[Medtrans]

We are in the midst of looking for our forever house in TV. Then last week's sinkhole happened and we sat back all week wondering what we should do. I read all the threads including insurance, where else would you live, etc. I even checked other areas in Arizona. THEN Friday night happened. We live in the north suburbs of Chicago. We went to bed and then all of a sudden we heard a loud boom. Was it thunder? Nope, we heard sirens after. Turns out that a house 4 or 5 miles away exploded and was leveled, damaging other homes around it. The lady who lived there had called for a gas smell, left the house and it blew up. These are multi-million dollar houses on at a private golf course, one I had attended a luncheon at for my golf season (not that I'm playing there, just had the luncheon there) on Thursday. When I got out of my car there was a horrible smell and I thought it was fertilizer for the course but thinking about it now maybe not. So to make a long story not so short, things happen and once we get all the ins info straight we will move full steam ahead. We won't let the sinkhole stop us from our dream. I hope this helps others who may have the same thoughts that we did but not so much anymore.

[pooh]

Seems no matter where one lives, there are situations and/or events of nature we have no control over.

Glad the homeowner was out of her home.

We'll leave a light shining for you....

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by pooh

Seems no matter where one lives, there are situations and/or events of nature we have no control over.

Glad the homeowner was out of her home.

We'll leave a light shining for you....

Just exactly what she said. This was another day I am so glad I didn't have to miss in this beautiful place with friends I love. (Pooh is one of them)

[Medtrans]

Thank you graciegirl. I hope to meet you some day as I have read your posts for awhile, among others. Our retirement date is 2015 but believe me it could happen any day as my husband may say enough is enough of corporate America.

The story I wrote about made the national news. The pictures are unbelievable. Homes nearby were damaged as well, windows blown out, etc. Hard to believe we could feel it 4 miles away, and that I had just been there the day before.

[uprivergirl]

We have had family telling us about all the sinkholes in Florida and that we shouldn't even think about moving there. We are still counting the days down until we do our preview visit May 7. My thought is if you worry about tomorrow you miss out on the enjoyment of today.

[Matzy]

You are so right! When you afraid of something it will happen and come and touch you, exactly how you might thought about.
I did hear about sinkholes in Central Florida before I decided to move to TV. It did Not affect my decision at all.

[Bizdoc]

There are positives and negatives for *any* place you might live. Decide what is most important and how likely possible risks. Don't let fear of "1 in a million" events paralyze you.

[perrjojo]

It's true, there are sink holes here. In other places there are hurricanes, tornados, mudslides, land slides, earth quakes, fires, lightening, gas explosions, illness from fracking, water contamination, and on and on. You might be in a horrific automobile accident, have a stroke, heart attack, get cancer. Life is uncertain and has no guarantees. One thing I know is to live and cherish TODAY. No, you cannot be foolish and live with your head in the sand but you MUST take every day as it comes and live it as it may be your last...cuz..well, you never know. I live my life just as it is TODAY. I choose not to fear tomorrow but only look forward to it....whatever it may bring.

[Ron1Z]

We are looking also,and will buy after I meet with a few insurance adjusters in the local area about the sink hole insurance on a used home? And I need clarification on what is considered catastrophic. and what is not. Bottom line is I need to protect my investment !

[Uptown Girl]

Originally Posted by Medtrans

We are in the midst of looking for our forever house in TV. Then last week's sinkhole happened and we sat back all week wondering what we should do. I read all the threads including insurance, where else would you live, etc. I even checked other areas in Arizona. THEN Friday night happened. We live in the north suburbs of Chicago. We went to bed and then all of a sudden we heard a loud boom. Was it thunder? Nope, we heard sirens after. Turns out that a house 4 or 5 miles away exploded and was leveled, damaging other homes around it. The lady who lived there had called for a gas smell, left the house and it blew up. These are multi-million dollar houses on at a private golf course, one I had attended a luncheon at for my golf season (not that I'm playing there, just had the luncheon there) on Thursday. When I got out of my car there was a horrible smell and I thought it was fertilizer for the course but thinking about it now maybe not. So to make a long story not so short, things happen and once we get all the ins info straight we will move full steam ahead. We won't let the sinkhole stop us from our dream. I hope this helps others who may have the same thoughts that we did but not so much anymore.

I am glad you feel that way!!!!!

I'm a native Chicagoan. You may know that there have been sinkhole happenings there too. Many don't know the entire Chicago lakefront was moved by engineers and they reversed the river that runs through town. Over the history of the building of Chicago, much earth was rearranged. I am sure you remember when a hole accidentally got poked in the Chicago river bottom and a great flood happened in the basements of many large downtown office buildings, where all the mechanicals are housed. Even the Board of Trade was affected. It was a mess, yet downtown rents and real estate prices did not suffer.

One sinkhole I remember in past years took out the bottom of a downtown parking garage and sucked a few parked cars down as well.
As a kid, living in the South Shore area, we could count on tornados every summer. I lived through three that came down our block… one ripping the facade off every brick house on the opposite side of our street. Looked like a row of doll's houses afterward- you could see every interior.
(over the years, weather patterns gradually shifted and most tornados landed elsewhere- but for many years, they called the south side
'tornado valley') Snowstorms used to hit hardest south of the city. Now, the North shore gets more of the toughest of them.
We have (earthquake) fault lines across Illinois, too. And quite a few areas considered floodplains, but it hasn't stopped people from wanting to live and love there.
As many have said, any area one chooses will have it's own environmental makeup and things to consider.
If you have lived in Chicago, you can handle anything.

And most of HERE is very good, indeed.

[mulligan]

Catastrophic is real simple. If the building inspector puts a condemned sign on the building, it's catastrophic ground collapse.

[perrjojo]

Just yesterday 14 people died in tornados.

[keithwand]

Then there's lightning, floods, earthquakes, love bugs, hail...no where to go but hide in a bunker and wait things out.
Seriously you or anyone will miss a lot here if you are worried about sinkholes.
C'mon down.

[Ron1Z]

Do you have home owners insurance? Why? Do you get my point? Would you still live in your house if there was a sink hole 2 doors down? 6 new listings this past week in Buttonwood? I am not against buying in TV, just want to protect my investment.

[ilovetv]

"Investments" have serious risks and routinely rise and fall with the markets' activity.

I think many of us who live here look at our homes as a place to live and make our home, and not so much as an investment.

Millions of people across the country have found out what a "good investment" their homes were when they try to sell them and could not, or have had to sell them for 50-60% of what they were worth just a couple of years before. In fact there are Villagers who fled that in other states and came here, in part because TV home prices weathered the recession well when the rest of the state was floundering.

There are all kinds of risks in real estate.