Observations on Condo collapse.

CONDO OWNERS RESPONSIBLE FOR MAJOR REPAIRS 

EACH OWNER WAS ASSESSED OVER $180,000

This tragedy in Florida has revealed some things that many condo owners may not be aware of. Major renovations are assessed to the owners who may have thought they were escaping the responsibilities of home ownership. One of the delays with the renovations was that the individual owners needed to get mortgages or financing to cover their share to the tune of $180,000 each. I suspect this will be a wake-up call for all those who are in this position, often in their post high earning years.

Everyone is already looking to assign blame and the lawyers are lining up. It is interesting from the pictures that the court yard, which was not supporting much weight, also sank by around 5 feet. Is it possible that the area under the foundation is actually an unstable sink hole. Florida's bed rock is not the best, is this just the first of possible problems with the limestone bedrock? Parts of Florida are ancient coral reefs or other types of bedrock not suitable for high rise building. It was never a problem when summer homes and cottages were on the beach.

It is likely that there will not be any survivors. It is now over a week. I hate to be a backbencher, but the heavy equipment and  a massive removal of this building should have begun by now. It is a trade off, but as time goes on, any survivors time is running out. Buckets and hand tools will not likely save anyone.

The best hope is that all existing buildings and their foundations will be analyzed. Also some kind of test boring to determine what exactly is beneath these buildings. Not much can be done for these poor folks and their families, but hopefully it will be signal that will prevent any other such tragedies.