Manatawny Village - Pottstown, PA

My family moved here last summer; we bought one of the last homes built here—brand new. Over this year, we’ve experienced pros and cons.

Pros: The development is quite lovely. The landscapers do a nice job with plants, flowers, trees. The homes, while cookie-cutter, are clean and attractive. The neighbors are kind and friendly, and people are out and about in good weather, so it feels at least a little like a community. The location is good. The design of the house we purchased is almost perfect for our family. The master bedroom is spacious and features its own bathroom and walk-in closet. The other bedroom and bath are smaller—more like guest spaces. My brother and I share the second bedroom and bath and we do ok. (I’m the primary caregiver for my brother and parents, all of whom have significant disabilities.) The kitchen/dining room is spacious and has loads of storage cabinets. It’s nice not to have to worry about groundskeeping and snow removal. I myself love the porch and patio and find myself sitting outside as much as I can in good weather; it’s very peaceful.

Cons: Ther builders seemed to be in a hurry to complete our home, so there are MANY aesthetic issues with the house—interior and exterior. We have cracks and paint drips on the walls, cracks on seems in drywall, nail pops, ceilings that aren’t level, paint that melts when exposed to moisture (so it can’t be cleaned without wiping down to drywall), shower stalls pulling away from walls, toilets that come loose from their brackets in the floor, lawns that consist of rocks and mud and weeds, warped siding, and the list goes on. In addition, the developers installed cheap appliances and fixtures, many of which began working poorly within a few months of moving in. When we contacted the developers, the contact person was friendly and promised to take care of our requests, but they never did. A year later, all but 1 job is left undone. The contact person even claimed that she sent repair people to help but that we didn’t let them in when they came. No one in my family is aware of ANY attempt by repair people to enter the house; no appointments were made with us, we had no contact with any repair people, and we received no word from repair people after the fact that anyone had tried to see the house. It seemed odd; she brought it up repeatedly when I reminded her that none of our requests had been resolved, and it felt like it was an attempt to shift the blame to me and my family. But I could be wrong.

If I had it to do over again, I would have been VERY picky in the walk-through, documenting EVERY problem, and I would have demanded that all fixes be implemented in 30 days. If not, I would have paid for them myself and demanded reinbursement—then sued if that failed.

Just be careful if you buy here. There are definite upsides. But there are problems like the ones I mentioned above. There are mysterious issues involving the developers and builders—the promised clubhouse is 90% complete and sitting empty a year later because of some unresolved conflict. It seems to me that something is going on, and it’s not good; lots of the residents have concerns similar to mine, and some are feeling upset about the lack of action from the people who are supposed to be taking care of these things.

If you know how to handle these kinds of difficulties, great. If not, you might do better elsewhere.