Word: optional
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...images of lonely tumbleweeds blowing across streets of empty condos and "For Sale" signs, a couple of financial wizards have come up with a program they believe could breathe new life and buyer confidence into the decimated sector. It's called Sirius Value Protection - and works like a 'put option,' where buyers of new homes get the right to exercise a put that would require Sirius buy back the home at the original price after an eight-year period...
Sirius Value Protection offers to calm investor jitters by guaranteeing the long-term value of the property through the put option, says Herzberg. At the same time, the program gives the developer, fund manager, bank, or homebuilder - whoever currently owns the newly-built home - a competitive edge over rivals, he says...
...from a slam-dunk fix for the housing slump. Under the program, which received a provisional patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office last month, the developer or homebuilder must give 20% of the purchase price to Herzberg's group as a fee for the put option - a payment that many developers may be reluctant to cough up. "20% is astronomically high!," says one analyst, who did not wish to be named. "What builder would give away 20% when they're doing 5% or 10% [pretax] margins? If they gave away 20% of the house price, they'd lose...
...program isn't without risk for homebuyers either. It requires the homeowner hang onto the new home for eight years before being able to exercise the put option. If the owner sells the house on the open market or loses it in foreclosure before the eight-year waiting period expires, the person is out of luck - the put option becomes worthless. However, homeowners do have the option of opting out of the program in the first six years in exchange for handsome cash bonuses, ranging from 10% of the purchase price in year one to 3% in year six. Still...
Some also question the program's long-term financial viability. Sirius Value isn't regulated since it's neither an insurance product nor a security, and experts caution that a lot can happen to a market, program or company in the eight years before the put option can be exercised. "Do they have the financial resources and will they be here eight years from now?" asks Curran...