power and were able to officially move in. but we had the fridge and ac running all day but they werent cooling so we had to try to get something done (i had just gotten into third trimester and thought i was dying from the heat lol) lost all our fridge food too... we finally called a 24hr ac company to come out and they came out and got the ac running but again DJ had to jerry-rig it (ac guy couldnt do that legally) since palm harbor wouldnt get us anyone... as for the fridge they wouldnt replace it since it has GE factory warranty we had to deal with them and they couldnt get it fixed for 3 weeks. we had a couple from our church give us a mini fridge to help out (having to go to the store a lot wasnt fun since we are in the country now and with me have gestational diabetes i couldnt eat boxed foods)
the fridge guy came and looked at it and told us what it needed but he doesnt carry parts so he had to order them and come back... sigh right lol
meanwhile we were parking on the road and wearing rain boots (yard was still wet and they hadnt gotten our driveway in yet) and climbing very dangerous temporary steps (they hadnt gotten the porches done yet or the skirting done) so we had to call palm harbor and ask when that was getting done... so finally they show up to do the porches and skirting (and they miss some nails and skirting so we have to call palm harbor again to get that taken care of) and then the guy comes to do the driveway
so now everything is done but the ac and the items that we gave up on.
he should be here next week (he had to order some more parts last time he was here)
so we will never recommend palm harbor to anyone and they arent getting high scores if they ever give us the questionnaire
they did pay us back for the 24 hr ac guy we had come out (they actually sent us 2 checks and we kept both...after everything we have had to deal with we werent giving one back lol)
anyways...thats our hassle of home buying
