LF
Lydia Forsberg
Jun 19, 2025
We were extremely excited to pursue a home with Stanley Martin, especially after having friends who had such a positive experience buying in the same area. Unfortunately, our experience was not as positive. The first thing that rubbed us the wrong way was when were told verbally that if the house was not completed 60 days after the estimated completion date they gave us, we’d get our earnest money back— however, when asked to draft that into the contract (because it was nowhere to be found), they declined. If it’s not in writing, it doesn’t mean anything, but okay, we’ll move past it. Then the real issues with closing came. The contract does specify that Stanley Martin is not liable for any DELAYS in the completion. We honestly expected there to be delays. However, we were notified at the end of September that our closing date would be two months earlier in November. We asked if Stanley Martin would be providing any financial assistance in buying out our lease since there’s nothing in the contract about early completion and our lease lined up with a January closing date. Mind you, we were already on a severe time crunch because if we were to break our lease early, we have to give 60 days notice. We go back and forth for a week with no answer, and finally, they state that they can’t help us and we should expect to close in mid November. They did give us appliances due to the inconvenience which was greatly appreciated. They finally gave us a closing date of November 6. On the day of closing, we go for our final walkthrough at 9 AM, and the house is a mess. There’s workers still going through the house painting, dirt everywhere, missing light switches, appliances not in. We’re assured the house will be cleaned, appliances in, and everything else will be fixed that day. We closed at 11 AM, and when we came to move stuff in around 7 PM, nothing had been fixed. The house had been cleaned, but there were marks all over the walls, holes in the drywall from where light switches were supposed to be installed, a leaking toilet (which was because there was a literal crack in the toilet they installed). Why would we be forced to close early if things are not going to be finished? We went without a fridge & washer/dryer and with a leaking toilet downstairs for two weeks. Then it took them 2 months to fix everything else, including the literal hand-sized holes in our wall that we checked up on weekly if someone would fix. They also refused to paint our garage because “Stanley Martin doesn’t finish garages,” but almost two year laters we’re realizing we are the only ones in the neighborhood who’s garage isn’t painted— to the point where random people walking by will ask why they didn’t paint ours.
On top of all of this chaos, it seems like they sold half the land that they had bought for the subdivision because Lennar has built homes RIGHT across from Stanley Martin's amenities, and Lennar is not supposed to have access to them/does not have amenities of their own. You could literally throw a rock from the pickleball courts to a Lennar house. As a result of this, and the surrounding two apartment complexes (it was only 1 when we signed) & trailer parks, people are constantly climbing fences to get into amenities, breaking gates and leaving trash everywhere in the amenities we pay monthly for because there's no way to mitigate all of the trespassers.
We love our community here and have made great friends, but I’m not sure that we would pursue a home with Stanley Martin again in the future. This just scrapes the surface of everything. There were tons of flaws in our home, dozens of inconsistencies they’ve told us and others who’ve closed, and they’ll say anything to get you to sign the dotted line.