The Manufactured Housing Forums

Mr. Murray:
I wrote to you in late November (Disappointed) regarding what we felt was a breach of contract. Well we thought we had worked everything out, decided to continue to try and get this house that we really wanted and have not seen elsewhere. Now mind you this process truly started on October 8 when we paid down $7500. In November we were told the house we thought was ordered was no longer being offered and they had made improvements and it was called another name and so on (Cavalier). We chose to stay with it and order the Bridgeport with 2x6 package. The rep at Homestead spoke to my husband in late November and stated they would love to build our house and we were told it should by ready by December 10. Well it is December 17, there is no house to look at, and now our loan has expired. The dealer wants us to renew and the financial folks (Triad) want copies of the bank statements with proof of our downpayments. We have since paid another $3200. This is a HOME ONLY deal. My husband has done a lot of the leg work, calling footer guys, well and septic folk, etc. We have discovered some of the contractors do not want to do any work for the dealer as they already owe them big money.
Question: Now that the original financial approval has expired are we obligated to purchase from this dealer? What options do we have? We are getting cold feet with this particular dealer. We thought with a home only deal we would be in by Christmas.... now we are in no hurry. Your quick response is truly appreciated.

Whew....If the home is not there now...It will not be until after the 1st...The Cavalier plants are all closed down for the winter shut down...As a matter of fact the plant in Milen, Ga has not built any homes this month..
Many dealers were dismayed at the changes made in September by Cavalier...Nearly every floor plan was discontinued with new ones put in place..They did add a few features...but raised the price by thousands...

For home only finance...Triad is a good source..The source and seasoning requirement for the downpayment...bank statements...is part of the new requirements to combat fraud in the industry...this is only a formality and you seem to have paid the downpayment in full...Your canceled checks should suffice for Triad..Triads approvals are good for 90 days...the rate committments are for only 60 days..you are lucky that rates did not go up in this period..Of course you still can go land home at much lower rates....The best that I remember is that the rate for the best credit (720 beacon scores) is 8.25% with 20% down at Triad...This same customer can get 5.75% on a mortgage..and no PMI or escrow requirements with this much down..

I may have said this before...the biggest surprise here was that you were told about the changes in NOV..When they actually happened in Sept...For a few weeks they were still building the old model..I am not sure if they were gone by 10/8 or not..but if they were the dealer knew this then..

My biggest concern is the statement about your dealer not paying his suppliers...This is very ominous...If you have paid the dealer $ 10,700..you have paid him more than his whole profit already..If you cancel...it is very unlikely that he has got the money...I am sure he would have paid his supplier with your money before he would let them go around bad mouthing him to potential customers..There are many dealers on the edge of closing all over the SE right now...and unfortunately..yours sounds like one of them...Your best bet might be to stick with him...Trying to get this kind of money back from those with none will only hasten his demise and you will get nothing..The best you can hope for now is that after the winter shut down...Cavalier will build your home and ship it...then the dealer might just as well deliver it..Sorry..does not look good..

Cavlier aburptly closed 4 plants without any notice yesterday...Homestead was one of them....Best to be very defensive right now...