Buying A New Home

Sun City Center began back in the early 1960's. Since that time, it has been developed by a number of companies. Some ran out of money, others turned a quick profit and sold out. The current developer is Florida Design Communities. In addition to Sun City Center, they have half-a-dozen other developments in the south-eastern part of the U.S. Because of the current amenities and ambiance of Sun City Center, Florida Design is able to sell their homes and turn a decent profit. They are very aggressive in their marketing. Many of the sales result from referrals of current residents or couples who take advantage of their "Golfing Packages". It would appear that Florida Design will be here until the build-out of the community in 15 or 20 years.

There are actually two communities here: Sun City Center and Kings Point. Sun City Center is more of a traditional community with larger lots, more open views, sidewalks and individual responsibility for maintaining the property. Kings Point is a gated community with a building density of about eight homes to the acre, no sidewalks and Florida Design is responsible for all yard maintenance and the exterior (including the roof) of all homes. Of course, Kings Point residents pay several hundred dollars a month fee for the upkeep. The fee depends on which section you live in.

Florida Design will happily build you a house in either community. In fact, they are setup to build, finance, decorate and provide closing services on new homes.

Quality control has been and continues to be one of their major problems. I recall that one of the first community meetings that we attended turned into a shouting match between the CEO of Florida Design and irate home owners who were venting their anger that the Developer wasn't making good on his mistakes. Residents of new sections get to meet and know each other as they join together in an "us against them [Florida Design]" movement to protest shoddy workmanship. Florida Design is very much aware of their reputation. In their promotional video tapes (from at least the early 1990's to their current one) they make a point of the fact that they have a guy assigned to "quality control". As in any building project, one loses some control when work is sub-contracted. But still, Florida Design should be responsible enough to catch errors! An example is the framing of a recently constructed home: trusses were not set on 24" centers but were forced and bent as they ran up the roof, bridging was left out where the distances were not 24", non-treated wood was used as jambs on both the front and back doors, even bad wood was used. A day or two after framing was complete, someone (probably the inspector) wrote on one particularly bad piece of lumber "Replace Lumber". The wood was never replaced and was ultimately covered-up with drywall. Stories abound of poor construction methods. In another case, someone had marked a dozen or so studs for replacement. The new replacement wood was even delivered - and the drywall crew WORKED AROUND the pile of new wood as they covered-up the bad wood! Other examples include: Carpeting doesn't match from one room to another, plumbing fixtures set out-of-level so that water collects at the wall, substituting cheap woods for expensive ones, etc. It troubles me that such careless mistakes are made for homes costing $200,000+. The fact is that your new home will no doubt have problems! Check the work-site often! This is particularly important during the early phases of construction when the structural integrity of the house may be compromised. If the home is being constructed while you are up-north for the summer, surely it's worth 1 or 2% of the cost of the house to fly down for one day and check for mistakes, several times during construction. And if you don't feel competent to check out things like framing, you can hire a Certified Home Inspector (there are several in Brandon) who will do a framing inspection for you for $200-$300. Surely it's worth a tenth of one percent of the cost of the house to make sure that it is structually sound. Having personally built two houses and extensively remodeled another, I am bothered by their minimalist framing techniques and the fact that they don't use pressure treated wood near the walls and entrances. Bear in mind that Florida Design's quality control guy is mainly concerned that the structure meets the minimum standards of the drawings, which in turn meet the minimum standards of the Southern Building Code. Be sure that the warranty period on the house is long enough for you to comfortably find all the problems. Also find out the current backlog of other peoples' problems, so that you'll know about the response time for your problems. And the hearsay is that the louder and more vehemently you protest, the sooner the problem will be corrected. I've also been told that a firm date for the completion of your home is not really firm, and that once Florida Design has your down-payment in hand, the date may start to slip. Just for laughs, see if Florida Design will refund $1,000 for each day that they're late!

Price-wise, all you're typically getting is a one story house (no basement, no second floor) with a great room that includes the kitchen, and adjoining bedrooms, bathrooms and a garage that is surrounded by very little land. Drive around the loop of new homes on Bluewater drive east of Del Webb Blvd East to see how closely homes are being packed! What you're actually buying is a piece of Sun City Center and the amenities that go with it.

Florida Design will throw in a country club membership and trail fees with a new house. If you are an avid golfer, this can be of benefit. If you don't golf, expect them to reduce the price of the house accordingly.

Since Florida Design does not use pressure-treated wood for all their framing, make sure in writing that the ground has been professionally treated for termites.

Florida Design does everything on the basis of "enlightened self- interest" - otherwise known as the profit motive. Some help the community - some hurt the community. For example, they constructed and maintain the medians which provide a very nice looking approach to the community and they give money to volunteer organizations which enhance the quality of life here (like the Security Patrol and the Emergency Squad). On the other hand, they wanted to build time-share apartments here which would have ruined the nature of the community. A great protest by the residents (which lost the developer millions? of dollars in sales) persuaded them that maybe time-shares weren't such a good idea. Likewise, the developer is interested in acquiring adjacent property for high density development, contrary to the County's Master Plan. Fortunately, there are several residents here who dog his attempts to sway the County's planners.

Take a good, long hard look at Florida Design's map for future development in Sun City Center. For example, note that at the extreme northeast (near Runningbrooke Way) and southeast corners of the property are areas set aside for "Village Commercial". These might well become all-night gas-marts with bright lights, slamming doors and a place for itinerants to enter the community. If a real estate agent tells you otherwise, get it in writing! The Developer has publicly promised that the roads of Sun City Center will not be accessible thru these commercial places, but that doesn't preclude walk-ins. Also note the areas designated as Multi Family. Wouldn't it be a surprise if one day your nice view became a Three Story apartment house.

Ruined views is another problem, which can take two forms. The first is that you think you have a view of a lake, golf course or woods. And then one day, a home is built which blocks your view. This problem of ruined views is not the fault of, nor unique to, Florida Design. This same problem dates all the way back to the 1960's when Del Webb was the developer. Buyers just don't take the time to carefully examine the plats, and to get in writing that the plats are final. As you consider different lots, ask to see the whole plat of future homes so that you don't end-up looking into your neighbor's house. The second way that views are ruined are directly attributable to the developer, Florida Design. This happens when an over-zealous salesperson agrees that a new home can have additional structures. The most infamous case of this occurred recently when the developer agreed to build a brick fence around the back yard of a new home, so that the future owners could sunbathe "au naturale". The adjacent owner was stymied in his efforts to get his view restored, so he eventually sold out and moved elsewhere. The court case turned on the point that the home and fence had not yet come under the covenents which would have restricted the wall, because the property was technically owned by the developer when the wall was built. Covenents around SCC restrict fences. To prevent this sort of problem, one should require Florida Design to certify in writing that all other future homes in the area will conform to the covenent as they are being built. If Florida Design balks at providing such a promise in writing, I would be very, very wary.

Think about future traffic flow and noise. Will it be in front of your home because that's the main route to the rest of the future community?

By virtue of the recent Communications Act, all homes in the U.S. (which includes Sun City Center) can have a satellite dish for TV reception. The only restriction is that a Home Owners Association can specify its location on the lot or house, as long as the location doesn't degrade the signal. Such dishes are easily camoflaged by being under fake rocks. If you're into Ham Radio, check your future covenent to see if you can have a long-wire or beam antenna - in some parts of the community you can't. If that is a decision to be rendered by your Associations's "architectual" committee, get that decision before you sign a contract.

If you're sensitive to noise, avoid the golf-courses where mowers start shortly after 6am, where clubhouse speakers start to blare forth around 7:20am, and where golfers pass by every few minutes shouting their thrill of victory or agony of defeat. The closer the home is to Route 301, the more likely you'll hear the daily traffic. There is very little nighttime traffic noise. Since the surrounding area is primarily agricultural, the thru-traffic begins rather early in the morning.

If possible, check the location of the neighbor's air-conditioner relative to the bedrooms of your potential home. Would you be kept awake by the cycling of their compressor all night long? Consider the siting of the house relative to the sun's path.

Get everything in writing!