In the News

DEVELOPER OFFERS PLAN TO PROTECT PROPERTY VALUES FOR HOMEBUYERS

Naples Daily News

Forget cars and granite countertops.

There’s a new kind of incentive offered by builder Zuckerman Homes at Mariposa at Whippoorwill in Naples. It’s known as new home price protection and comes from EquityLock in Texas, a new company that recently rolled out the plan nationwide.

Here’s how it works: A buyer purchases a home in Mariposa for $260,000. If the home price index in Naples has dropped 10 percent when he sells it 10 years later, EquityLock pays him $26,000.

Mariposa’s builder is picking up the tab for the plan’s cost, which runs about 2 to 3 percent of the home’s purchase price.

“It has certainly piqued people’s interest. Although they might not have closed on the home yet, I think it’s definitely swaying them,” said Steven Zuckerman, a vice president for the Zuckerman Group, headquartered in Coconut Creek on Florida’s east coast.

Mariposa is the only community in Southwest Florida to offer the plan, which is designed to remove the fear of more price drops in the market. The plan can be purchased directly by homebuyers too.

EquityLock was in the works for a few years to offer a unique form of financial management. But the demand for its plan has grown with spiraling home prices, said David Camp, EquityLock’s executive vice president.

The company is working with builders, developers and real estate companies around the country. It’s looking to sign an exclusive agreement with Keller Williams Realty on Marco Island that would enable it to provide home price protection to buyers of its listings.

The plan has only been available for about four months. More than 2,200 properties are now protected across the country including homes, condos and lots, with a value of about $500 million, Camp said.

“Buyers don’t want to lose money,” he said. “They are just like everyone else. No one wants to lose money.”

Typically, buyers have to own their homes 18 to 24 months before they can qualify for a claim with EquityLock. They have to sell within 15 years.

“They can sell the home for more than they paid for it and still qualify for a claim,” Camp said.

It’s the sale that triggers the benefit. Zuckerman, a family-owned builder founded in 1924 and now in its fourth generation, is running another promotion it calls the Mariposa stimulus package that shaves $15,000 off its home prices. Prices ranges from $214,900 to $269,900 in the community, not including the new discount.

On top of the builder’s incentives, buyers can get an $8,000 tax credit from the federal stimulus plan if they are a first-time buyer, or haven’t owned a home in three years. That means they could get up to $23,000 off their purchase price.

“We just thought this was the best incentive, giving people the lowest prices we can for the piece of real estate they are buying,” Zuckerman said.

Mariposa offers attached townhomes and coach homes with two, three and four bedrooms.

The coach homes range from 1,500 to 2,100 square feet and include a one- or two-car garage. Townhomes are 2,000 to 2,400 square feet and have a two-car garage.

There are 180 homes in Mariposa. About 20 homes are available. “They were all previously sold and people did not close on them,” Zuckerman said.

Buyers walked away after home values dropped in the Naples area.

At their peak a few years ago, homes in Mariposa sold for nearly twice as much.

Mariposa is west of Interstate 75 off Pine Ridge Road on Whippoorwill Lane. It’s surrounded by 7-1⁄2 acres of nature preserves and is centered around a 4-acre lake.