Lagos by Ashton Woods, Manor TX

We purchased our home in May and have been having issues with the baseboard cracking and paint coming off the walls. I had a representative come out just for them to tell me I should've upgraded the paint (which isn't offered). Contacted the lady we used to pick the paint with for her to confirm that they gave us non-washable paint. If a bug is killed in the wall and I wipe it the paint comes off the wall. Paint in the home is not clean and some colors bleed into the other. Not to mention the rods in the closet that is pulling off the walls. Some pipe covers where not flush and just sit there. I was told it passed inspection. I chose Ashton Woods because I know the quality of work I saw in Killeen but the Lagos work is cheap and not worth the amount I was charged.

I’m giving this a 4/5 due to the sales representative, Katrina. If it were not for her, I would give a 5/5. The building manager (Keith) was amazing and very responsive when we had an unforeseen issue and resolved it quickly. We have nothing but great things to say about Keith. In regards to our sales rep Katrina, initially she was very nice. However, once we gave our ernest money, that’s when things went down hill. She originally told me the wrong closing date, that I wrote down and she said I was incorrect. When I told her this closing date I have work can we move it one day she told me no. I’ve bought homes in the past and I’ve always had there be at least a little accommodation as I am a nurse and do not work normal 9-5 hours and can not come before or after as things are typically closed by the time I am off. I also do not have the luxury of calling off as this hurts the department and patient care. I told these things to Katrina and she told me, “I worked on the weekends to get the house paperwork signed and took time out of my weekends for you. You should be able to do the same. ” She never once told me that this was such an inconvenience for her as she offered to get paper work on a weekend. I guess I should have asked for a sales rep that wouldn’t mind profiting off me on a weekend instead of someone who was upset that they made a sale and offered up their weekend. We were very stressed as she ended the conversation with it is hard and set and there was nothing we could do to change the date. Come to find out the next day she said that she asked and they were able to move the date. This whole interaction with her caused much unnecessary stress that could have easily been avoided with good customer service skills and simply saying I will ask and see what they say. Instead of telling me I need to call off work and that she’s working hard and moving her weekend around for me…when it’s her job… and they ended up being able to move the date. After the ernest money was deposited her whole demeanor seemed to change and everything felt very fake and phony especially after that phone call and I did everything to avoid interaction with her. I would have loved to ask for someone else however, I did want it to possibly affect the sale of our house.

From the start, Peter was very judgy and made us feel uncomfortable during the tour. It felt like he never wanted to give us the tour.

Firstly, for our appointment, he came 10 minutes late, and when we specified our requirements such as our timeline, not having spoken to a lender/realtor before, it felt like he was judging us on our probable lack of real estate knowledge or financial situation. No courteousness to have us seated and walk through the floorplans in detail or any offers Ashton woods have to provide. Would never recommend Ashton Woods manor community like this. In the end, when asked to send a follow up email on the available options and details around the house price, he pushed back saying that everything is in some portal and till date there was never a follow up email we got. Horrible!

We started the homebuying process with Ashton Woods in Manor over a year ago and have lived in our new home for about 5 months now. The buying process at the time was a little frustrating given the state of the market. They released 10-12 homes and interested buyers were required to submit best and final offers for the home they wanted. We were unable to select the lot, floor plan, or interior designs and were encouraged to "bid high" since the housing market was crazy. I don't blame them for taking advantage of the market, but it wasn't our favorite experience.

The home was built on schedule, and we appreciated the building manager (Keith) for his constant communication, updates, and responsiveness. Our sales agent was not very responsive, and I've read that she's no longer working here. This created a lot of confusion along the way, especially after she forgot to update the in-house lender and title company that our closing had to be delayed a week. She also forgot to pass along the information for the home warranty and transfer of utilities and never responded to our emails or calls. I had to physically go to the sales office and watch her send the email with the information.

We really love the home itself. We think it looks great, and so far, it meets all our needs. There were some minor issues with the cabinets and other interior work, but they were resolved after a few weeks. The neighborhood is also pretty nice, and our neighbors have all been friendly. We enjoy the lake and walking trail, and hopefully the developer adds more amenities as the community continues to grow.

Our biggest complaint is the terrible landscaping and grading work in our backyard. Our backyard was lumpy and squishy, and we noticed big puddles of standing water before we moved in. We were told that it would improve once the other houses were landscaped, but it's actually gotten a lot worse. I'm not sure if someone was supposed to level/flatten our yard, but there are some pretty big dips and hills. We don't let our young son play back there because we're worried he'll trip or twist an ankle. And when it rains, we have a massive puddle (see pictures) that takes days (sometimes over a week!) to drain out. It's a safety and health hazard, and it makes our backyard completely unusable. We've been told it'll get fixed under the warranty, but it's been a few months now and still no progress.

We expected more given the price we paid, especially from a builder with a good reputation who prides itself on quality customer service. If you decide to buy here, I'd recommend that you make sure that all big issues are resolved before closing, otherwise, it might take months. Again, we love our home but there were some frustrating issues along the way and some workmanship issues that have taken too long to correct.

Where to start! We went into Ashton woods Lagos and spoke with Becca. Becca showed us our dream home at a perfect budget. My wife and I were excited to say the least. After discussing things with Becca, we added some upgrades that brought our home purchase from 375 - 404k, after incentives. Becca told us she was out for a week but when she returned we could get the process started. After not hearing back from Becca, we were finally contacted by the manager of that neighborhood, Aja. We went back in to discuss things with Aja only to find out Becca was let go. We also learned of several upgrades that weren't discussed that then drove the price of our home up to 420k after incentives. Wasn't happy but we loved the home so we went for it. We were told all we needed to lock things in outside of closing and down payment was $7500 earnest money. Seemed kinda high but we paid it. Once we signed contracts we got pricing from the design team to which our new price was around 440k after incentives as well as needing another 7k for a deposit on design products totaling 14.5k out of pocket money before closing cost or downpayment. After giving Ashtonwoods some time to try and correct this mistake, they called back saying there was nothing they could do besides refund our earnest money and go separate ways. On Feb 2nd I signed termination paperwork to receive the refund of $7500 we paid. It is now now the 23rd and there is no sign of my check. Just being told it took some time to verify. Mind you all signature were done that day. My family and I are now stuck in Limbo waiting for this money so that we can put earnest money down on a new home. This has been one of the most frustrating experiences. Ashton woods needs to stick to pre home builds because when it comes to custom builds they have no idea what they are doing!

Edit to your comment: I did finally receive my check. I emailed my contacts several times. Only being responded to once, by Aja, After I emailed her and everyone else 3 times. After that one response, I emailed a week later, her and everyone else after still not having my check. That was 5 days ago now and still nobody has responded to me. Only response I got was to this 1 star review. Since nobody followed up to check in things I will be leaving this one star review.

I’ve been here just a couple days short of a month & finally found time to write a review on my experience.

The Positive:
- I worked with Aja from beginning to end. Overall, she gave solid customer service. She helped get me under contract for a beautiful home in a competitive buyers’ market & helped get me buyers’ incentives. She knows at least 3x times more about construction in comparison to the actual construction team. She was able to answer tough questions that construction couldn’t even navigate and put them to shame. She probably could’ve built my house better and faster than most of them. Her knowledge about laws, ordinances, policies, surveys, etc.is amazing. She has a level of tact that is rare and I haven’t seen in a while.
- Riley was decent & clearly has a desire to grow & learn more about the business.
- Manor is an upcoming area. Lots of construction, which means homes are appreciating at a good rate. Also a small city & easy to go downtown to handle business.

The Negative:
- My first time home buying experience was stressful. Communication could have been better throughout the process. I was mislead regarding the timeline to close, which shifted from May to July to September. Multiple times I questioned the new timelines & each time I got closer to closing, they swore by the Bible i’d close by May or July and I didn’t. My construction manager changed 2-3 times? Houses that broke ground well after mine closed before I did (for various reasons per the builder, including a 2 week delay in parts for my home). I still feel as if there was some malicious intent regarding that but I’ll digress. I still feel cheated that I didn’t get to select any of my appliances, tile, paint colors, etc because of “COVID. ” The houses are built so close & feel like you’re almost on top of each other.
- Before I went under contract, I explicitly stated that I did not want my home near the school, playground, or anywhere a large group of people would congregate. Now they’ve put soccer goal posts in the field directly in front of my house. People park in front of my home all day, constantly turn around in my driveway, & teens spinning wheels in front of my house. Exactly the OPPOSITE of what I want! I’m hoping once winter hits all of that will stop. Also, there is no community clubhouse (yet).
- The neighborhood is loud! Construction workers blast music early in the morning. People drive fast & rev pipes throughout the day. Literally everyday for the past week, I’ve been woken out of my sleep by loud pipes & loud music.
- It was like pulling teeth working with AW’s preferred lender, Velocio. Jerry was absolutely terrible & such a horrible person that I had to get a new loan officer. Velocio sold/transferred my mortgage twice now. Once to Cornerstone & now PENNYMAC before I’ve even had the chance to make my 1st mortgage payment in Nov. I’ve been chasing people down for clarity as they did not communicate those changes. I found out via random, unclear emails.
- Overall, I’m still not satisfied with the quality of my home. During my final inspection, I had to get aggressive for the builder to actually take action on the changes I wanted. I’m still finding areas missing paint, minor countertop damage, lights flickering, hot water takes 2-3 minutes to get hot which wastes water & money. The trees I got seem to be dead in comparison to my neighbors. Small hole in my backyard. All of which I feel is useless to address now that I’ve closed.
- Despite Manor growing quickly, it’s growing slower than popping areas like Leander. There’s no HEB, Target, Chic Fil A, no “good” sit down restaurants, no FedEx/UPS. To me, $500k+ for a house in this area is overpriced.

As of now, I can only see myself living in this community for a year. Overall, the house is beautiful & the area is decent but the house itself & neighborhood just doesn’t feel like “home. ” It’s disheartening that my first time home buying experience was unpleasant and that I’m already looking forward to moving out.

Ashton Woods does the best Custom Homes in Austin area, I do the plumbing for those house through my job, love the home when finished.