Another new home builder in the Central Ohio area has called it quits. On Tuesday, Joshua Homes unexpectedly shut down its web site and disconnected their phones. Joshua Homes appears to be the latest, in a long list, of new home builder casualties in our market. In the past few 
years Central Ohio area has lost many new home builders:
- Toll Brothers
- Joshua Homes
- Centex Homes
- CV Perry
- Beazer
Many current Joshua home owners are very concerned about their new home warranties. This latest new build casualty really magnifies the potential problem of new home warranties. Joshua Homes had one of the longest home warranties (40 year) in our area. But, a warranty is only as good as the builder or warranty company. Does it really matter if you have a 40, 45 or even 50 year new home warranty if your builder is out of business in a few years?
The home buying consumer needs to realize that new home builder warranties are NOT regulated by any State agencies or the Department of Insurance. It is buyer beware! So, make sure you use an Exclusive (true) Buyer Broker when purchasing your next new home. An Exclusive Buyer Broker will protect you during your transaction and act as your advocate.
Good luck out there.
4 comments
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May 13, 2009 at 3:02 pm
The Insurance Guy
Perhaps the state should require all home builders to contribute to some kind of warranty insurance fund before they can do business in Ohio. That won’t prevent companies from going under, but might prevent them from reincorporating as a new company.
May 13, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Michael
Interesting idea, thanks for the comment.
May 9, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Jeff
Sad (or embarrassed) to say I was a Joshua Homes customer. It absolutely infuriates me that a company like this can shut down shop and re-open under a different name (GreenStone Homes – same models, neighborhoods, owner, etc) and get out of making good on their commitments to the customers they built homes for under the Joshua Homes name. There are neighbors of mine, as well as myself, that have been fighting Eric Schottenstein and Joshua Homes in and out of court for multiple years trying to get resolution on warranty issues and other building related issues – and now likely have little to no recourse to pursue.
I guess this should serve as a warning to all: GreenStone Homes = Joshua Homes and clearly is buyer beware.
May 9, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Michael
Jeff, thanks for your comments. I agree with your analysis. It seems very hard for a high end production home builder like Joshua Homes to just close up shop and open up under a new business name. It seems like public relations (PR) suicide. Buying a high end home is an expensive purchase that requires an outstanding product and a lot of great customer service.
Over the next year, we will be watching the change over from Joshua Homes to GreenStone homes.
I’m so sorry for your troubles with Joshua Homes.
HomeBuyer Advocate Mike