Complaint Review: Jim Walter Homes - Tuscaloosa Alabama

     We are in need of legal advice and help. My husband and I are having the same issues with our JWH. Rioting floors, soft spots all through out the house, mold and mildew from the wood being left out and being rained on before installing the flooring, buckling floors, leaking pipes in bathrooms with bathroom floor almost caved in. House has shifted and was told it would not shift no matter how much the ground settles.
     Doors won't shut and lock in exterior and interior door frames. Floors separating from walls. and has had insurance every since house has been built. Contacted JWH about fixing problems and they have refused even before they filed bankruptcy themselves.
     If they have filed bankruptcy themselves, why are we paying full mortgage on these homes and they are not required to fix them? We have a 9 year  old with asthma and this house had mold everywhere from moisture from under the house. Insurance will not fix our leaks and floors because it is a pre-existing condition. So what do we do?

I could write a book about how poorly we have been treated by this company; to begin with, our mtg rep was hooked on heroine and committed suicide, but not before taking 6 months of payments we had made with him. He had been using peoples' payments, cashing them, and using the money to buy his drugs. JWM never acknowledged this- after he killed himself, they wanted money.
Now, 8 years later, we have spent 15,000 more dollars trying to save this house, because it is falling apart. We have gotten one side fixed, and now the other side of the house is collapsing. The walls have pulled away from the foundation, and the floors have caved in. The piers are leaning over. There are cracks around every single window and door, as well as in the ceiling. None of the doors will close.
And, despite having insurance, we constantly receive bills form Best Insurors, telling us we owe thousands of dollars for their insurance.
We already pay this company 555 dollars per month, in a home we are very afraid is going to collapse at any moment. If our home collapsed, would we still be liable for making payments on a house they built that was substandard?
We just wanted a home to raise our children in.

We are not sure what steps need to be taken. If anyone knows how we could proceed, it would be greatly appreciated.

IF WE CAN GET 5 PEOPLE TO ADMIT HAVING PROBLEMS WITH THEIR HOME BUILT BY JWH HECTOR GONZALES WILL COME TO ALABAMA AND HELP US.

I am a customer of Jim Walter Homes. When I first got my home built the contractor warned me to make sure that I had other insurance in place before the company's insurance kicked in. I had insurance in place with a dependable insurance company meeting all the requirements that Jim Walter's required. The Jim Walter's insurance Best Insurer's still kicked in. I have been trying to get the company to remove this off of my bill for almost two years. They recently sent me a letter saying that they have readjusted the payment and that all I owe is $530. I refuse to pay this because I did what they required, I faxed them the insurance policy from the company I chose, and even had the insurance company fax it to them on several occasions. I also know what you are talking about when you say that your home is appraised at a lower value than what you are paying. I pay 533.80 a month on a home that is priced at 72,000 but it is only appraised at 1/3 that amount. When I tried to get it refinanced with another company they told me that I needed to pay more on it to get equity increased or do modifications to increase it's value. When we first moved in the master bathroom sink's fixtures leaked and the doors to the masterbed room's closet and the laundry room came off it's hinges. They pieced it back together. I still have problems with all of these. On top of all that I agreed to have their form of underpenning. It was a piece of crap the vinlyn does not prevent the wind form blowing under the house and blowing away the installation that is not properly secured.

We have insurance on our home the company keeps trying to pay their insurance company for insurance that we do NOT want. Each month on the statement there is not only the charge but interest. I refuse to pay this amount because I am already paying Homeowners Insurance that will cover everything not just them. I will also add thank god for my husband being a carpenter because unlike the builders he knows how to fix their mistakes as well as point out that they must have used a .50 cent level because the sheet rock and floors are a horror story as is the siding they put on the house! If you have the chance RUNNNNNNNNNNNN while you still can they are a rip-off from the builders to the President in this company!

My brother and his wife had a Jim Walters home built 2 years ago. They are currently going through the same thing with the insurance. The house is not finished, they refuse to complete what they agreed to. They are making a house pymt for a house they cannot live in, and paying rent for one to live in. They fell behind in payments. My husband, another brother and myself are despertely trying to help them. I called Jim Walters to make up payments, adn was told to send the check for the pymts to Manny Alvare in Tampa. My husband contacted Mr. Alvare on Tuesday of this week and asked for something in wirting from them stating that the check we were sending would take the home out of foreclosure, he stated that there was an additional $4300 due for insurance because they did not have insurance on the house, but he would not speak with anyone regarding this pymt until he received the past due pymts, and was turning it back over to the attorney for foreclosure. They have proof that they did have insurance, and my sister n law has proof of it, and has sent it to them twice via fax, they keep saying they never received her proof. My husband tried to explain to this "idiot" they they did have insurance, he responded that they did not have the right insurance, they were carrying contractors insurance which was not the right kind. The house was and still is under construction and the state of Kentucky will not insure an incomplete home. They recently had the home appraised for refinance, the appraiser appraised it at $34,000, they are paying Jim Walters $66,000 for this crap. We have recently gained Power of Attorney over the house and are speaking with an attorney in Liberty, Ky next week. I am glad to see someone else doing something. They own the insurance company, the mortgage company and charge what ever they want. My husband asked for the payoff for our mortgage company, Mr. Alvare tried to sell it to him for the payments.