1. Meritage Homes Suck!

We were hesitant to purchase a home in an HOA, but decided to move forward given the low price point at Meritage's Live Oak development in Redlands, CA which aligns with our imminent retirement plans.  Having resided in several HOA communities in the past, my husband and I had a full understanding of what this could entail and, accordingly, set aside a budget for possible legal expenses.  Ultimately, moved forward with the purchase of a property in an HOA given the strict enforcement protections we have come to expect based on past experience.  In general, however, we would strongly dissuade friends and family from purchasing a home in an HOA given the fact that homeowners who purchase into these types of communities do not have full control of their own homes and must be prepared to follow sometimes stringent rules and be prepared for enforcement in the form of citations and fines.  If a home in an HOA is your only option, we strongly advise that, prior to taking the leap, you carefully read the development's CC&Rs and Rules + Regulations to ensure that you can abide by these because, whether you have read these or not, you are legally bound by the governing documents when you purchase into an HOA.  

Case in point regarding the lack of control, stringent rules, and enforcement issues associated with HOA communities: we had not yet been in our new home a month when we received a Courtesy Notice of Violation for a planter we had inadvertently placed on property owned by the HOA.  I read the notice and was actually relieved to see that Keystone, the community's property management company, was doing its job (or so I thought).  From my perspective, if I have to have an HOA, I prefer that this be a strict (but fair) one that consistently - and uniformly- enforces the community's rules to keep it from falling into disarray.  Unfortunately, I have to add that, although the HOA caught my planter in HOA property, it missed my neighbor's planter which was in full display for close to one year before the matter was addressed.      

Courtesy Violation Notice from HOA for Planter on HOA Property 

07/21/25 - HOA cited us in March 2025, but missed a neighbor's planters which remain on HOA property as of  Jan '26 despite repeated reports; Selective Enforcement is one of the challenges of living in an HOA

  

02/07/26 - Selective Enforcement: Tenants moved-in circa Oct 2025; despite several reports, HOA has yet to address the matter of a planter and hose on common areas.  We have, therefore, been forced to undertake enforcement directly and are in the process of requesting ADR against the Homeowner (for their tenants' violations).

A Bad Start

We signed a purchase agreement for a brand new, energy-efficient home with window coverings, all appliances and solar-generated energy in December 2024. This represents our third purchase of a brand new home and we had high expectations given that our previous two purchases of new construction homes were excellent experiences from start to finish.  (In retrospect, we attribute this to the fact that our previous new construction purchases were with smaller developers.) 

When we finally moved-in to our new Meritage home in late February 2025, we immediately encountered issues.  For starters, we took possession of our new home only to discover that there was no dryer in the laundry room.  Evidently, someone at Meritage had erroneously ordered a GAS dryer for our all-electric home.  We were provided with a "loaner" from one of the model homes and did receive an electric dryer within the week, but were, nevertheless, a bit annoyed.  Meritage touts its all-electric, energy-efficient homes, but drops the ball with a gas dryer?!  How does something so rudimentary slip through the cracks?  Oh, the foreshadowing! 

The next surprising issue we encountered relates to house numbers that are not visible from the street.  For this point, I need to provide a bit of context: Meritage's Live Oak development has three different communities - Sycamore, Alder, and Willow - which are priced starting in the $700K+, $600K+, and $550K+ range, respectively.  We purchased a home in the entry-level Willow community in which six 2-story homes (3 on each side) revolve around shared driveways which Meritage calls "motor courts".  It is not possible to see Willow house numbers from the street, so a visitor unfamiliar with the community would have to drive approximately 1/3rd of the way into a given motor court to be able to see the house numbers of the properties closest to the street.  Our property is located at the end of the motor court (furthest away from the street), so it is challenging to locate it unless we provide our guests with detailed directions aside from our address.  A year after taking possession of our home, we've found that more often than not, we have to walk to the street to flag our guests down.

House numbers in motor courts of Willow community (Live Oak) are not visible from the street.

We did not get a full grasp regarding the problem that this would come to represent until a few weeks after moving-in when a Facebook Marketplace buyer came by for some items.  "Good luck with this set-up!", he snapped when I stepped out to greet him.  "I had a hard time finding your place and was ready to turn around!"  Shortly after that incident, we started noticing the house numbers and decals that other homeowners had installed on their respective properties.  So, we, too, installed address numbers on our property, but subsequently received an HOA Courtesy Violation Notice that required us to pay a retroactive $75 Architectural Review Fee in order to keep these.  We decided to take down our numbers because we refuse to, effectively, be held financially responsible for Meritage's design and planning shortcomings. 

I learned from our property manager at Keystone Pacific that the Fire Department did not require that Meritage install house numbers that are visible from the street, so the developer did not take that added step- i.e., Meritage complied with the minimum requirements - effectively passing the buck to Willow homeowners who struggle daily with having to provide detailed directions to our respective homes... and then have to ask for permission and pay a "review" fee to the HOA in order to be able to install house numbers - that are visible from the street- on our respective properties. 

Email from Live Oak Property Manager Regarding House Numbers on Willow Homes

UPDATE RE HOUSE NUMBERS:  In late June, the HOA sent out a communication regarding its intent to allow Homeowners to install house numbers without a $75 fee nor Architectural Review, subject to design guidelines.  We have argued, by way of Written Comments, that we are opposed to having to pay for house numbers on the basis that, as one of the most fundamental aspects of a home, we believe that the developer bears responsibility for these.  Anyway, there are many versions of house numbers (some really cool ones!) that have sprung up around the community and it'll be interesting to see how (or even IF!) the HOA enforces its design guidelines. (Note: As of 02/10/26, the HOA's design guidelines are not being enforced.)  

The Whack-a-Mole game comes to mind. 😆(... which, as it turns out, is on those of us who care- i.e., ME!- since the HOA is not playing!)

To help our visitors locate our property, I have to provide detailed instructions aside from our address because they would, otherwise, have to drive into several motor courts to get a sense as to house numbers in order to eventually locate our property through a process of elimination.  Indeed, our surveillance cameras capture a handful of 3-point turns in our motor court every month due to the lack of visibility of house numbers from the street.  Despite our detailed instructions, we have had endless problems with food deliveries and are currently contesting a charge for a delivery that never materialized.  Meritage's Customer Service representative, Hector Estrada- who was our only contact with the developer as of the close of escrow- shared that the developer has received numerous complaints from Willow homeowners regarding this matter.  

Communication with Instacart Grocery Delivery Service Regarding Location of Our Home

8/14/25 - Facebook buyer unable to locate property given house numbers that are not visible from street

It is such an easy fix to slap some signage onto the properties closest to the street.  This is not a novel idea and is commonly done for apartment buildings and HOA communities such as the one in the picture below.  Oh, but no- that would entail a cost and require an effort on Meritage's part... and my sense is that Meritage will probably not budge without pressure from the community (see above UPDATE)... or worse - unless there's a catastrophe.  And, that's really how we see Meritage - reactive, at best - and slow at that!  

UPDATE 11/18/25: We recently discovered another Meritage development (Heirloom Farms in Temecula, CA) in which house number WERE affixed to the properties closest to the street.  Our argument is that if, indeed, the Redlands Fire Department did not require these (as per our property manager), Meritage - an experienced developer that's been around for decades- should have foreseen the issues that a lack of visible house address numbers would cause for the Willow community.      

House Numbers on a Building at a New Development in Claremont, CA  

Meritage has been an utter disappointment compared to the developers we have worked with in the past.  We have had a series of issues with our new home, but the issue that has hurt us the most is Meritage's blatant post-sales disregard for new homeowners which not only includes poor after-sales warranty servicing, but is also clearly evident in the developer-controlled HOA Board's negligence and self-dealings as it pertains to enforcement of the community's CC&Rs.  As such, we cannot recommend Meritage to friends and family.

 

We regret not having conducted more thorough due diligence prior to handing it our business and have concluded that, aside from what we consider to be grift businesses such as First American Home Warranty, Meritage has the worst Customer Service we have ever come across- it's been a negative experience from the first meeting with the Sales Department's Manager, Belinda Dean, who was curt to our out-of-town real estate agent; to our interactions with Sales Agents like Cara Garcia who accused us of driving away Meritage's business and threatened us with arrest; to communications with After-Sales Customer Service Supervisor, Doug Campbell, and the VP of Operations for Southern California, Mike Kemmerer, who did not so much as bother to acknowledge our emails and flat-out ignored our repeated pleas for assistance. As of Summer 2025, we even have a Meritage Sales agent/ fellow homeowner, Shannon Gurrola, who goes out of her way to taunt and antagonize us when she crosses paths with us while we are out on walks with our dog IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD!  

 

SOS to Meritage VP of Sales for Southern California, Mike Kemmerer

If you've recently purchased a home with Meritage, you're probably aware of the developer's aggressive solicitation of high AVID marks.  This is one of the few parts of the new homeowner's orientation tour that stood out for us.  An excellent review is significant for Meritage given that the cumulative new homeowner survey scores translate into its "grade" in AVID, the largest and most comprehensive homebuyer experience database in North America.  Indeed, Meritage has high AVID ratings, but if you scratch a bit, you'll uncover a slew of unflattering blogs, Better Business Bureau complaints, Consumer Affairs complaints, and Facebook groups such as Meritage Homes Suck! which counter those reviews.  (So, if you're a prospective homebuyer, please do your due diligence!)

We gave serious thought to the AVID survey we received shortly after taking possession of our new home and rated Meritage accordingly.  Mr. Estrada, who informed us that his role is that of Meritage's safety net (whatever that means!), was not very happy with our assessment.

After-Sales Customer Service Rep's Complaint Regarding Our Avid Review of Meritage

When I was in school, I learned early on that you get what you put into it- i.e., if I wanted an "A" in Statistics, I had to study hard (particularly, since Statistics is not my forte).  That would, similarly, be my advice to Mr. Estrada and the Meritage Sales and After-Sales teams- i.e., if you want to earn a top AVID review from homeowners like my husband and I, who have high (but not unreasonable nor unattainable) standards, you have to put in the effort.  Excellent Customer Service does not imply that we expected our new home to be free of issues nor is it about kowtowing.  In our opinion, Excellent Customer Service equates to professionalism, proactiveness, a high sense-of-urgency, attention-to-detail, efficiency, and respect for homeowner warranty requests and concerns... and unsolicited offers (such as repainting the entire interior of our home) does not replace this.