Prices Inflated, Tempers Inflamed at Home Sale

People camping out for five days here for a chance to buy an affordable house stomped out a fire last week that threatened to destroy one of the developer’s model homes. By Saturday, as they passed around petitions protesting steep price increases, the campers felt they were the ones who had been singed.

In yet another sign of the sharply spiraling housing market, people who said they were promised prices earlier in the week of $208,000 for a 2,275-square-foot house off California 71 south of Pomona said they were confronted Saturday with a 15% hike to $247,000 when they arrived to put down their deposits. They accused Ahmanson Developments Inc. of imposing opportunistic price hikes.

“The reason they raised the prices is they had 100 people camped out” for 42 houses, said Richard Miller, a Pomona research engineer. He has sold his home but now says “it’s borderline” whether he can still afford a house in Payne Ranch.

“You guys just shafted everybody,” Stephanie Goldowski said angrily as she left her deposit at a temporary building serving as an office on the property. Standing by watchfully were security guards, who had been called out of concern that there might be trouble, according to one of the guards.

Kim Boutelier, vice president and division manager for Ahmanson’s Southern California division, denied that the home buyers were mistreated. He pointed to a July 22 letter that said prices were anticipated to begin in “the mid-$170,000s,” but that also said, “Final pricing will be available at the sales office on Aug. 6.”

He said the final prices were settled upon after comparing Payne Ridge prices to those in surrounding developments, which were as much as $20,000 higher. “They’re not managing their expectations out there,” he said of the rumbling crowd outside.

Disgruntled buyers, however, said Payne Ridge houses are not comparable to more pricey divisions in the surrounding hills. They also showed price sheets they said they were given only Tuesday, which showed the largest houses at Payne Ridge going for $205,000.

Sales assistant Donna Rhone said that figure was “tentative,” something she said she made clear. Buyers, however, said they were told the final figure would only go up a couple of thousand dollars, not the steep rise they found.