[bofcarrera]

I have a sinkhole and my insurance company is disputing. Have you had or know of others in 32159 or 32162 that may have had one?
I have lots of info and resources if you need them.

[gonzy]

My neighbor had a sinkhole on Heathrow ave. The insurance co. had someone do a check of his property and they found voids under the foundation and ended up drilling holes about every 6 feet and filling them with cement. They spent about $30000 pumping cement in the ground.

[CharS]

These people are horrible to deal with and terribly messy. We made the mistake of choosing them to do our sinkhole remediation and have been sorry ever since.

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by bofcarrera

i have a sinkhole and my insurance company is disputing. Have you had or know of others in 32159 or 32162 that may have had one?
I have lots of info and resources if you need them.

This post is from 2007 and the rest are old too except the one from CharS which was posted today.

Char. What area was your sinkhole, so we all don't worry too much.

[784caroline]

The insurance changes SECURE FOUNDATIONS made reference to are in fact comming. I have alerted TOTV readers in the past to be aware of the type of Sinkhole coverage they are getting with their homeowners policy.

One caution I would have about what Secure Foundation is recommending..ie file an insurance claim now if you suspect any damage, its not that easy. The insurance company most likely will accept your claim (ie open a file) and then write back if you can prove the alleged damage is due to sink hole activity via geological report/test, we will move on the claim. What that requires is for the home owner to spend $1000's of dollars to do bore testing and geological surveys and ONLY...i repeat ONLY if the testing comes back positive for confirmed sinkhole activity will the insurance company then become activily involved and most likely do their own tests. ONLY if the tests come back positive will the insurance company pay you for the testing, you initially paid for and then any repairs necessary....that is assuming you have sinkhole coverage that includes sinkhole activity not simply catastrophic sinkhole coverage.

[skyguy79]

Here is a map I found on sinkhole locations that includes the areas of The Villages. There are even options for other forms of the map including Google Earth.

http://fcit.usf.edu/florida/maps/pag...143/f11143.htm

DISCLAIMER: This is a public domain map is only for illustrative purposes and should not be used to determine sinkhole activity in an area.

[skyguy79]

Originally Posted by 784caroline

The insurance changes SECURE FOUNDATIONS made reference to are in fact comming. I have alerted TOTV readers in the past to be aware of the type of Sinkhole coverage they are getting with their homeowners policy.

One caution I would have about what Secure Foundation is recommending..ie file an insurance claim now if you suspect any damage, its not that easy. The insurance company most likely will accept your claim (ie open a file) and then write back if you can prove the alleged damage is due to sink hole activity via geological report/test, we will move on the claim. What that requires is for the home owner to spend $1000's of dollars to do bore testing and geological surveys and ONLY...i repeat ONLY if the testing comes back positive for confirmed sinkhole activity will the insurance company then become activily involved and most likely do their own tests. ONLY if the tests come back positive will the insurance company pay you for the testing, you initially paid for and then any repairs necessary....that is assuming you have sinkhole coverage that includes sinkhole activity not simply catastrophic sinkhole coverage.

Regarding the testing, I read something interesting on the following website where you could wind up paying $2,500 if no sink hole activity is found after filing a claim. To see the complete statement, read the "Claims Proceedure" section on the following page:

http://pview.findlaw.com/sinkhole-in...DQ3OTYzOV8x/FP

[RVRoadie]

In November I closed on a rental house in Leesburg, just a little south of here. The insurance quote I got in October included sinkhole insurance for about $25. However, when the policy was issued at closing sinkhole coverage was excluded. The additional cost to add sinkhole coverage was about $1,000. All this was the result of a large sinkhole that opened in downtown Leesburg and swallowed a small business shop.

Apparently the insurance companies draw a big circle around known sinkholes and stop offering coverage. Something akin to a hurricane coming our way.

[784caroline]

Skyguy........good legal site...I have heard of cases where the initial costs up front to the homeowner to prove sinkhole activity was present was greater than $5000....which was only reimburseable by the insurance company if it fact sinkhole activity was found. This is serious money people are talking about!

[CarGuys]

Map very very intereting but I could not get the Google Earth to fly to our new address near Colony.

Nor could I get the zoom to identify The Villages between 466 and 466A

I'm getting that doomed to sell a Home in Florida feeling. Yes No!

Is there a way to have the county produce a map before closing?

[graciegirl]

omg.

Boy Howdy.

Char come back on. Tell us WHERE you are...just generally. You need to tell us because people are now getting all unhappy and worried and it's Christmastime. Char? Where are you?

Car...please don't say stuff like that. It makes me so sad. When you get down here and move around on your own and travel the streets and get a wide variety of friends all over, you will feel much better.

IF there was a big problem with houses falling down and getting ruined with all the eyes and ears to the world this forum has with posters living all over this place we would hear a lot of specifics..

There was NO problem I ever saw or heard of in the Hadley area and none in Duvall, Bonita, Hemingway, Amelia, Mallory, Virginia Trace, Poinciana, and most of the south side I would guess. We have tons of posters from the newer areas.

The possibility exists that some isolated posts may be by people with other agendas.

I am not a Morse, don't know a Morse and don't dance.

and bad things can and do happen. They happen all of the time. We have 80,000 people living here. Surely they can't all be unaware.

[Scott8147]

Gracie, Thank you for being a breathe of fresh air. I realize we shouldn't ignore this issue as things can and do happen, but for the most part - they don't happen. I can enjoy looking forward to the rest of my day OR I can worry about that meteor that might be headed toward me. Life is too short. Keep on emphasizing the positive - I'm with you.

[pjolson]

Apparently the insurance companies draw a big circle around known sinkholes and stop offering coverage. Something akin to a hurricane coming our way.

Recently learned from our insurance agent that in Marion County at least, insurance companies will not write sinkhole coverage if there's been a sinkhole claim within one mile of your location or if an inspection reveals any hairline cracking in a slab, sidewalk, driveway, foundation, etc. They'll still write catastrophic coverage but not sinkhole coverage.

Not good news for us since a house a few blocks away had sinkhole problems a year or two ago.

[skyguy79]

Originally Posted by CarGuys

Map very very intereting but I could not get the Google Earth to fly to our new address near Colony.

Nor could I get the zoom to identify The Villages between 466 and 466A

I'm getting that doomed to sell a Home in Florida feeling. Yes No!

Is there a way to have the county produce a map before closing?

On your first question, I would think NO! There are relatively few sinkholes shown on the map and most of the few there are run pretty much along the Rt 441 line and more toward the north end. Otherwise there are only a couple showing, one on Rt. 44 and the other in Wildwood west of TV; none in any Village I could see south of 446.

There was only one big incident shown on the map, and that was exactly at the north/west corner of Lake County. With the number of homes that exist in TV, I'd say you'd have a better chance of winning the lottery than experiencing a sink hole.

On the second question... I doubt the county could produce anything other than what's on the University of Southern Florida website.

I wouldn't and I don't worry about a sinkhole hitting our home since I'll be winning the lottery first and that'll be enough to replace the home later!

[CarGuys]

Originally Posted by Scott8147

Gracie, Thank you for being a breathe of fresh air. I realize we shouldn't ignore this issue as things can and do happen, but for the most part - they don't happen. I can enjoy looking forward to the rest of my day OR I can worry about that meteor that might be headed toward me. Life is too short. Keep on emphasizing the positive - I'm with you.

Why is gathering data or asking a question always negative? It's TOTV those that have a concern will comment or chip in.

Ohhhhhhhhhh please. Anyone out there tired of being lectured to for trying to get data on a topic of interest? There are many new or present home owners.

We buy insurance to protect our investments. After a Hurricane or Wind storm or Flood or even a Sinkhole all the Sunshine in the world won't fix it. But a Insurance adjuster will. If you have it!