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FLORIDA
– THE
LAND
OF
MILK
AND HONEY FOR DEVELOPERS
By
Jan Bergemann
Published
April 19, 2013
Developers
in Flori-duh don’t really work in the
Sunshine
State
– they actually live in the Land
of
Milk and Honey. No wonder Florida
has such a bad reputation among potential homebuyers.
Where
else would you find a law that protects developers against
shoddy workmanship and subpar construction, leaving homebuyers
holding the bag – no matter how defective the construction
was? Only in Flori-duh!
And
only in Flori-duh would you find developers who are brazen
enough to complain to legislators who are trying to create some
common-sense consumer protection.
The
argument of developer lobbyists: It restricts their business and
will cause less construction. Honestly, these folks should be
rather comedians instead of lobbyists!
When
listening to these lobbyists you really get the impression that
Florida’s poor developers are severely suffering from attempts to
enact really bad legislation.
Listening
to these lobbyists it’s totally ok
-
If
the developer embezzles association funds and even pays bail
from association funds after being arrested for
embezzlement.
-
If
dictatorial developers don’t turn over the community to
the owner and use these owners' monet to pay for their extravagant
life-style.
-
If
developers change existing contracts at their whim, while
homeowners are reminded that a contract is a contract.
-
If
developers increase monthly maintenance dues by 100%, even
if they initially chose
to use the system known as deficit funding.
-
If
developers levy special assessments, making homeowners pay
for their bad business decisions.
-
If
developers make changes to the governing documents that
unreasonably modify the original plans of the development.
And
the list goes on and on!
Make
no mistake, the folks losing their life-savings are the owners
who didn’t realize that these developers have the power to rip
them off – covered by developer-written laws.
As
you can read nearly daily in our newspapers, many developers
made outright bad business decisions and expect now from these
owners, who were unlucky enough to buy their dream home in a
developer-controlled community, to bail them out.
Developers
have mostly very little of their own money invested in these
communities. Their first order of business is normally taking
out a big bank loan that will keep them in great financial shape
for quite a few years, even if their business goes down the
drain. The number of developers defaulting on bank loans is
nearly countless. Even a former senator joined the club!
In
the end the families buying a home in these communities are
holding the bag and are being bankrupted by the bad business
decisions of these developers.
The
way laws are written in the moment there is no consumer
protection in place. It seems like legislators wanted to punish
home buyers for the bad business decision of buying a home in a
developer-controlled homeowners’ association.
And
we are wondering why the steady flow of retirees and snowbirds
buying property in Florida
came to a screeching halt?
I
think the explanation is pretty easy: Who wants to buy property
where actions of developers and neighbors can bankrupt you?
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