Settlers Pointe at Lake Murray is a KB Home development located in the heart of Lexington, SC (a suburb of Columbia, SC). The neighborhood is close to schools, shopping and Lake Murray and even boasts its own private boat ramp/lake access.                                      

Median home prices in Lexington, SC are approximately $142,000.  KB Home was selling homes in Settlers Pointe starting at $229,000 in 2006.  These homes included amenities such as master bathrooms, 9 foot ceilings, brick crawl spaces, fireplaces, and stone and brick fronts per elevation to name a few.  These homes ranged in square footage from 2476 to 4816. 

By April of 2007, starting prices in the neighborhood dropped to $169,990. KB Home added 7 new plans ranging from 1336 to 2215 square feet.  At this point KB Home dropped all of the new home prices and removed options that were standard just months before. After an uproar from homeowners in the neighborhood who had purchased at premium prices with mandatory upgrades, KB Home removed three of the smallest plans from its line up and made an agreement with homeowners that the Oglethorpe (1698 square feet) would be the smallest plan offered.

In the meantime, KB Home continued to drop starting home prices and remove standard features.  The most noticeable change was the practice of using poured concrete crawl spaces instead of brick.  The look of the neighborhood was starting to change with the addition of smaller homes and the change from brick to concrete crawl spaces.

In October of 2008, homeowners again met with KB Home management when they went back on their word and reintroduced the smaller homes that they had previously agreed not to build.  Management officials stated they would consider the homeowners’ request to open a separate section of the neighborhood for smaller homes with a separate entrance.  KB Home never got back to the homeowners following the meeting, however in February of 2009, KB broke ground on its new model for the Carolina 35 Series of homes.  These homes range from 1272 to 1884 square feet and have no option for brick or stone.  These homes are also built on a cement slab.

Homeowners in Settlers Pointe feel that KB Home uses "bait and switch" sales tactics.  Most of the existing homeowners were all told some variation of "one reason to buy here rather than Mill Stream (another KB Home Community in Lexington, SC) is that all homes in Settlers Pointe must be built on a crawl space" and "no homes smaller than 1900 square feet will be built in the neighborhood".  Given a choice now that we know reality, most homeowners would not have built here at all. Certainly, homeowners would have chosen upgrades differently if they decided to go through with purchase. 

Offering the "35 Series” is effectively reducing sales of the larger homes because the buyer looking for a larger home is usually leaving a starter home community.  Settlers Pointe will look like a starter home community with the addition of the "35 Series".  Since Settlers Pointe is only about 47% built out, the potential for KB to destroy the look of the neighborhood along with property values and equity is tremendous. The bottom line is that KB Home’s recent sales strategies have the potential to ruin resale values, which is tantamount to stealing homeowners’ equity.

The price per square for the original home in the neighborhood have dropped 23%-30% on a price per square foot basis from 2006-2009.  This was calculated using the base price for “Elevation A” on all plans. Based on zillow.com, average home values in Lexington, SC have decreased 1% in the past 12 months.  Therefore, home values in Settlers Pointe are dropping in value faster than the surrounding community.