Venturing into midtown San Jose yesterday, I took my clients to view some units at Midtown Plaza. It’s a condo development by KB Homes on 1310, 1350, and 1390 Saddle Rack Street built in 2004. While I’ve heard the usual horror stories, which are prolific amongst nearly all big public builders, I’ve never experienced it first hand and I even own three homes by Kaufman and Broad Homes. This was a first.
As the MLS description indicates the complex was under HOA litigation, we expected the usual minor issues of cosmetic stucco cracks along exterior walls. The actual situation was far worse than any I’ve seen in the dozen or so complexes I’ve visited which were under HOA litigation.
The first impression was at the visitor parking lot. Even though the complex was only 7 years old, half the pavers in the parking lot were broken and chipped so that as we drove over it,
we thought it was gravel. Then, we saw a pile of handyman tools and cement boards right next to the entrance. From there, we walked about the property and noticed water dripping from ceilings of the walkways. As the last rain storm was over a week ago, that was concerning.
Then, we saw all the nasty patchwork jobs all over the walls of the complex. Evidently somebody had cut through the stucco in dozens of places to make repairs. Ceilings were opened up to reveal water damage from roof leaks. Common area door handles were hanging loose while even the door numbers of the units were falling off. We only found the prospective units by looking for handwritten numbers on the door plaques.
This was as clear a case for litigation against the builder as I’ve seen. The community itself looked great, with clean Mediterranean lines and lush looking gardens. Plus, many of the units overlooked the neighboring O’Connor City Park. But, the surrounding streets were less than tranquil so I had to advice my clients to stay away while these major issues were worked out.
Robert 14 years ago
Because of the litigation, a lot of these issues you address are being worked on on BOTH sides. Many of these “flaws” are actually part of the litigation that they are drilling and opening up walls to investigate further. Frankly your post here is slander and I advice you remove it before you become part of the suit.
Michael Cheng 14 years ago
Robert,
I don’t believe in slander and won’t tolerate any of it. So, I certainly don’t appreciate your baseless accusation that my post is slander. We are honest brokers and we only mentioned exactly what we saw with our clients. I never suggested there were any “flaws”, whether in construction or management. I only brought up issues which are patently obvious to anybody walking through the property.
Michael Cheng 14 years ago
Robert,
I appreciate your need to emphasize that the issues I’d mentioned are not faults or flaws. But, you’re reading more into my post than is actually there. As described previously, I’ve only brought up issues that were readily visible to the reader’s attention. Any competent person could see that the many holes cut into walls and ceilings were done intentionally to investigate more hidden issues. If somehow that point was missed, it’s more than adequately clear now.
cprimavera 14 years ago
almost bought, but talked to an owner. he had only been there a yr and said hos fees kept increasing and will continue due to litigation. backed out at last minute after finding out the entire complex was in litigation. did not know about leaky roofs and sort.