HUNTSVILLE, AL -
It's the American dream and the biggest investment of your life -- your home. When you sign your name to a mortgage, it's a debt you'll have for 15 or 30 years or more. So, you want to be sure you get your money's worth. This WHNT NEWS 19 Taking Action Consumer Investigation reveals something a lot of home buyers may not know.
It's a case of buyer beware. It's said size matters and when you plunk down big bucks you want to get every inch you pay for.
"You don't use Kentucky windage out there and go yep, that looks good."
"You expect to get what you pay for and this time I didn't get what I paid for," said Bill Lomax. "I paid for a 3,000 square foot home I didn't get a 3,000 square foot home."
Lomax was very excited about buying his first house. He bought a 3,000 square foot home from Adams Homes earlier this year. The price tag was nearly $240,000.
Lomax claims it wasn't what was represented to him. In fact, it wasn't until after Lomax had already moved into his brand new house that he realized there was a problem. A delay in the mail revealed a surprise.
"Well, it was only after I'd already closed on the house and already, you know had moved into the house that I got a copy of the VA appraiser's appraisal of the entire house," said Lomax.
The VA appraisal shows the house is actually 2,970 square feet. Lomax wasn't happy.
"Let's just say I wasn't real happy about that because the house is missing 30 square feet."
A second opinion determined his house is actually missing 40 square feet. Lomax said Adams Homes told him it was 3,000 square feet.
"I didn't take kindly to that. I thought that was wrong," exclaimed Lomax.
To put this in perspective, 40 square feet is roughly the size of a walk-in closet.
Or better yet, said Lomax, "If you take the back wall of my house -- which is 40 feet -- that's pushing that whole back wall out into my back yard another foot. Now can you imagine adding another foot of living space to your house?"
It amounts to more than just space. Lomax does the math.
"So when you're missing 40 square feet, you multiply that by $80 per square foot. That's $3,200," he said. "To me, I mean $3,200, that's not just a drop in the bucket."
In Adams Homes' marketing materials, the floor plan is advertised as the 3000 model and indicates 3,000 square feet on the document. There's no language to indicate it's an approximation. And potential home buyers are enticed by signs that show prices by the square foot with verbiage that reads, "Hurry! Limited time offer."
Hidden Camera Investigation
So, we sent an undercover producer into Adams Homes' sales office with a hidden camera to hear what they say to an interested buyer.
Our hidden camera captures this dialogue, "I was looking on the internet which model is this here?"
It's a case of buyer beware. It's said size matters and when you plunk down big bucks you want to get every inch you pay for.
"You don't use Kentucky windage out there and go yep, that looks good."
"You expect to get what you pay for and this time I didn't get what I paid for," said Bill Lomax. "I paid for a 3,000 square foot home I didn't get a 3,000 square foot home."
Lomax was very excited about buying his first house. He bought a 3,000 square foot home from Adams Homes earlier this year. The price tag was nearly $240,000.
Lomax claims it wasn't what was represented to him. In fact, it wasn't until after Lomax had already moved into his brand new house that he realized there was a problem. A delay in the mail revealed a surprise.
"Well, it was only after I'd already closed on the house and already, you know had moved into the house that I got a copy of the VA appraiser's appraisal of the entire house," said Lomax.
The VA appraisal shows the house is actually 2,970 square feet. Lomax wasn't happy.
"Let's just say I wasn't real happy about that because the house is missing 30 square feet."
A second opinion determined his house is actually missing 40 square feet. Lomax said Adams Homes told him it was 3,000 square feet.
"I didn't take kindly to that. I thought that was wrong," exclaimed Lomax.
To put this in perspective, 40 square feet is roughly the size of a walk-in closet.
Or better yet, said Lomax, "If you take the back wall of my house -- which is 40 feet -- that's pushing that whole back wall out into my back yard another foot. Now can you imagine adding another foot of living space to your house?"
It amounts to more than just space. Lomax does the math.
"So when you're missing 40 square feet, you multiply that by $80 per square foot. That's $3,200," he said. "To me, I mean $3,200, that's not just a drop in the bucket."
In Adams Homes' marketing materials, the floor plan is advertised as the 3000 model and indicates 3,000 square feet on the document. There's no language to indicate it's an approximation. And potential home buyers are enticed by signs that show prices by the square foot with verbiage that reads, "Hurry! Limited time offer."
Hidden Camera Investigation
So, we sent an undercover producer into Adams Homes' sales office with a hidden camera to hear what they say to an interested buyer.
Our hidden camera captures this dialogue, "I was looking on the internet which model is this here?"
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