Plan B Forum

The collapse of the condo tower in Surfside has consumed my thinking for the last week.

Obviously the heartbreaking loss of life and the horrific manner of death. It is unimaginable.

But as time goes by, the emerging evidence of the role the victims played in their own demise is adding another layer of heartache to the whole tragedy.

I’ve been reading the reports of the battles and infighting between the condo board and residents over the costs and inconveniences facing them to accomplish the repairs deemed necessary after the 2018 engineering assessment found major structural damage. It reminds me of working in local, small town government. So many egos, so much thin skin, so much resulting neglect of the greater good.


It is hard to wrap one’s head around the amount of trauma and the ripple effects of grief and absence these losses have created in so many lives. The cost to the search and rescue/first responders is especially painful to consider. That it was all entirely avoidable makes it also incredibly enraging. What a horror.

This gives me plenty of data to consider before even looking to relocate to a condo.

And I am gonna have to move in the next year.

snailgate

One factor is generational. Some bought in at the beginning and, in the past, the law allowed owners to under-fund known future costs. When the inevitable needs become apparent a decade or two later, there is a divide between those who have the means to fix the problem and those who don't. Quite simply, some people cannot afford to live in the condo and should get out of the way and find a place they can afford. Most states now have laws that require professional estimates of sinking funds to be sure all expenses, current and future, are funded.

This WashPo article details some of the drama surrounding the 3 year delay of getting anything going in terms of repairs and shoring up at Champlain South - I’m sure the pandemic didn’t help, but the dysfunction was already in place.

The article is followed by 4.5k comments, many detailing the apparently common horrors of navigating condo boards and maintenance issues. It’s enough to make one consider the benefits of renting in a well maintained, well managed apartment building.


Majority of Florida condo board quit in 2019 as squabbling residents dragged out plans for repairs

They needed a special kind of sinking fund for this problem.

Burning Petard wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 02, 2021 1:37 pm

This gives me plenty of data to consider before even looking to relocate to a condo.

And I am gonna have to move in the next year.

snailgate

Don’t move to a liberal area: if the gangsters don’t shoot you while the cops look on, the building will fall on you. You can’t blame the cops; they are just workers trying to make it to retirement, and the best way to do that is to keep their distance from the gangsters. Why would anyone want to live in a liberal hell hole anyway?

Since when is Miami Beach "liberal"? At best it i s moderately democrat--nearly 50% voted for Trump. Not surprising given the wealth and age demographics.

None of us know what the specific issue is that caused the Champlain building to come down. But the current ethos - 'We don't need no stinking regulations and we'll crop them out one by one and what's more we'll make sure that the agencies supposed to police them are defunded' - will cause more and more of this type of event in the future. I'm starting to look for contractors to do some major upgrades to my house and more than one has said that they'd be cheaper if we did not bother the city planning office about it. Thanks but no thanks.

Having dealt with several town bureaucracies, I don't think that offer is intended to disguise slipshod work (although it may well be); but there is a big difference between making changes in your own house and in a condo, where many more people may be directly affected. I know personally of several situations where the inspectors solicited (and even received) bribes to pass the work and sign off on the permit, so reliance on the town infrastruxture is no guarantee.

Big RR wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 03, 2021 1:57 pm

Having dealt with several town bureaucracies, I don't think that offer is intended to disguise slipshod work (although it may well be); but there is a big difference between making changes in your own house and in a condo, where many more people may be directly affected. I know personally of several situations where the inspectors solicited (and even received) bribes to pass the work and sign off on the permit, so reliance on the town infrastruxture is no guarantee.

I would bet they did. It's nothing remarkable...I recall the going rate on permits for a roof replacement on a house was about $500, and that was over 15 years ago.

ex-khobar Andy wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 03, 2021 3:42 am

None of us know what the specific issue is that caused the Champlain building to come down. But the current ethos - 'We don't need no stinking regulations and we'll crop them out one by one and what's more we'll make sure that the agencies supposed to police them are defunded' - will cause more and more of this type of event in the future. I'm starting to look for contractors to do some major upgrades to my house and more than one has said that they'd be cheaper if we did not bother the city planning office about it. Thanks but no thanks.

I wish I'd had that option. Might have saved me a bunch of money.

ex-khobar Andy wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 03, 2021 3:42 am

I'm starting to look for contractors to do some major upgrades to my house and more than one has said that they'd be cheaper if we did not bother the city planning office about it. Thanks but no thanks.

Good call. At some point, you pay in some manner. I had a situation where a house selling price was discounted by 20% because so much un-permitted work had been done over the years (and done badly by DIY types). Plus, how good is a contractor if they are willing to do substantial work off the record?

Long Run wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 04, 2021 4:07 pm

Good call. At some point, you pay in some manner. I had a situation where a house selling price was discounted by 20% because so much un-permitted work had been done over the years (and done badly by DIY types). Plus, how good is a contractor if they are willing to do substantial work off the record?

Probably pretty good. Lots of work on my house was done off the record...there were no issues with it.