Builder - October 2008 - (Page 32)

INSIDE STORY the Legislature raised its budget in ﬁscal 2008 (which ran September 2007 through August 2008) to $10.6 million from $3.2 million, allowing the commission to increase staff to 80 from 32 last spring. Patrick Fortner, a TRCC spokesman, says that from the second quarter of ﬁscal 2006 through second quarter ﬁscal 2008, TRCC had inspected 740 homes for defects and resolved 89 cases, or 12 percent; but as a result of fuller staffing, its performance in the last two quarters of ﬁscal 2008 improved markedly, to the point where TRCC had cumulatively resolved 337 of 1,071 cases, or 31.5 percent. On Sept. 1, TRCC also launched a county inspection program, which requires registered builders to conduct three inspections during construction, versus zero previously. TRCC also made other recommendations it is urging the Legislature to consider such as granting the Commission’s executive director emergency authority to dispatch a state inspector, hiring an attorney to represent homeowners in defect disputes, allowing the Commission to contion,” says Duane Waddill, TRCC’s executive director. Fortner notes that appeals have often been the sticking point. But Ahmad is less charitable in her assessment of the process, which she calls “the punishment phase of homeownership.” The Sunset Commission will meet in December to vote on whether to accept or reject the report’s recommendations. A bill will then be presented to the Legislature next year calling for either TRCC’s renewal or demise. What would replace it is anyone’s guess. Ahmad favors a housing lemon law that funnels complaints through a staterun enforcement bureau that would give builders three chances to ﬁ x conﬁrmed defects or require them to buy back the house. Waddill, on the other hand, thinks TRCC simply needs clariﬁcation about its purpose. “Our mission is to give a neutral, technical, professional assessment of a defect complaint,” he says. He rejects suggestions that more regulation or contractor licensing (which 28 states require) is needed to repair TRCC’s defects.—J.C. duct voluntary mediation, and creating a recovery fund for consumers. TRCC officials concede the commission’s arduous defect veriﬁcation process— which takes anywhere from four to 20 months to complete—scares off owners, who must go through the process before pursuing legal action. “It’s been a frustra- FOREIGN CUSTOMERS meetings with clients, often in brokers’ offices. But the best time to see foreign buyers about a house “is when they are in Miami,” she says. Foreign nationals look for homes in the U.S. for various reasons, Cervera Lamadrid explains: Venezuelans “because that country is in such a mess”; Colombians because that country’s economy “is improving.” She notes, however, that RCRS’s business with Brazilians has fallen off because there’s more residential construction going on there, which presents buyers with other choices closer to home. She adds that The Related Group itself has developments in the works in Mexico, Colombia, Chile, and Panama. In some of these countries, citizenship comes with real estate ownership.—J.C. bottom photo: RCRS Reaching Across Borders A Miami Realtor taps affluent buyers from outside the U.S. T he National Association of Realtors recently released a survey that found Realtor sales of homes to foreign nationals leveling off. Don’t tell that to Alicia Cervera Lamadrid, CEO of Miami-based Related Cervera Realty Services (RCRS), a three-year-old company specializing in luxury condos and high-rises. More than one-third of her clientele maintains their primary residence outside of the United States. Half of her company is owned by Jorge Perez, CEO of Miami developer and builder The Related Group. RCRS handles most of The Related Group’s retail sales in the U.S. and also works with other Florida developers and investors such as The Athena Group. RCRS caters to second- and even third-home buyers and reaches them predominantly through broker networks, particularly in Central and South America. It has hosted trade shows in countries there, where it presents information about the homes it handles, ﬁnancing, the Miami market, and so forth. “We’ve attracted up to 300 people at these,” Cervera Lamadrid says. RCRS also gets involved in scheduled GOT AN INSIDE STORY? E-MAIL JOHN CAULFIELD AT: jcaulﬁeld@hanleywood.com 32 ■ B U I LD E R o c t ober 2 0 0 8 W W W.BUILDERONLINE.COM http://WWW.BUILDERONLINE.COM

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Builder - October 2008

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