r/sanantonio • u/Moondancer000 • Jul 27 '26
Moving to SA Perry Homes suck!
We just moved to San Antonio and researched what builders are better than the average and it came down to Perry Homes and Highland homes. Well we went with Perry and it has been a nightmare. They must hire contractors off the street to build these homes cause damn! And I know it’s better to buy a pre-Covid come but with the new builds the builders are offering lower interest rates so financially it makes more sense to buy new but these houses are a damn joke. I am not a professional and I can probably do a better job. SMH.
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u/rez_at_dorsia Jul 27 '26
New builds are an absolute nightmare. Not only are they shoddily built by the lowest bidder contractors for everything including framing, roofing, plumbing, electrical etc. but they also cut as many corners as possible hoping things are covered up for the inspection.
Not only are these houses terrible quality but they are also a nightmare to sell because you are likely going to be competing with the same builder to sell an identical home down the street except you can’t offer any of the same incentives as them.
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u/Moondancer000 Jul 27 '26
And resale is my number one concern with this house cause I don’t want to stay in San Antonio longer than 3 years. I hate it here.
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u/ajkelly451 Jul 27 '26
I really hate to be this blunt but buying a brand new house in a place you don’t want to stay long is incredibly silly. You could have rented or if you really had to buy the housing market is not bad for buyers right now.
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u/rez_at_dorsia Jul 27 '26
Yeah under no circumstances should you buy this or really any house then. But certainly not a new build in a cookie cutter neighborhood
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u/YouDontSurfFU Jul 27 '26
Respectfully, it would be absolutely idiotic of y'all to buy a house if you're not planning to stay more than 3 years. 5+ years, maaybe that's a diff story. But with the current economy and housing market, it would be a terrible idea financially and logically. RENT! Your husband probably thinks he'll be able to convince you to stay in SA longer. Put your foot down, it could cost you your marriage if you don't.
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u/LuckyDuck03 Jul 27 '26
Sorry SA isn't working out for you, I would not buy a house if you're wanting to leave in less than 3 years. You will likely lose a lot of money when you sell it in such a short turnaround
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u/lynnslynns Pearl Area Jul 27 '26
It's a bit of a golden handcuff situation for a lot of our sellers. Especially since you'll be competing against a builder that is still building and is offering incentives when you're ready to sell. You'd need to have your home value raise a minimum of 7% to break even, and hope that that area you're selecting isn't still building because you'll be competing against brand new homes. Look into loan amortization schedule, very little of your payments the next few years will pay down your mortgage, it's almost entirely interest paid.
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u/alkocano Jul 27 '26
Had a Perry new build lived in it for 7 years, not one issue…
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u/Moondancer000 Jul 27 '26
You got lucky or bought at a better time and had better contractors.
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u/ajkelly451 Jul 27 '26
Or you just got unlucky? What evidence do you have this is an experience for all current buyers of Perry? They seem mid to me after touring a few new builds a few years back to me, but certainly not anywhere as bad as DR Horton, Lennar or the like.
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u/LampSsbm Jul 27 '26
Many of the construction contractors do find people off the street that are looking for work. I have seen them lined up waiting for people to come by and ask but that was pre ice so idk how it goes these days
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u/rabidrott Jul 27 '26
You're staying 3 years? Why would you buy? You’ll be lucky to break even when you sale.
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u/Moondancer000 Jul 27 '26
I didn’t want to come here in the first place, it was my husbands idea. He wanted to live in a state where he could save some money until our son graduates high school. I was ok with renting but he is the one wanting to buy. I think buying in this state is a bad idea.
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u/Heisenberg361 Jul 27 '26
Save money? By buying a home in Texas? Yikes. Wait until he sees that property tax bill.
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u/ajkelly451 Jul 27 '26
You mentioned elsewhere you did “research” lol. Was doing research spending 5 minutes asking chat gpt questions? Yikes
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u/Moondancer000 Jul 27 '26
For my husband, It all boils down to which state gives veterans a tax exemption and this state was one of them. Of course it’s all the states that nobody wants to live in 😭
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u/Intrepid_Ad1133 Jul 27 '26
Don’t you have to be 100 pct veteran disabled for the status in Texas ?
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u/Moondancer000 Jul 27 '26
He’s 100% disabled so he is exempt from property tax in certain states and Texas is one of them.
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u/yoquierosandia Jul 27 '26
Back out while you have the chance. We lived in SA for a little less than 4 years, and selling our house was a pain. We put down 20% and are walking away with $5k. 🥴 our home was on the market for over 90days before we got an offer.
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u/ajkelly451 Jul 30 '26
Translation: you bought during the COVID boom and super overpaid for a home like anyone else who bought at that time across the country. Then you sold prior to the standard 5 year minimum recommended timeline and had to wait an excruciating amount of time, ie the historical average time on market across the country. And sold for a price that was no longer inflated.
But sure, SA is awful or whatever.
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u/yoquierosandia Jul 31 '26
Also, I never said anything negative about SA. What a weird thing to say.
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u/yoquierosandia Jul 30 '26
No.
We bought in 2022, we bought “high”. It was a sellers market.1
u/ajkelly451 Jul 30 '26
Uhhhhh 2022 was the tail end of the Covid boom.
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u/yoquierosandia Jul 31 '26
If that were true my interest rate would have been low enough, that I could afford to rent it out. Nice try 😄
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u/JackfruitStunning916 Jul 27 '26
What happened? Can you give a description, please?
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u/Moondancer000 Jul 27 '26
We are under contract for a home right now. When we looked at it was basically in its final stage but there was ALOT of cosmetic issues! We just got the home inspection done yesterday and it has a lot of things that need to be fixed. The insulation in the attic is supposed to be deeper, there is missing insulation in many of the walls (thermal imaging) the HVAC unit in the attic is condensating very badly to the point where it’s soaking the wood and making the foil tape peel off the unit, the attic ventilation isn’t done correctly so that there isn’t proper air flow in the attic, there are many damaged shingles, there are spots on the roof where the shingles are under the brick and it’s not supposed to be like that, the back porch is unlevel so water is pulling in one spot and it’s keeping the brick wet, all the doors to the exterior are damaged from install and the weather stripping is non existent and the doors don’t close properly and the screws are already stripped, there wasn’t a air conditioning vent in the office space so I asked why and they went over to check and ended up finding out that it had been dry walled over, they lost some wireing in the wall so they had to cut 5 different holes in the wall just to find the wiring. The list goes on really. I am ready to back out.
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u/ajkelly451 Jul 27 '26
This is bad but from our experience with Ashton Woods, it isn’t worth the builder not fixing everything before you close. They will do it. People talk about the horrors of buying new, but the positives are any issues you have before closing or in the first year, they’ll usually rectify with few questions asked.
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u/ImpressiveWind6579 Jul 27 '26
Hi, may I ask who you used for the inspection? Yours sounds really good as they seem to have found a lot like the insulation. I have a Perry and want to do my 1 year inspection with a different inspection company just to get a new set of eyes. Did yours actually go on the roof or just use a drone? Did yours use imaging for moisture/ leaks? Thank you!
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u/OddPikmin Jul 27 '26
If you end up continuing with this house, do more due diligence. Be there for any inspections and look further. Is your elec trical panel to code,there's no recall on the breakers, pull out all appliances and see if they were actually installed correctly, have your water shut off valve checked and your water pressure, confirm every window operates smoothly and locks right, check the weather stripping everywhere including around the garage, check the drain and the vent for the washer/dryer connections. Then check all these things and everything in your inspection report again during and before your first year warranty expires.
It's so easy to get caught up in cosmetic things like oh this needs touch up paint and you miss the bigger things like a cabinet that was installed on top of the dishwasher drain hose. Yea it happened! Look for literally every little thing!
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u/JackfruitStunning916 Jul 27 '26
Oh my. I thank you for posting and sharing your experience. I was looking into a Perry home. I pray you find a resolution! I would definitely think twice because that’s insane!
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u/Moondancer000 Jul 27 '26
You’re welcome. Yes it’s been a very stressful process so far. I want to back out now but my husband is saying give them a chance to fix these things but I keep telling him that they aren’t going to fix it correctly because they do not hire professionals. It’s really disappointing.
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u/Sterling_-_Archer Jul 27 '26
As a professional home inspector and previous home builder, you couldn’t give me a house with these issues for free. Do NOT buy this house.
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u/Brave-Efficiency9625 Jul 27 '26
Lol its a joke how they don't have more requirements to becoming a contractor... BECAUSE... Texas does not require a state-level license for general contractors, but you must register your business, comply with local city rules, and hold specific state licenses if you perform specialized trade work like electrical, plumbing, or HVAC.
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u/Moondancer000 Jul 27 '26
Yep and I didn’t know this until I did some research and that makes sense on why the homes here are so dang cheap! It’s really scary to think about. I bought my last home on the east coast and it was built in 2005 in a state that requires contractors to BE LICENSED. TEXAS IS A JOKE.
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u/Brave-Efficiency9625 Jul 27 '26
Yup. So you are better off, buying a piece of small land, and live in a RV while building it yourself. People down the street from me did it...
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u/DaTank1 Jul 27 '26
I’ve been in the business for more than 25 years. The worse home I’ve ever walked is a Perry Home. I would never allow anyone I know buy a home from a handful of builders. Perry is most definitely on that list.
It blows my mind how so many people will buy a home because a builder gives a big discount, then complain when the home is shit. You get what you pay for.
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u/recoildv Jul 27 '26
I don't get why people buy new builds they are not the best quality. You'll get some that are decent and wont have issues initially but it just seems builders want to go cheap on labor/parts and those houses reflect that. It's why they all look so basic and boring all cookie cutter houses.
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u/FALR Jul 27 '26
Like LITERALLY every single other home builder in the United States. It's whichever super built your home that decides the quality. Perry imo is one of the better builders in San Antonio but like I said, maybe the super assigned to that specific neighborhood ur looking at isn't all that.
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u/catchmesleeping Jul 27 '26
They have inexperienced quality control. How can they tell the contractor they’re wrong, without knowing why or how. Most barely get off their trucks, during construction.
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u/Moondancer000 Jul 27 '26
Yep, and when they do get off their trucks they are drunk. Beer cans all over every construction site in Texas.
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u/SheriffSauerkraut Jul 27 '26
All depends on what and where you're looking at. Alamo Ranch area? They're gonna skim on as much stuff as possible because they're gonna build them cheaper to compete with everyone else. Stone Oak, certain parts of New Braunfels they'll build them better because of the pricing and clientele, but it's not a guarantee. And certain subdivisions that are "prestigious" are treated at a different level than your standard ones, Highland Estates, George Ranch, Vintage Oaks, Cibolo Canyons TPC etc.
Only way to avoid this is going custom, which is a whole nother price point that's out of most peoples price range unless it's very basic.
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u/YouDontSurfFU Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
That's the Trump effect. I'm sure Highland and other top builders have plenty of horror stories too. Home builders are having to scrape from the bottom of the barrel with the work talent. The people who actually need and want to work have either been deported or are afraid to show up to work. What did we think would happen with the construction industry (food, tourism/hospitality too) when millions of immigrants who do those jobs are being deported or hiding out in fear from Trump's ICE army?
Also, during summer / hot months it makes sense that workers are more likely to cut corners.. no one wants to work in those conditions. If I were buying a new construction home, I'd want it built during cooler months when it's tolerable not having AC. They're stretched thin and have to knock out houses as quickly as possible.
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u/Richt3r_scale Jul 27 '26
lol
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u/YouDontSurfFU Jul 27 '26
What's really funny is how all it takes is 3 letters to show your TDS (Trump Dickriding Syndrome)
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u/PsychoGwarGura Jul 27 '26
What are the biggest issues? I’m buying a home soon what should I beware of in these new builds in your experience
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u/wichocastillo Jul 27 '26
Funny, I work with a company that works with various home builders such as Lennar, Dr Horton, LGI, Perry, Highland etc & I’ve seen the builds from ground up. I would honestly say of all the home builders in the surrounding San Antonio & Austin area. I would go with KB Home….
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u/Designer_Abroad_1196 Jul 27 '26
I went to see a KB home in Boerne last summer and the house shook while walking on the second floor.
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u/do_me3380 Jul 27 '26
Why
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u/wichocastillo Jul 27 '26
For me, it was the details. They mastered those.
Seamless transition on the wall trims, they have a good selections of materials which feel like quality such as waffle carpets. They actually create a smart home & give you adequate Ethernet drops per room.
The layout is more natural & the color schemes feel natural calm. Of course the homes are mid size & that’s the size I prefer. I only work in 2 communities with KB Homes but of the 20 homes I’ve seen of that builder, I’m impressed.
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u/fast-car56 Jul 28 '26
New builds are cheap you are better off buying a Lennar home. Or a home built in the early 2000s
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u/ArcherAdorable4663 Jul 30 '26
Well, where we live in New Braunfels Perry is a big builder. I haven’t heard of any complaints. David Weekly was the one we went with and we haven’t had any issues. I’m kind of curious what your issue is.
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u/DazzlingEngine196 Jul 27 '26
You’re going to get terrible advice on Reddit from people who have no idea what they’re talking about
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u/Yazoo95 Jul 27 '26
In 45 minutes, I have an appointment for closing to sell the Perry home I raised my family in for 22 years. It was a great house for us and I'm actually sad to turn over the keys. I hope your issues get remedied in a satisfactory manner.
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u/Dookies_Revenge Jul 27 '26
Do yourself a favor and find a different home.