at the center of a class action lawsuit accusing D.R. Horton and its lending arm, DHI Mortgage<\/a>, of deceptive practices that attorneys describe as a \u201cMonthly Payment Suppression Scheme.\u201d <\/p>\nThe lawsuit claims the companies misled first-time buyers by underestimating property taxes in their monthly mortgage projections, making the homes appear more affordable than they actually were.<\/p>\n
Mario Caracas, who moved to Yulee from Buffalo, said the low monthly payment was a major reason his family chose their home.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe love the neighborhood\u2026 it\u2019s been awesome,\u201d Caracas said. \u201cBut things went wrong when we ended up getting an estimated bill the following year. The escrow was significantly higher\u2026 probably 20% higher than what we had been paying before. It was quite the hit on the wallet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Caracas said his payment later jumped about $600 a month.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t quite understand it,\u201d he said. \u201cDo we get a second job? How do we actually afford this monthly payment?\u201d<\/p>\n
Homeowners interviewed by the News4JAX I-TEAM reported similar experiences. In North Jacksonville, one D.R. Horton homeowner said her mortgage rose by $500, but neighbors saw even bigger increases.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople I\u2019ve talked to\u2026 theirs have gone up $1,000, $2,000,\u201d she said. \u201cI know people are paying $3,000 right now for their mortgage from what they originally started with. And they haven\u2019t gotten any clear answers as to why.\u201d<\/p>\n
The class action lawsuit, filed by attorneys with the National Consumer Law Center, alleges D.R. Horton and DHI Mortgage intentionally left out the majority of property taxes during loan disclosures, keeping monthly payment estimates artificially low. <\/p>\n
When the loans were later sold to a new servicer and escrow accounts recalculated, homeowners saw their true payments plus back taxes they suddenly owed.<\/p>\n
The consequences, attorneys say, have been severe. Some homeowners have faced foreclosure or been forced to sell.<\/p>\n
Caracas said the added costs have changed his family\u2019s daily life.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo do some of the other things we wanted to do, my wife is doing delivery apps just to make a few extra dollars,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people that have had to move out of the neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another homeowner told News4JAX she hopes the lawsuit brings change.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople have to live,\u201d she said. \u201cThey have to be able to afford to live in their house. They\u2019re basically scamming people, in my opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Caracas agrees that homebuilders need to be more transparent.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey know what they\u2019re doing,\u201d he said. \u201cThey need to do a better job of being upfront with people\u2026 so people truly understand what they are getting into.\u201d<\/p>\n
What\u2019s next in the case<\/p>\n
The lawsuit has been filed but is not yet certified as a class action. If a judge approves certification, affected homeowners would receive notices by mail and would not need to take any action to join.<\/p>\n
There is no timeline yet for when the court will decide on class certification, and the case remains in its early stages.<\/p>\n
A D.R. Horton spokesperson released the following statement:<\/p>\n
\u201cD.R. Horton and DHI Mortgage (DHIM) strongly disagree with the claims made in this lawsuit, and we intend to vigorously defend against them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Dozens of Northeast Florida families say they were blindsided by steep increases in their monthly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55507,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[15852,15851,1571,502,1917,6206,3858,116,118,117,2159],"class_list":["post-55506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-addressing-a4dability","tag-addressing-affordability","tag-affordable-housing","tag-community","tag-consumer","tag-i_team","tag-investigations","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-money"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}