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Builder stands by decision to cancel home contracts - YouTube
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in austin
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home prices have hit an all-time high
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the austin board of realtors says
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in just the first half of this year the
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average home price jumped more than 100
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thousand dollars in the austin area
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some home buyers started building before
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the latest price spike
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or at least that's what they thought
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kxan investigator arzo dos
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discovered their dream homes canceled
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i spent so much time designing that that
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old house i was like
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you're going to have your little office
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here tara vaughan picked out all the
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details
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of her dream home this is going to be
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our nursery she
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and her husband couldn't wait to move
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into their new manor neighborhood
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we're ready to have kids but tara never
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got to step
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foot in the house we just sat there and
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kind of like
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analyzed like a bad breakup the couple
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signed this contract with
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local builder braun holmes last summer
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tara says they emailed the company to
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say they wanted to pay for an
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inspection before the foundation was
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poured
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after having concerns about drainage
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less than two months later
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braun holmes canceled their contract
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with this
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termination letter there's no like thing
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they could point to that we did
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for why we should get our
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house canceled meg davis had a similar
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story
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i had bought furniture i had everything
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ready doggy doors were put in this house
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this house was going to be the next
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chapter
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three weeks from closing meg says her
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contract
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for her home in cedar creek was canceled
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why she says she told braun holmes about
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her concern with the size of the master
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bathroom
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where the toilet was going to be
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installed which measured as you can see
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in this photo
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two feet seven inches she says her
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elbows touched the walls
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which she thought was a mistake i was
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contacted at work and i was informed
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that
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they were canceling my contract were you
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guys micromanaging to the point
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where they would have said it's
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interesting right like each one of us
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had
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one question asked one question it was
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not even an issue
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shali khakar says she called braun
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holmes and requested another inspection
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at the leander home she was purchasing
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after this initial
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inspection showed damage surrounding a
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main drain
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and recommended replacement
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this home for me meant being closer to
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my parents so i bought this home for
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them
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shally tara and meg all tell kxan
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they were sent the same letter a
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termination of purchase agreement
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which refers to a clause in the contract
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allowing brawn homes to back out
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for any reason with or without cause
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those contracts are written with clauses
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in them that give
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both parties the ability to get out of
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an
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out of a contract susan horton with the
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austin board of realtors says
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every builder has its own specific
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contract
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it's critical for buyers to understand
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what they're signing
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then it's you're bound by the terms of
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that agreement
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in the braun homes contract the home
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buyer can also cancel with or without
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cause these home buyers each tell kxan
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they learned their homes were listed
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within days
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in shelley's case it listed for 160
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thousand dollars
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more than her original purchase price
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last summer her contract with braun
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holmes showed a signed price
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at 298 thousand dollars
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it relisted last month for more than 450
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thousand dollars
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braun holmes co-president sent kxa in a
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statement
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saying the company does not cancel
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contracts for the purpose of financial
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gain
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it is extremely rare that braun would
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exercise
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its right to terminate a contract for
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reasons outside of the pending buyer's
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breach of contract
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or failure to secure proper and timely
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financing
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he added in the past 12 months
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approximately
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one percent of all of braun's pending
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buyer contracts
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were canceled in this manner and that
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could happen for any of
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eight reasons fraud or deception
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verbal harassment physical assault
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prejudice discrimination or slander
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disruption of construction or production
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of the home
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the buyer performing work on the house
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prior to close
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or threatening legal action we asked
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braun holmes about each buyer we
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interviewed but the company would not
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specifically
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comment on their individual situations
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we're going to go see if they can tell
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us more we had tried for
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weeks to schedule an on camera interview
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by
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phone and by email to get those
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additional answers
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hi i'm arzo dos with kxan news
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so we went to braun homes headquarters
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in austin
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are you with the leadership group again
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all
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all the communications would go through
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bloom so
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no one here would have have anything for
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you i just want to make sure that
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every effort is made on our part sure
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thank you yeah i appreciate your time
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hey how did it go they kept referring us
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to the
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you know pr group that's representing
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them so they didn't send anyone to
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answer any
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questions no they would not send anyone
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got in weeks later braun holmes
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co-president
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sent kxa in an updated statement
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saying we stand by our decisions to
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terminate the contracts of the buyers in
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question
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he explained the decision to terminate
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the contract of a pending buyer
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is taken very seriously and is only made
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after a panel of people
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including the president abroad and the
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director of sales
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review each specific case adding
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each buyer received communications from
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braun
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explaining why their contracts were
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canceled
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what was the reason they didn't want to
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work with me
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what reason did they give you for
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canceling
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the exactly same reason the home buyers
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have now filed complaints with the texas
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attorney general's office
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the agency confirms it's received 10
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complaints
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against braun holmes in the last year
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seven of those
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about contract concerns when we asked
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the status of those complaints
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the ag's office told us it does not
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discuss pending investigations
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including whether or not they're
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actively investigating
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but that we are aware of the braun
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complaints
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and are continuing to review the matter
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tara's experience is detailed in one of
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those complaints
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someone else is now living in what was
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going to be
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her dream home she and her husband are
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now working with another builder
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on a new home they're also holding off
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having a baby we're gonna wait until
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we're like in a house
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to start trying to do that
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we're looking at of a delay in when we
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were like gonna start that like
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family journey everyone we talked to
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got their deposits back plus an extra
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five hundred dollars for the
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cancellation
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of the contract the home buyers are
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awaiting a response from the attorney
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general about the complaints they filed
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they say they should be compensated for
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the loss they
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experienced by the way we asked braun
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about these points and have posted the
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builder's full statement online
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in the story in the investigative
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section on kxan.com this is such a
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warning for people arzo
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is there anything that homebuyers can do
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to protect themselves from something
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like this happening
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well bret the austin board of realtors
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will tell you to read
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every contract detail and ask questions
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through a realtor or
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attorney they can help you with the
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termination clause and see if there is
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one and if it can be negotiated
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you can also buy a home already built
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that way you don't deal with
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builder contracts thank you so much arzo
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this investigation
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started with a viewer tip if you have
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something you think we should check out
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email us at report it kxan.com
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