Prop. 201: Read fine print

If you're buying a new house, a 10-year warranty might sound pretty sweet. It's the big selling point for Proposition 201, an initiative with the grandiose title of Homeowners' Bill of Rights.

But check out the fine print. This measure is a sour deal in many ways.

The proposal is cumbersome and complicated. It would add to the cost of homes, add red tape for builders and add to the wait for some buyers to get problems resolved.

And as a ballot measure, it would be impossible to fix without another trip to the voting booth.

Proposition 201 would require every seller of a dwelling to include a 10-year warranty in the purchase price "without additional or separate charge." The guarantee applies not only to the original buyer but all subsequent buyers within 10 years of the original purchase. This is either disingenuous or outright deceptive.

Although builders may absorb some of the expense of providing such a long and open-ended warranty, the economic facts of running a business mean that the additional costs will eventually be passed on to consumers.

The initiative is both overly detailed and distressingly open-ended. The result could leave consumers worse off, not better off.

For instance, the proposition would let buyers cancel a contract within 100 days and receive at least 95 percent of their deposit back. Given the risk that people could agree to build several new houses and, at the last minute, walk away from all but one, builders might end up requiring much higher deposits.

Any offer to repair or replace a defect in a home must give the consumer a choice of at least three contractors to do the work. This adds an extra layer of expense because the builder can do the work at cost. And are unhappy home buyers eager for a choice of contractors or a speedy repair?

The push for this proposition came from Local 359 of the Sheet Metal Workers International Association. The Home Builders Association of Central Arizona claims the union used the threat of an initiative as a pressure tactic in a campaign to get a local contractor to unionize. Union officials respond that they're just trying to give extra legal protection to their members, who are also home buyers.

Either way, this isn't a meticulously constructed measure from consumer advocates alert to possible legal pitfalls.

No other state has adopted a sweeping 10-year warranty for home buyers. No place has vetted this lengthy list of requirements for builders, down to the pricing of model homes, for unexpected consequences.

Arizonans would be going into uncharted territory.

Buyers have had some real problems with quality. This complex initiative isn't the answer. Now that the housing bubble has burst and construction has slowed to a crawl, we have time to consider whether home buyers need additional protection and what it should be. Any proposal should go through the Legislature, so it remains a system that can be tuned up.

Proposition 201 may have street appeal, but it contains as