Complaint Review: Oakcreek Homes

I was buying a mobile home from Oak Creek Homes (American Homestar Corporation). This is a process that had taken several months to work out. I made it clear that I could not afford payments above $700 a month. It got down to signing finance paper work with the final purchase price, down payment, and what monthly payments would be.  The final payments where going to be a little more than $700 a month, but I had paid off my car and thought I could handle a bit more in payments.

During this process I asked Mike Johnson, if this all included both septics and hook ups. He said, Yeah, It does. I asked him if it included a driveway, because FHA requires a driveway. He said, Yeah, it should.  I gave them $15,000 for a down payment. A week before  we are to get started prepping the site for the home, Mike calls me and tells me that I need to come and sign some more papers that the finance company sent over.  I go to take care of the paper work. Mike then tells me that there was about $15,000 in various costs that he forgot to add in.

I told him I could not afford that.  He said he would work something out. The next 3 days, he was conveniently unavailable. The salesman told me to be sure to call before I went all the way down there and Mike not be there.  My mother and I showed up unexpectedly.  They were there casually talking, but then jumped up like busted teenagers when they seen us. Mike asks me if I am ready to get this settled. I said, Yes, I need a breakdown of those costs that were, and were not added.

I told him that I wanted to take them to my attorney and have him look them over them and help me understand what is going on. Mike then got angry and told me, If you feel like I am trying to screw you, I will give you all your money back, right now. I told him, Maybe we should just do that then.  I am then informed that it will take almost two weeks before I can get my down payment back. Mike also threw down a stack of papers, and said, Theres your appraisal. On the financial paper work, the appraisal was $600. According to Mike it now cost $800. The appraisal can not be used for any other house, so I have to pay for another one. I feel that Mike Johnson was attempting to practice what is known in the industry as, Bumping.

They quote one price to get the people in the door, and then add in various, forgotten, charges to get the most out of the customer. At the very least he was incompetent.  If the contract fell through due to Mike Johnsons dishonesty or incompetence, I do not feel that I should be responsible for paying cost that incurred. I new that Oak Creek Homes was affiliated with the finance company. However, I also thought that the representative of the finance company was independent. She was not. She is Mike Johnsons wife. So, she was aware that it was possible for me to get financed for more.