Montalbano Builders of Arizona or Montalbano Homes has been a builder in Arizona for numerous years, involved in several projects more recently such as Travata in Peoria and Tartesso in Buckeye.
In January, the Arizona Department of Real Estate put out in its AZ Homebuilders in Trouble report that Montalbano Homes had a mechanics lien filed against it regarding its Travata development.
Is Montalbano Homes Out of Business or Bankrupt?
However, this may not be the latest with regard to the home builder. It is not fully clear, but Montalbano Builders of Arizona or Montalbano Homes may have shut its doors permanently.
Their website is unavailable which is not reassuring (http:www.montalbanohomes.com). The only phone number I could find goes to a generic message (doesn’t mention who I am calling) which I am not sure if it is even correct. I came across a comment on the web indicating that their numbers are disconnected but I can’t verify given I don’t know if the number I have is even correct (website not operational).
Complaints Against Montalbano Builders of Arizona
Now the Arizona Registrar of Contractors indicates 3 open complaints against Montalbano as seen here.
The open complaints are considered ‘non-pays.’ In other words, the complaintants indicate that Montalbano has not paid them for services or materials provided. These companies are Labor Systems, VW Dig, and a Dean-Peterson LLC.
I spoke with one of these companies and was told that the non-payment goes back over 1 year. I don’t know the specifics of any dispute in charges if there is one here, but generally, it’s not a good thing to have outstanding issues with sub-contractors. In this case, the non-payment was turned over to a collections firm long ago.
I’ve got other calls out to get more information here and will update if I hear back. For the moment, it appears to me either that Montalbano simply has folded though there may be other issues here.
What It May Mean for the Montalbano Homeowner
The challenges here for homeowners in Montalbano communities are any possible loss of home warranty coverage. Though homeowners may be able to get warranty relief through a sub-contractor (assuming they can identify the contractor that Montalbano hired out), this is dependent on that sub-contractor still being in business.
I wrote about Trend Homes Inc some time ago where even the sub-contractors were out of business which meant that homeowners were out of luck.
The other issue is to the extent that a community under construction is finished out. Uncompleted homes or vacant lots interspersed in a community is bad for existing homebuyers and will adversely affect the value for their homes. Until a new builder acquires assets and builds on these properties, the communities can often be in limbo. As such, buyers are hard to attract and HOA fees could increase to compensate for the lack of homes in the development.
What It Means for the Home Buyer in Process
For homebuyers currently in process with a contract, this may be a sticky issue as earnest monies may be at risk if not held by an independent third-party title company. Call the title company in this case immediately to see if they have any further information and what next steps you can take if Montalbano is out of business.
What It Means for the Prospective Home Buyer
Simply, a home buyer should be very cautious when considering a home here. Assuming that the sales offices close, then the issue becomes one of buying a home in any unfinished community. Understanding the full impact of any issues with Montalbano Homes in the community is always recommended by talking with community residents.
Summary
The Phoenix real estate market has been hard on home builders, especially the smaller ones who lack the resources to sustain themselves through such a protracted downturn. Montalbano Homes appears to be another one of its victims.
Nonetheless, homeowners and home buyers should act quickly to understand what any possible demise of Montalbano homes means for them as there are risks and potential impacts to both groups.
If you have further questions regarding Montalbano Homes, feel free to contact David Lorti at (480) 227-6911.
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@Roland,
This suggestion is a great idea, although I dont know how much we much have to stand on since i personally think that the HOA fees are being used to pay for “other things” besides what they are meant for. They, Avenue 1000 and Montalbano have a way with covering their backs when it comes to wrongdoing. I dont know how to go about proving that! Our HOA fees have doubled as well and our village came out last summer to cut the grass in the common areas because the HOA was not doing it. So that leads me to believe that they are not using the money for what they should be. The “property manager” whom I will not name, has stated that there are new owners that have taken over but I have not seen that happen. I would love to not have an HOA and take the money that was collected and use it to beautify the communities so people will come in and buy the homes that are not sold and possibley start to rebuild again. It is time for these big business to be held accountable for their actions and shady business practices.
The website is back on line Montalbanohomes.com ????
The Montalbanohomes.com web site is back up
web site for montalbano home is back up
It seems something new is going on with Montalbano. Their website is back up and they have signs all over the neighborhood for selling houses. I’m really curious how this will work out for them since they have an “F” rating with the Better Business Bureau. I really hope that they work out their issues on the BBB (mine included) so that they can sell houses, improve the neighborhood which will hopefully raise our home values.
Avenue 1000 Realty…….. What a poor company
by 01/05/2011
Avenue 1000 Realty is a joke, Carol will not return phone calls, they just SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
User Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
by Lopez 01/02/2011
They ruined our property. Willfull mismanagement of our funds. They are hard to get rid off once you contract with them. They get good with only board members so they can keep getting there contract reneiwed every year. Best thing is to totally aviod them
That’s You – 01/05/11
OMG, they are the worst. I think that they are using our money for their own personal gain. Carol Smith will not return any phone calls and is not very truthful. At this point, as a community, we dont know what else to do. It is sad that this is able to happen.
Comment on Review
by 06/28/2010
AVOID THEM: THEY PROVIDE PATHETIC SERVICE
I am a resident of Oak Creek Community and we had a horrifying experience with them.
The woman (Carol Smith) is Pathetic and three of our neighbors had a horrifying experience dealing with them. Our new HOA management learnt that Avenue 1000 Realty had willfully spent our association money in the past by keeping a family members of Carol Smith on our HOA payroll for $2500 PM per 2 years even though there was no service provided by this individual to our HOA.
Our new HOA management wants to get rid of them ASAP when there contract expires this year and started looking for new property management companies.
Miller
Oak Creek
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