ComplaintsforGifford Homes

• Initial Complaint

  06/08/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  It was a five bedroom double wide mobile home straight from the factory, I put $25,000.00 down on the home and that is not counting the gravel, the dirty and everything else I had down. This business sold the house to my son and daughter in law with my down payment and I did not sign off on any paperwork. Now my son and daughter in law are living in the mobile home and the business is refusing to give me my money back. The business is telling me that I need to take them to court. I do not have the financial means to take them to court. This business allowed my son and daughter and lay to put the home in their name without me even knowing. I have the contract, I have receipts etc. I would like to be refunded my $25,000.00

  Business response

  06/10/2023

  On October 22, 2021, Mr. **** came in with his daughter-in-law to purchase a manufactured home. He filled out a credit application, signed a purchase agreement, and gave us a cashier’s check for $25,000 to be used for a down payment on the home. At this time he was the only individual purchasing the home. He was buying the home for himself and his son’s family to live in it with him. The credit application was submitted and denied. It was only able to be approved with at least 20% down which was $3,852.70 more than what he currently had given as a down payment. On October 25, 2021, Mr. **** agreed to the required 20% down and to add his daughter-in-law, to the credit application. This application was approved. On October 27, 2021, Mr. **** gave us a personal check (that he signed) for $3,852.70 to satisfy the down payment requirement. This check was written from an account that he shared with his daughter-in-law. He and his daughter-in-law also signed a new purchase agreement and provided the necessary documents needed for the lender to be able to move forward with the loan. One of these documents was a bank statement showing the account that the original $25,000 cashier’s check came out of. This was also the account that had his daughter-in-law’s name on it. At this time, Gifford Homes, Inc. held a total of $28,852.70 from a documented account that Mr. **** shared with his daughter-in-law, for a home being purchased by both Mr. **** and his daughter-in-law.
  Mr. **** was in the process of getting bids for the site improvements when he notified us that after the down payment, he did not have enough money available for the work that needed to be done. This included the excavating, dirt, rock, concrete, labor, etc. to get the site to the standards that the Missouri Public Service Commission requires on all new manufactured home installations. Gifford Homes, Inc. spoke with the lender to try and lower the down payment so that the money could be used for site improvements, but was told as long as Mr. **** was on the loan, that 20% down was required.
  On December 3, 2021, a new credit application was submitted with only Mr. ****’s son and daughter-in-law as the applicants. This application got approved with only 5% down. Mr. **** was aware that if this was the route that was chosen, he would no longer be on the loan. He wasn’t happy about the situation, but agreed that it was the only way to be able to get the loan for the home and have money left over to do the site improvements. On December 6, 2021, a refund check was issued directly from Gifford Homes, Inc. to Mr. **** for the amount of $21,552.70. This was the difference of the $28,852.70 total down payment that was paid to Gifford Homes, Inc. and the $7,300 that was required as a down payment with the new approval. The $7,300 was withheld from the refund with Mr. ****’s knowledge and approval, knowing that only his son and daughter-in-law were on the loan. Gifford Homes, Inc. was told by Mr. **** that some or all of this money was going towards the site improvements. The check cleared the next day on December 7, 2021.
  On December 10, 2021 a new purchase agreement was signed by Mr. ****’s son and daughter-in-law. On December 29, 2021 loan closing documents were signed by Mr. ****’s son and daughter-in-law. On January 26, 2022 the home was delivered. On January 31, 2022 the setup of the home was completed and the keys turned over to the ****s. Mr. **** was onsite during the delivery and setup of the home, and very involved in every aspect of the process except the actual loan, due to him not being on it. Mr. **** was living in the home with his son, daughter-in-law, and their family for the first few months after the home was setup. This was witnessed by our service personnel while they were completing the exterior setup of the home and fixing some of the initial setup service issues. Mr. **** even called in to report some service/warranty items on June 27, 2022. Sometime in late summer of 2022, Mr. **** stopped by the office to discuss how he was kicked out of the home, how his son and daughter-in-law were living in the home that he bought but not allowed to live in, and finally that he wanted his $25,000 down payment back. He was told that he would not be receiving a $25,000 refund and provided with the documentation showing that $21,552.70 of the initial down payment was already refunded to him. He did not acknowledge this fact and acted like he either did not remember the refund or did not want to admit that he had received it. He was also given documentation showing that even though he said it was his money that was retained and used for the down payment (allegedly without his knowledge), that his daughter-in-law’s name was also on the account and was able to be use the money for a down payment on a home loan.
  As you can see, this should not be a business issue with Gifford Homes, Inc., as the transaction was completed with Mr. ****’s knowledge and involvement, and with the approval of the lender. He was also occupying the home, as planned, for some amount of time before he had a falling out with his son and daughter-in-law. This is a family matter that Mr. **** needs to take up with his son and daughter-in-law, not Gifford Homes, Inc. I have attached the pertinent documentation to this response. I will not release any documentation that Mr. ****'s name is not on, without the permission of his son and daughter-in-law.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩