KB Home at Sherimar Ranch

I have the most horrible experience with KB HOME. I was looking the Towns at the Berryessa Crossing located in San Jose, CA. I had a nice floor plan very desirable by lot of buyers and it is scheduled to be ready around May 2015, as of now, it is still an empty terrain without any foundation yet. I signed a purchase agreement back in October. Almost two weeks later, I had an emergency and I told them that I wouldn’t be able to purchase the home any longer since I will not have the down payment. Right away, I called Nancy my sales rep from KB Home in the evening and she said that she will send me the cancellation form and that I will get my 3% deposit back.
The next day, I called Nancy and she said that she will email the form asap. Later that morning, I received the called from Nancy letting me know that KB Home «corporate» will not return my 3% deposit (almost 18 thousand dollars!). I asked why and she passed the phone call to Maricela Gutierrez (
). Maricela told me that because I already chose the first options then I will have to pay for liquidated damages. I said but they haven’t even pour the foundation yet. Then, she said in a harsh tone that this is a business and because I signed a contract. I cannot just back out like that. I asked for a better explanation, then she lost her patient and in a rude manner Maricela hung up the phone.
I went to the sales office and they said that «corporate» will not give me back my deposit. Maricela wanted to show me in the contract where it said that I can’t get my deposit back.
Later. Nancy sent me the cancellation form instructing the escrow holder to give my deposit to KB Home. In the email she said: «Corporate will not be issuing your deposit back. I am very sorry. Permits has been approved for your options and you loan has been approved…» The only options I have for that moment was the bathtub, ceiling lights and the doors. BUT again, the foundation is not there yet. They haven’t started building anything on the terrain yet. I contacted their preferred lender agent and he said that my loan was in process and therefore NOT approve yet. Even the loan agent did not understand why they were doing that.
I talked to my real estate agent and got advise from a real estate lawyer. They both told me that I didn’t have to do anything. One of the contingency is to get the loan so if I don’t get the loan then they would have to return my deposit.
As long as I don’t sign the cancellation form, they can’t sell the property to anyone else.
After five days, I got another email from Nancy «.Just following up on the status of the cancellation form? We are here if you have any questions at all. I will need some type of response soon as corporate is requesting. If we do not hear back, corporate will be sending you a default notice.»
My lawyer advised me to wait for the default letter and see what it said. Couple of days later, I talked to the loan agent and he said that they will not approve my loan since I will no longer have the down payment.
Days later I got another email from Nancy saying «…We have sold your home to someone else. Please sign the cancellation form and send back to us asap. You will be getting your deposit back if you process quickly.»
This is definitely a lie since they can’t sell the property to anyone else because it is under contract/​escrow.
They sent me the same form but this one said that they cancel the contract «Prior to 30 day. Cannot obtain loan approval». My lawyer noticed that they only filled out the total field but didn’t specify where the money goes either — To KB Home or To Buyer. I am not sure if they did this intentionally but I filled the total amount of my deposit to the — To Buyer field.
I signed the form and I finally got my deposit back from the title company almost two weeks later.
This is the worst experience of my life! I am under enormous stress since I needed the cash right away. I had to borrow money from my credit cards. KB Home, a 2.1 Billion revenue in 2013, is such a big enterprise company and they were trying to take my hard earned money away.
KB Home tried to lie, deceive, intimidate and threaten. This the worst business ethics I have ever seen. Regardless that, we are in the seller market and the property already went up 60k. They still wanted to steal my money.
Lets see if KB Home’s CEO, Jeffrey Mezger will do anything about this. They scared me from getting my American dream fulfilled
I will not suggest anyone from buying properties from KB Home!
Below is their contact info.
888-​KB-​HOMES
Berryessa Sales, San Jose, CA
408 593‑0031
408 899‑6537

KB was a delight to work with. Duc and Mike communicated with us consistently. Checked in, kept us updated and dealt with issues immediately and efficiently. They ensured we knew how to reach them and got back to us always. The team at KB acted exactly like that a team, working together for the customer.

I would have also left an extremely positive review about KB Home and only had great things to say «until» we lived in our home for about a year when KB Home ruined all of that. We really trusted these guys at first (these guys really know how to gain your trust) and I also had nothing but great things to say about KB Home until our first warranty claim for the crack in our slab foundation (see profile photo). These guys really changed when a manager became involved with our warranty issues. We feel that KB Home has lied to us, deceived us and plays games. We feel that we have structural issues slowly developing in our new KB Home, ceiling problems that KB Home can’t seem to properly resolve and even after 2.5 years we still hear snapping and popping noises. We also have a long list of other issues we didn’t even complain about. 10 Year Warranty for piece of mind, really KB Home, what warranty? If we did and it actually WORKED then I wouldn’t be here writing this review. All we seem to get from KB Home is runaround and games. If I can get these guys to do any work it is shoddy and then their managers act all pissed off at you for pointing it out! I think these guys are real slick and know how to play games with people. It’s almost like these guys go to meetings at KB Home where they are trained how to first make everything seem great to gain the homeowners trust then screw over the homeowner on any significant warranty claims. Please don’t just take it from me, do your research! You can find out more about KB Home by just doing a Google Search for KB Homes and check out the videos on youtube.

First let me start off that I never in a million years thought I’d be able to buy a brand new house!!! KB has made a dream a reality.
I’ve heard and read the horror stories for years about buying new houses, even worse I’ve heard and read horror stories about buying a KB Home. All I can say from my experience is «what’s the problem»? Aaron, our salesman from KB has been great.
Now as for Carrie and the design studio (because we’re not buying the cookie homes, we actually got to design everything inside and out) it was a bit stressful because you do have to pay for every thing that you want that is not the standard, and nothing is ever standard. They’re called «upgrades people»!!! There’s no way you can walk through the models and expect that that is what you’re going to get for the rock bottom price, that’s why they clearly post the standards and upgrades sheets at the front doors of the models. You know that they’re putting at least a hundred grand in upgrades into these things to get you thinking, «that’s exactly what I want»! That’s the hook, get over it. If you can’t afford the place and the upgrades the way you want it, then you’ve got no business buying the house in the first place. There’s nothing worse than walking through or living in a house that has zero upgrades! Carrie was great and dealt with us and all of our stupid questions.
We were able to get the house very very close to way the model was displayed for far less than we thought we could with Carrie’s help. You really have to sit down and prioritize the upgrades, its not that bad. If anyone out there actually thinks that they’re going to get a house exactly the way they want it without paying a little extra they’re f’n clueless. In most cases including ours, just go into it thinking how much better everything is than what you’ve got now… and everything is brand new. If you’re downgrading then I don’t know what to tell ya.
John and Mike, our supers are great too. We’ve got more questions for these poor guys than all of our neighbors put together, i’m sure. Its our first new house, were gonna have lots of questions and he Mike and Aaron always answer everything to the best of their knowledge. We’ve bothered them about every little detail and they always take care of every need we’ve expressed. Everyone at KB has made this a very memorable experience. Especially for a first time, «NEW» home buyer and his new wife. Now we will have a place we can fill with kids and feel comfortable in our surroundings. Thanks KB