It's a business practice Nexus Real Estate almost never follows – closing on a home before all the details on a home are completely finished.
Owner Diana Villarreal tells Action 4 News their client Frankie Garza’s dilemma is the perfect example of why that’s a bad practice.
Her company has been working with Garza for about a year and helped him find the perfect home. She adds when Garza opted to build instead of purchase an already built home, he chose builder Manuel Saucedo of 2R Construction.
She claims her company did not refer their client to Saucedo and they don’t represent him. Villarreal admits Saucedo has dropped the ball on his end of the bargain and has taken too long to finish Garza’s home.
"There’s still a lot of details, a lot of things that need to be done,” Villarreal said. “And yes, it's a little bit hard to contact him. But what I understand is that it's the time – (Garza and Saucedo) can't get together because (Saucedo) is working so it's hard for him."
Carlos Duran is the realtor working directly with Garza and he said he’s been constantly calling Saucedo, and doing everything he can to get him to finish the job he was hired to do.
This has been a learning experience for everyone, Villarreal said. Three of their previous clients have worked with Saucedo before without issues, but in lieu of Garza's problems, Nexus is now informing new customers about potential issues in working with Saucedo.
"Some other clients liked his homes and they were close to making a deal with them,” Villarreal said, “but we explained to them that we had a little bit of problems with the contractors."
Villarreal has been in the real estate business for about 12 years and this isn't the first time she's dealt with a problem like this. She said despite many reputable builders, the Valley has a high rate of problems with builders. However, there are several things home buyers can do to protect themselves and their investment.
"Have everything finished before you close (and) I recommend always, all the changes, put them in writing,” Villarreal said.
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