Proposition 201: Homeowners' Bill of Rights: No

This was a tough call. This prop, which grew out of a dispute between unions and homebuilders, would require all new homes to come with a 10-year guarantee that they would be free of major defects.

Given that a home is the biggest investment that most people will ever make, new houses should be free of problems--and there are some bad actors out there in the homebuilding crowd that construct some lousy homes. But here's the problem: This initiative may just go too far in the other direction, and it would lock in new requirements that can't be adjusted by the Legislature, because lawmakers can't toy with voter-passed initiatives. While we like the idea behind this, we have to recommend against it.