European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 20, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                1he perils of Pur chasing t he Salesman makes buying a Home site i Florida sound easy and painless with just 5 percent Down and depending on the Price of the lot monthly payments Are about $4 a Day. Yel. Consumer advocates such As attorney Patricia Simko of new York warn about hidden costs that May put the affordable out of reach. The expenses of developing a Home site Lor building rarely Are disclosed since Sellers consider them a housing Cost unrelated to the Home site. Simko and experts in the Federal Trade commission. Department of housing and Urban development and in Florida urge service a Myers to look in inn porn party report or contract or ask the Salesman about additional expenses. Get specifics. In writing if possible said James tangles an Etc attorney. If a Salesman shrugs Oft queries of acts tentative. Tangires advised a delay until the facts Are provided. Buyers also thoum visit a site to see the lot and area they should talk to tax appraisers and realtors to learn what other property Sells for. They should get a Market analysis to learn about he resale Market. A prospective buyer should ask about charges for financing. In i Union acres Quarter acre Home Sltes sell for $11.000. One sex serve remember living in Fuerth put Down $2.400 and financed the balance of $8.600 Lor 10 years at 11 percent interest. Over the life of the contract his finance charges will total $4,783, making his $11,000 Home site actually Cost $15,783. Clearing filling and drainage. Some Homes Les Are covered with Trees Palmetto san spurs and underbrush that must be cleared before a Home can be built. Some Home Sltes Are not High enough to be built on and need to be filled in which can get expensive at $5 a cubic Yard. For adequate drainage Low wet spots May have to be contoured away from the property. Surveying. Some developers pay lot surveying others leave it to the Homeowner. A Survey can Cost $175. Taxes and assessments for special districts. How much Are they ask about special lighting districts or Road maintenance assessments. Maintenance. Some developments assess a monthly Community maintenance fee without specifying How much or what h covers. A property owners association May require annual dues. Recreation facilities. Some communities charge a user s Lee. In port Labelle families pay an annual fee of $132 to use the Pool or daily fees of $3 per adult and $2 per child. Ii costs $6.30 an hour to use the Riding trails. There is a one time membership fee of $500 to use the Golf course plus annual dues of $742. Sewers. Is there a Central sewer system or does the Homeowner install a septic tank is there a tap in Lee Lor the Central sewer system if there s a septic tank and a Central sewer one is installed later will homeowners be required to Hook up at their expense Wells. Is there a Central water system or does the Homeowner Drill Lor a Well who pays the connection and Extension fee to the Central water system natural Gas. Is it available and How much does it Cost electric and Telephone service. Find out what it costs to run Utility Linos to the Home site. While Lake Hatasu in Arizona is an extreme running electric lines to new Homes there can Cost $268,000. Installing a Telephone line to a new Home there can Cost $325,000. Is a License necessary no land salesmen Are authorized to sell  in Europe but they insist the problem lies with unrealistic Susareu regulations. There s never been anybody licensed to sell  said Charles week a general agent for Deltona corp. We be never been Able to  wreck who has been Selling to service members in Europe for 20 years said Usa eur s licensing requirement is unfair and the fact he and other salesmen Are not licensed does not mean they Are the bad Guys. For a land Salesman to be licensed Usa eur requires the Parent company to allow a serve remember 90 Days to cancel a Purchase contract after the service member returns permanently to the United states from an overseas Post. Usa eur s cancellation clause applies Only to property that has not been inspected by the serve remember. It requires service members who cancel to pay a Small charge. Wreck said the cancellation provision would make bookkeeping impossible delay the payment of commissions and make data confusing in federally required financial statements. Many sales he said. Would have to be listed As pending. We could have $5 million in property of the Market and never know it it was sold or not wreck said. If we knew people would go Homo in six months we could live with that. But Home people stay Lor 15 years. We would All Register if we could wreck said. But this regulation prevents us from registering. They be asked us to do something no serious company could comply  Page i the stars and stripes without clearance the land salesmen Are not authorized to enter military installations to sell even if they re invited. The people should be slopped at the Gale said Anne Matthews of Usa eur s commercial affairs Section in Heidelberg the Section also issues authorization Lor Safe. As far As Usa eur is concerned on Post sales Are unauthorized sales she said. Even though the Sale May be unauthorized it s not illegal and a service member who buys land has not done anything wrong. Salesmen can make presentations outside installations. But because the salesmen do not meet licensing criteria Usa eur has no control if there is a problem service members Purchase at risk Matthews said. There s nothing we can do to protect the service member at this Point Matthews said. If the customer is dissatisfied he d have to go to civil  unhappy customers have no recourse through Usa eur. And it seems that some salesmen know this. One gds Salesman told a prospective buyer. Jag has a list of approved contractors  we re on their list of approved services and  he said. With Usa eur there s an official listing. There s an approved list of people that you want to keep away from and an approved list of people who have a clean Bill of health. We be gotten glowing reports Back from  Matthews said that is not True and even h it were to use it in a sales presentation violates a Usa eur guideline. Wednesday november 20, 19b5 o free lunch fro mid has a from gds which Means he can t shop around for competitive builders or better prices buyers using this certificate cannot use any other discount plan they might have been oseted in the land sales Industry it s called the encyclopedia approach to  the Home site. But pile on additional benefits that make the offer impossible to refuse. Salesmen say there s no added Cost. But there is no free lunch. The promotions Cost Money and developers must recover their costs. Generally the expenses Are passed along in the Price of the land which Means people who Don t take the benefits underwrite the expense of people who do. General development corp., which offers the most inducements charges the most for its Home Sltes while Deltona which offers no inducements charges the least for its Homes Les gds buyers not Only get a Home site they May be offered travel credit. Service members who visit their Home site within 24 months of Purchase receive a travel voucher for $325, which is applied toward the balance of the contract. The purchaser does not receive Money. Holiday certificate purchasers who visit their Home site within 12 months of buying get three nights free lodging at an area Motel and $ 150 in meal coupons. � Community inspection and Lull refund guarantee. Home site owners have  months to visit their property and take a guided tour with a gds official. If they Don t like what they see. Gds will give them a full refund if it s requested in writing at the time of the inspect Loa the option includes two nights tree lodging. 30th anniversary Home building certificate. Until dec. 31, gds offers credits from $2,000 to $4,000. Toward the Price of a Home. Only one certificate can be used for each Home and it must be used within 10 years. But buyers cannot build on their Home site until the contract has been paid in full. To use this certificate buyers on a 10-year contract would have to prepay any balance. Anniversary Bonus credit. Through its 30th anniversary year ending dec. 31. Gds offers discounts of 6 percent to 15 percent on Home Sltes. I theh Omeste Ade in certificate. A buyer owns a p h a Sites and wants to build on one of them Enre her " he paid $5 or on8 lot find Rusf a Sam a lot Lor s 10.000, he receives a $5.000 appreciation credit toward the Purchase of a Home. He also receives the equity in the lot however the buyer can Trade Only one lot Lor one �