Park
Lake
CONDOMINIUM
Community Residents
Located in Maitland's "Historical Corridor"
KB
HOME
SUCKS
We don't want KB HOME
BUYER BEWARE
COMPLIANCE WITH REGULATIONS: Florida has a murky past in its real estate dealings. Stories from the 1980s abound about swamp land sales and multiple buyers for single properties. The State of Florida government is working hard to make sure these problems are corrected and has instituted laws to protect buyers.
- Beware of real estate agents who provide you with INVESTMENT advice.
It is illegal and unethical. Even professional investment consultants
who are SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) licensed are not at
liberty to forecast future earnings.
Remember, real estate brokers are not investment consultants. What you
should expect is knowledge of the market, inventory, price per square
foot, and comparables. NO FUTURE TELLING!
QUESTIONS YOU SHOULD ASK WHEN BUYING PRE-CONSTRUCTION!
- Who is the developer? Reputation, Past performance.
- Area information, school information (when
applicable), etc.
- When did sales begin?
- Have there been price increases? How many? How much?
- Comparables. What other pre- and new construction are planned for the
area, and how are they priced/selling?
- Will deposit be held in escrow account?
- When will construction begin?
- Are assignments of contract allowed?
- Will simultaneous closings be allowed?
- Can property be sold immediately after closing?
- What are the Rental Policies?
- What are the Pet Policies?
- What will Maintenance Fees amount to?
- What Amenities Will be Offered to Residents?
- Is there any information that is not OBVIOUS that may impact the
buying decision? (Example: train tracks near by, proximity to
school (may be noisy), environmental, etc.)
LIMITED UPFRONT CARRYING COSTS
Reservation Agreements: First, a reservation is nothing more than a
Right of First Refusal. You, as a buyer, are under no obligation
whatsoever. For this position, you will place a reservation fee of
anywhere from $10,000 to 10% of the proposed purchase price. At the
point where the developer is ready to sell the units, you elect to move
forward with a purchase contract or to bow out. If you decide the
purchase is not for you, the reservation fee is refunded in full. In
other words, during the reservation phase, you have nothing to lose.
FYI: Though developers prefer to go directly to binding purchase
agreement i.e. contract, Reservation Agreements are used when they
choose to begin sales prior to having all permits in place, and prior to
condominium documents approval by the Florida State Government.
If you decide to go ahead with the purchase agreement, payment of the
balance of the first 10% will be required. You may then be granted a
15-day (calendar) rescission period during which buyers may obtain an
attorney to review the contract and association documents, or at the
very least do so themselves. Once the rescission period is over, buyers
are committed and any defaults will result in a loss of the deposit.
When the building site preparation begins, a second 10% deposit is
generally required. From this point forward, the purchase remains on
hold until the development is complete and the property can move forward
to closing in which case either a cash payoff or mortgage will be
required.
CLOSING COSTS
Whether purchasing a new construction single family home, town home, or
condo, please be advised that to the price of your unit, developers add
a fee at closing, ranging between .5% to 2.5% of purchase price. Single
family and town home developers claim those fees to cover
"administrative" expenditures. Condo developers actually use a
significant portion of the fee to cover property recording fees, title
search, exam, and insurance, and title company fees.
In addition to the "builder's fee" buyer should expect to deposit 2 or 3
times the monthly maintenance fee into the Home owner association
reserves.
In summary, in addition to financing (mortgage fees) it is sensible to
expect approximately 2% closing fees. This information is not intended
to dissuade purchase of pre-construction residences, rather to inform
and prepare buyers, so they are not first made aware of these fees at
closing.
SELLING EARLY
There are two options in terms of selling prior to closing (flipping).
Assignment of contract. Nowadays, the majority of developers prohibit
assignment of contracts. It is a possibility, rare as it may be, in some
complexes. The second option becomes possible, when builders will
“resell” units once the entire development is sold out. If choices one
or two are not offered, there is the option of a simultaneous closing.
With pre-completion re-sales, the units are made available to the public
as the current market pricing – as determined by the developer and/or
original buyer. Buyers can list their properties with the developer who
will then make them available for purchase. The exact percentage of
price and costs involved vary. Buyers may also obtain the services of a
real estate company to promote their unit, though as a rule, MLS listing
before closing on property is prohibited by developer and may be a
breach of contract.
A simultaneous closing occurs when the developer closes on the property
with the original buyer who then immediately sells the property to an
end-user. To ascertain availability and costs for either of these
programs, consult your realty associate.
There are a countless bad things being said all over the country about:
KB Home (formerly Kaufman and Broad, S.A.)
is the 3rd Largest Builder in the WORLD
They have hundreds of names
KB HOME is on:
Prospective homeowners (buyer beware) should ask a lot of questions before buying the town homes KB Home is planning to build and sell in the Park Lake condominium development that consists of condominiums, not town homes.
Protesters got KB Home to buy back defective houses
People picketing the government about KB Home
Although we understand the frustration when dealing with an uncooperative homebuilder and the lack of protection homeowners have to resolve their conflicts, we do not and cannot endorse the contents of the external sites. If you have any information regarding the validity of the information on the sites, please advise us ASAP
Website links to complaints and class action suites filed against KB Home.
KB Homes. BPP Holdings, All Home Builders Failure to disclose known defects, consumer fraud, deception Many Nationwide .....
http://www.kbhome-classaction.com/
http://bobandnita.www.50megs.com/scraphome.htm
http://www.kbhomestink.org/default.asp
http://www.geocities.com/PicketFence/Street/6903/
June 22, 2001 $10 million suit claims damage to homes from mold in Patterson By MICHAEL MELLO BEE STAFF WRITER -- Eighty-six residents are suing KBHomes, alleging that shoddy construction left homes susceptible to water seepage and mold contamination......The lawsuit is being drafted one year after Heartland Ranch homeowners complained to the City Council that repairs already had dragged on for two years or more. NOTE: Yet another example for the need of a lemon law.
April 22, 2001 Eroding trust. New home buyers vent
frustrations at builder [KBHOMES] By Ian McCannThe Dallas Morning News.
"One of the biggest problems, homeowners said, is poor customer
service."
WFAA CH 8 News Dallas: KBHomes Homeowners take their complaints to the
Frisco City council. The Proposed Texas Home Lemon Law is mentioned.
KB Home was big in Texas in 2001 and they moving into Florida, the
"hottest vacation home market"
Texas News Article:
November 9, 2001
Arlington residents sue
KB Home
Sixty-four homeowners in Arlington are suing Los Angeles-based
homebuilder
KB Home (NYSE: KBH) for not disclosing that the Southridge
Hills subdivision was built on the site of a former military bombing
practice range, according to the plaintiffs' attorneys Friday.
The lawsuit, filed in State District Court in Tarrant County, charges
KB
Home with common law fraud, gross negligence and negligence, Dallas law
firm Weiner, Glass & Reed L.L.P. said in a press release.
The homeowners also are seeking rescission of their purchase agreements
for their homes and an award of compensatory damages, as well as
compensation for mental anguish, lawyers said. They are also seeking
exemplary damages in the amount of $65 million.
According to plaintiffs' attorneys, the land that
KB
Home developed into
the Southridge Hills subdivision was once owned by the U.S. government
and was part of a naval training range. Commonly known as Five Points
Field, it was used as a military practice bombing range during World War
II, the firm said.
The government sold the property in 1956. Lawyers said in its deed to
the purchaser, the U.S. government acknowledged that the property was
subject to contamination by the introduction of unexploded bombs,
shells, rockets, mines and charges. The government recommended that the
target impact area be restricted to "above surface'' use only, the firm
said.
The homeowners allege that when
KB Home bought the land in the late
1990s and started the Southridge Hills subdivision,
KB
Home had actual
knowledge that the U.S. Navy had used the land as a practice bombing
range and that there were dangerous unexploded ordnances in the ground.
The lawsuit also alleges that
KB Home ignored the recommendation of the
U.S. Army Corp of Engineers to hire an unexploded ordnance contractor to
remove the subsurface bombs from the site prior to any development.
The Southridge Hills homeowners claim that at the point of sale
KB
Home,
acting by and through their agents and employees, intentionally withheld
the information from the plaintiffs that the homes they were purchasing
were built on top of a bombing site and that the area had contained a
number of subsurface, unexploded bombs. Had the defendants disclosed the
information, the plaintiffs would not have purchased homes in the Southridge Hills subdivision, attorneys said.
In a statement issued Friday,
KB Home said it had been assured that the Southridge land was safe before it began building and that it would work
to achieve a quick resolution to the homeowners' concerns.
"Before a single home was built at Southridge, we received assurances
from the U.S. military and an independent consultant that there was no
reason to believe there were any hazardous substances at the property as
a result of its military use 50 years ago,"
KB
Home said in the
statement. "We relied on such assurances and concluded that the
community was fully safe for new home construction.
"Our company would never have chosen to build on this land if we'd been
given any reason to believe the site posed any sort of risk to
homeowners," it added. "The safety and well being of the individuals and
families who put their trust in
KB Homes is, and will always be, our
first priority.
"We have been working and continue to work on our homeowners' behalf to
achieve a prompt resolution with the Army Corps of Engineers. The
lawsuit filed today does nothing to deter us from our mission of working
to ensure these families' complete satisfaction and peace of mind,"
KB
Home said.
AP
KB Home to Pay $2M to Settle FTC
Complaint
Wednesday July 13, 11:24 pm ET
KB Home Will Pay $2 Million to Settle FTC Complaint Involving Customer
Disputes
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- KB Home has agreed to pay $2 million to settle
Federal Trade Commission charges that the homebuilder violated
guidelines for resolving disputes with customers over construction
complaints.
The settlement is pending approval from the Department of Justice, KB
Home spokeswoman Kate Mulhearn confirmed Wednesday.
The FTC took issue with KB Home's inclusion of binding arbitration
clauses in its home warranties. Such clauses require customers to settle
disputes through arbitration, instead of going to court.
While binding arbitration clauses are widely used in the homebuilding
industry and throughout other business sectors, KB Home had agreed as
part of a 1979 consent decree not to require its customers to use
arbitration as a means of handling contract disputes.
"The FTC's position is that because the document on which the consent
decree is based did not specifically allow us to use binding
arbitration, we could not use it, and so we violated the consent
decree," Mulhearn said.
The company ceased including the restriction in its warranty contracts
in 2003, Mulhearn said.
"Under the current policy, if it gets to arbitration, now KB Home buyers
are not bound by that decision, they can pursue legal action if they
choose," she said.
In 1991, KB Home faced a complaint from the Justice Department over
alleged violations of the consent decree. The matter, which KB Home
settled for $595,000, was not related to binding arbitration, Mulhearn
said.
A lawsuit challenging the company's past use of binding arbitration is
pending in Texas state court. The plaintiff in the case has filed for
class-action status. A hearing on the suit is scheduled for next month.
Last week, KB Home agreed to pay $3.2 million as part of a settlement
with federal regulators who found the homebuilder's mortgage financing
arm approved home loans for borrowers who were not qualified.
Visit :http://www.hadd.com
Questions, contact Margaret Schellang/Committee Chair 407-629-5425 or email mschellang@aol.com.
Photos wanted for this site (from the early years when this community was first built) send to info@myparklake.com
This site is for City of Maitland, Florida residents