Surfside Building Collapse

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Let’s just add this to the list of embarrassments that we, the supposedly greatest nation on Earth, have endured lately. Wasn’t G-7 enough?

Because my husband is a retired contractor, I know a lot about this building in Miami. The HOA refused to acknowledge that the condominium had been sinking for years sans hurricane or cyclones! 150 people are unaccounted for and we all know what that means.

My parents lived in the high rent district of Naples, FL and had to pay $100k in assessments after Irma because many of the condos had windows that were not up to code and destroyed 16 units.

Advice to the wise: Never, ever buy a condo. Build a home and keep yourself involved with the contractor and their standards.

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Published by liznaples57

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34 thoughts on “Surfside Building Collapse”

  1. I was hoping you’d weigh in on this. Yes I heard this morning that the owners had been warned at least 3 years ago that the foundation was crumbling. If it was a condo, though, the association probably doesn’t have the funds to pay the judgments of the wrongful death suits.

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  2. Prayers, and no words for this catastrophe; hoping they can determine – and hold accountable – those responsible! (Can/will Biden’s DOJ make this a civil rights case – speaking of assigning blame, uh, I meant, seeking accountability?)

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    1. Nanda, I am truly at a loss for words. Why on Earth do American citizens ignore the ‘details’ and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy something on which they have done no homework?

      I can’t help thinking about my current new home- 2 yrs old- and my husband and I were all over those builders like white on rice. We even went after our original landscaper who planted a beautiful yard that every deer in the hood razed in a NY minute. (There are plants and foliage that repel animals and we have since installed them.)

      Point being: Where is the personal responsibility and pride that used to MAG?

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      1. They’re certainly not in evidence here, are they? (MAC on AMR, said indignantly: “This happens in third-world countries; it doesn’t effing happen here….Btw, the building looks like what happened to the WTC, doesn’t it?”

        Shared sentiment, and interesting question: Who engineered this?

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  3. “Btw, the building looks like what happened to the WTC, doesn’t it?”

    It did indeed but this is the difference. WTC was designed to implode as opposed to falling over and decimating entire neighborhoods. As heinous as 9/11 was, I admire those architects because that tragedy could have been so much worse.

    The people who designed the Towers, knowing the possibilities of destruction, deserve to receive the Medal of Freedom.

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    1. Appreciate the insider perspective, Liz….The designers of the WTC certainly deserve recognition and gratitude for their foresight.

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  6. If y’all don’t mind, I’m still infuriated about the subject of condos in Florida and I need to vent.

    My husband believes condos are a scam for the elderly and the more you pay for your residence, the more vulnerable you are. As mentioned, my parents were assessed an obscene amt of money although the building they inhabited did not adhere to the hurricane glass code when they purchased it with a $3k monthly HOA fee. After my father died, my mother moved into an assisted living condo that looked like the Ritz Carlton, spent a lot of bucks and still had to spend two weeks in Orlando during the next tropical debacle because the building HAD NO GENERATOR!!!

    I’ve always been hostile to govt-imposed “codes” -still am!- but there are some we should all be forced to adhere to for own safety. After all, that is the purpose of govt- keep us safe and then go away gently into the night…

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    1. Thank you for your insights on this, Liz. I have toyed with the idea of buying a condo, but after what you have said about them, I will steer clear!

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      1. Of course Florida puts undue pressure on buildings due to the climate, humidity and natural disasters, so I hesitate to discourage you to buy in MA. Just pls be sure about the priorities of the HOA and make sure you know the people who inhabit the building and its financial health.

        If you ever have any questions going forward, you know I’d be happy to help. 🙂

        After all, this is my husband’s thing!

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  7. I had a beloved uncle and aunt who were, when they were alive, snowbirds. But my uncle who was a contractor totally refused to buy property in Florida. He said that when he left every spring, he didnt want to worry about his property. So, they always rented down there.

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    2. My younger bro owns and operates an 18 hole golf course with RV park. He rents and sells the RV slots to snowbirds.

      Today’s RVs are not your grampa’s old Winnebago!

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      1. I drove the whole Alcan highway in winter time, and part of it in the summer, before cell phones came into existence. Believe it or not, it was much easier in the winter. During summertime, that road is filled to the brim with effing RV’s going 40 miles an hour. Drove me nuts 🙂

        Robin always kind of wanted to buy an RV. I would often remind him that you can rent many, many hotel rooms for what an RV costs. But what your brother is doing sounds cool. I think there is something similar in Westerly, Rhode Island, but it’s on the beach, not on a golf course. 🙂

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      2. His is about a 1 minute drive to the beach. Most of his clients trail cars and motorcycles for mobility upon parking their huge RVs.

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      1. It was beautiful and magnificent to a certain subset of mostly black and white Americans when I lived there. I reckon one would hear, read, and speak more Spanish there these days. No probs dude. I loves me some senoritas.

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      3. Unfortunately, whenever I visit a place that has a name that sounds cool, it never works out. I talked my poor father into going to Halifax, Nova Scotia on a drive through Canada, for the sole reason that I thought that “Halifax, Nova Scotia” sounded really cool. OMG, what a disaster. We arrived in the middle of a downpour that lasted the whole time we were there. And, there was an international convention of some sort going on, so we couldn’t get a hotel room. We drove around all night looking for one, never found one, and ended up sleeping in the car during The rainstorm to end all rainstorms. Good times! (Not, lol 🙂

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      6. Why do you say I have no idea? I have literally floated down the sides of mountains while trying to get one or two minutes shut eye.

        I know a lot more than I would care to know about sleeping under the stars and in cars in every clime and place.

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      7. I know. But there was so much more going that night in Halifax than physical deprivation. I was 13 at the time. While we were trying to sleep in the car, my Dad-the voice of reason-actually was sleeping. I saw what was the reflection of his hand in one of the windows, but it looked really creepy and I didn’t realize that it was a reflection of my father’s hand. I started flipping out. My mother who was awake saw it when I pointed it out to her. “Don’t worry.” She said. “It is the hand of God looking over us.”

        I was not comforted. I knew for certain that whatever I was seeing was not the hand of God. My mother can be very flaky, lol 🙂 That whole night was just surreal, which is why I compare it to the Twilight Zone 🙂

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      8. Sleeping in a car for one night in the rain really isn’t a big deal. I know that. It was just a very weird night. I wasn’t physically uncomfortable, it was just weird, which is why I compare it to the Twilight Zone. It was like we were in another dimension or something. Maybe you had to be there 🙂

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      9. We drove thru NS once in summer. The land scape had just been ravaged by a forest fire, or many of them. It may even have been part of sound forest management; nobody local seemed upset about it. So, not too scenic….but that was minor compared to the big black flies that swarmed on us every time we got outta the car. And I mean, I’m no stranger to bugs, believe me—mayflies, mosquitoes, deerflies….but THIS😱. Never again.

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  9. Final comment on this subject but I don’t mind congratulating myself for buying 1,000 shares of Generac last night. Not that this had anything to do with the structural issues of Surf Side, but it did bring more acute awareness of defending your homes in inclement weather. All good.

    People are far more aware of risk now although I will say I find this annoyingly “after the fact.”

    The list of Florida hurricanes encompasses approximately 500 tropical or subtropical cyclones that affected her and more storms hit Florida than any other U.S. state since 1851. Eighteen hurricane/cyclone seasons hit the region have resulted in over 10,000 deaths, most of which occurring prior to 1943.

    Additionally, the cumulative impact from the storms totaled over US $216.1 billion in damage (2018 dollars), primarily from Hurricane Andrew, Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Michael in the 1992, 2017, and 2018 seasons respectively.

    Be careful when you buy and perhaps spare the guest bedroom furniture if it means 1) spending the money to raise your elevation above flood code and 2) a generator that controls everything in the house- frig, electricity, hot water, et cetera.

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  10. P.S. To Hyp: Nova Scotia, as has CA has not, spent the money to clean out the dead brush in forests that create fire. One of the things my husband and I were most careful about in “signing up” is that the HOA money in this wilderness preserve is directed mainly to upkeep.

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