Senior. No one knows where a sinkhole will happen so a class action suit is not an answer.


Here is a map showing conditions that can cause sinkholes in the U.S. As you can see Florida is very prone.


http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kPEtXsk68l.../s400/fig1.gif

Our CYV's were new in 2011. One of the homes on our street was purchased by a snowbird and while they were gone there was a major water leak in the slab. When they returned the M/Br and bath were flooded. They called the warranty department and TV fixed the problem free. They replaced everything in that area, new vanity, new flooring, new drywall, new trim, etc. It was a major repair with sledgehammers into the slab and took three weeks.

After it was fixed the owners put the home on the market with TV Real Estate. It sold quickly and when the new neighbors arrived after closing, another neighbor asked them if they had any concerns about the water leak. The new owners didn't know a thing about it. They got a lawyer and contacted TV and was told they didn't need to inform them because the problem was fixed by the warrantly department.

After a few months, those people listed the home with TV Real Estate and it sold quickly again. When the new neighbors arrived, the same neighbor asked them about the water leak. They responded we were never told. That was a month ago, so now were hoping these folks stay. Third owners in three years.

Is a new construction site tested for sinkholes?
In most cases, no. It is generally not required by building codes, and most building contractors do not provide testing on private home sites because of the additional expense.
In some cases public building construction sites in sinkhole areas may be tested and reinforced as needed for safety and liability reasons.
I am buying a new home and I want to know if there is a sinkhole disclosure law
Currently the Florida Statutes (Statute 627.7073 (2)(c)) require that a seller of real property is only obligated to disclose to the buyer that a sinkhole claim was made against the property and that the claim was paid by the insurer; they must also disclose whether the funds paid were used to repair the insured damage.

Statutes may be modified during annual legislative sessions, so it is always prudent to check the most current statutes (see question #13 above). Most real estate seller’s disclosure forms used in Florida today include a sinkhole disclosure statement that covers sinkholes and earth movements in general. Sometimes it is overlooked. If it is in question, be sure to ask.

Just to clarify ... is this a serious recommendation you just made, or are you engaging in a special type of humor?

Yes, interesting point you make, and note this link with interesting information about past sinkholes, retention ponds and water quality.....

Sinkholes in The Villages Florida - What You Need to Know

I question how one can skirt Disclosure Laws. someone/or many are game playing and the fact that it was repaired by the Warranty Department means nothing as the water leak needed to be disclosed why it occurred how it was corrected by whom etc. If the facts are accurately recounted then I would never place my trust in The Villages Real Estate.

I pay extra for sink hole coverage and I paid to have my property inspected
before the insurance company would accept coverage.

The insurance companies in Florida have all government officials on the run because if they don't get their way they threaten to pull out of the state

We won't have to wait that long to find out if adjacent property values are effected by sinkhole activity. There are six new listings today in Buttonwood, out of 11 for sale total, listed with TV. See how long it takes these houses to sell and at what price.

Maybe the buyers sold quickly because they have a really sh***y neighbor who is not for harmony among neighbors, but is chomping at the bit to cause them angst about a problem that no longer exists.

The slab crack/leakage could have been due to the concrete mix or plumbing pipe/valve problem, and not necessarily to ground movement. I just looked at our disclosure and it is ten pages and asks nothing about the slab. The only question I could find was "f. Are you aware of any plumbing leaks since you have owned the property".

Also, this is why home inspections are done when buying.

We arrived last Saturday only to here about a sink hole in Buttonwood. I can tell you as a future buyer this puts you on edge. Just wondering if other communities have as many as TV? I know they can happen anywhere but not as common as central florida.

The bigger question is will you be able to get sinkhole insurance. Use this opportunity to sit down with an insurance agent and find that out now before you start shopping for a home.

Many communities have far more than TV. I've been here two years and this is the first one I've heard about. There are 60,000 homes here and from what I understand less than a dozen sinkhole problems in the past 30 years.

Like someone said, sinkholes happen, hurricanes happen, tornadoes happen, lightning strikes happen. No matter where you live natural catastrophes can happen.

People are reading this thread and getting the impression that this is some kind of widespread problem. It is not. Sinkholes are rare.

Then Central Florida may not be the place for you.
Look at the other posts on this thread, there are maps pointing out all the sinkholes in Florida............don't worry about something you cannot control.

Buttonwood
 

The Village of Buttonwood is pretty large. Someone living in Village of St. Charles or Village of St. James may actually live closer to the sinkhole than someone in Buttonwood. Unless the home for sale is in the immediate neighborhood of the sinkhole you probably won't find any selling time difference.

People have short memories----I doubt if it makes a difference a year from now. You can be pretty sure there will be another sinkhole in TV-----hopefully not in my yard or yours. :read:

See your name a lot.....please help me as to how to post a thread/post....what is the difference. I have a great lawn service and I want to put something on here about him. Thanks for your help!

Go to the Forum Jump drop down menu at the bottom of the first page and find the category you want to post on. To recommend a lawn service, it would be landscaping. Type your post and hit submit reply. I'm not sure with only six posts you are allowed to recommend someone on this forum.

You are correct that there are less sinkholes that are of the catastrophic ground collapse. That is not the norm. Those types of sinkholes are not widespread; however, it is the sinkhole damage that is NOT of the catastrophic type that is more concerning to me as a potential buyer.

I contacted Allstate insurance and was told that there have been many homes affected by sinkhole problems in the Villages, as well as, all over the State of Florida. And while some insurers currently will offer a policy with a 10% cost of the home deductible, it is anticipated that in the very near future there will be NO sinkhole coverage for new construction or resale homes. Small sinkholes near foundations, under lanai's, garage floors, shifting walls, lanai's, sunkens spots in driveways; windows or door jambs that have shifted out of alignment are more the norm (I'm not talking about normal settling issues). This can run into well into $100,00 or more depending on the extent of the damage. I can deal with a large deductible, but NO insurance????? That's an awful lot of risk.

They will no doubt sell quickly to some unsuspecting out of staters who are totally unaware and in the dark about sinkholes in Florida.

Good folks who have never done their research prior to buying.........

Excellent
 

EXCELLENT. Thank you.

PLEASE know that a sinkhole has to be disclosed. AND will be disclosed or the seller is liable. Those are the laws in Florida and anyone not disclosing would be legally liable just as anywhere else.. It must be disclosed by the sellers. Period.


Sinkholes do not COMMONLY occur. Please reread all of the very good information that has already been printed. The insurance for sinkholes that worked so well was badly abused by insurance fraud and so the laws were changed. There is no conspiracy. This isn't any thing different here in The Villages than the Tampa area for instance, except the Tampa area is MORE subject to sinkholes. We are NOT the sinkhole capital of Florida. It is troubling and worrisome and can be expensive but in life there are no guarantees. There will be more sinkholes and more houses will be burned to the ground due to lightning strikes and there will be hurricanes in Florida and Texas will need rain and get too much and nature will be ugly...EVERYWHERE. There is a huge storm, a dangerous storm predicted for tonight and tomorrow affecting much of this country and tornadoes are predicted.


I can understand your fears. I played golf yesterday very close to the home where the sinkhole was and I thought about it. We are all going about our business as usual. Life becomes shorter everyday. We all have to make choices.


Our Friday golf group discussed it and we are still very glad we are here..HERE.

I agree with you.

http://www.travelerstoday.com/articles/9630/20140425/villages-florida-sinkhole-reopens-65-feet-wife-deep-between-two.htm


This was just sent to me. Residents have now been evacuated. Not a minor issue.


Friends and relatives have been telling me it is all over their local news t.v. stations......in various parts of the U.S......so the word is spreading. They knew we were planning to retire to T.V.


Guess full disclosure is "out there"...............like the "X Files".












　

That news is not up to date. But THIS IS.....;


Quiet returns to Chalmer Terrace after week-long sinkhole drama



All was quiet Friday afternoon on Chalmer Terrace in the Village of Buttonwood.

All was quiet on Chalmer Terrace Friday afternoon following six days of drama after a sinkhole dramatically expanded the day before Easter Sunday.
Gone were the Orlando television trucks, Villages Public Safety and Community Watch.
The lone person to be seen Friday afternoon was a Helicon Property Restoration employee, hosing down the street.
The two homes in the Village of Buttonwood which had dangled Saturday night on the edge of a 60-foot sinkhole, still bear the bright orange signs declaring them uninhabitable.
The owners of both homes were out of the town when the drama unfolded this weekend.
On Thursday, Gina Lambert of the Villages Public Safety Department told the media that it was time to watch and wait. Eighteen truckloads of fill dirt were hauled in mid-week after the sinkhole expanded again.

The scene Saturday evening in the Village of Buttonwood.


This forum does not allow links to the villages (dash) news.com. Nor does it allow cut and pasted pictures of the homes. So I cannot link you, but it is a good way to get valid and up to date news. We live here and know what is happening, minute to minute.

Thanks Gracie!!

I really respect everyone on this forum. And it has been my dream to live here. But I do not understand why everyone keeps saying that sinkholes are rare in the Villages. Maybe these catastrophic types are rare, I agree, but are you saying that sinkhole activity has not affected many homes in the Villages, just like in other parts of Florida? Even the Villages sales rep admits to this lesser form of activity. To say that this is rare is misleading.

And this would be an intelligent concern for any new buyer.....

Apparently, some of the residents in T.V. are supremely happy and not concerned at all about their own property or what might befall it if they are the unlucky ones next time around. God Forbid.
Wouldn't wish it on anyone.

I woke up to so many emails this morning, all with links to out of the U.S. newspapers.........I'll just list one, from the United Kingdom. It may be shoved under the rug by some, but it's big news to those around the world and all over the U.S. apparently.

After reading the U.K. news article, I clicked on the video at the bottom and actually was pleasantly surprised to see that NOT ALL THE RESIDENTS are in their 40's/55, etc. but the age of average retirees and how we'll all be when we age. Too old to start over again. (although aging is not a popular topic, it's a fact of life)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2611325/SinFlorida-opening-again.html

Click hyperlink above and keep scrolling to the bottom photos..........aerial views, etc.

Even our good friends "across the pond" in United Kingdom have heard......

Ditto, just got an email from a Canadian cousin......so the "cat's out of the bag" so to speak.
__________________________________________________ ___

I also just saw a 20 foot deep sinkhole story from the Ocala newspaper......(a few months back, opened on county road.)

Just go to the Ocala newspaper online to read story and see numerous photos in slide show....

""Pamela Calero, a spokeswoman for the Ocala, estimated the width of the sinkhole as about the size of a manhole and the depth at around 20 feet.""

If you double click on the side photo, you can see the SLIDE SHOW which is very long.......

The Ocala sinkhole wasn't wide, just the size of a manhole cover, however, I can imagine someone sitting on their toilet in the privacy of their home, alone.

Who would know they were missing?

Our hearts and prayers go out to the homeowners in Buttonwood and elsewhere, as any repair, whether it be for water damage, drainage issues, etc. drain the bank account (no pun intended as we ourselves had to put in French Drains after 20 years of living in this house with no issues at all........torrential rains became the norm , on top of heavy snow accumulation and quick thaw/melt...) however, once that tropical storm hit Vermont, we were so relieved to have spent the money ........as not a drop seeped in. That was the storm that wreaked havoc on the Jersey shore and destroyed roads and bridges up the spine of our Green Mountain State, leaving folks up in the mountain villages unable to go down the mountain, either to the east, nor to the west.......it was a terrible disaster. All new bridges and roads had to be built......it was the first time Vermont made the national news. Will never forget the vision of those homes, barns, horses, cows, etc. floating down the river.

Out of state visitors would call our chambers of commerce to ask if it was safe to come.......we told the truth. Each time we'd go north, we'd see the slow progress of putting things back together again.........

Climate change is here to stay, no matter what state one resides in.

Even new home construction in Vermont is now intelligently adding French Drains during the building process.










　


　

Sink holes are anywhere you go. It's all a chance, just make sure you have the proper insurance is all I'd reccomend.

I agree with you elizabeth. It is our dream also in a few years. I get my best information from the local pool gosip.

The smallest of "cave in's" visible in the ground or invisible underground would be concerning to anyone, if truth be told.

About nine years ago we had a massive groundhog invasion.
These critters are super big, bigger than the Florida rodents.

They had tunnels under our back property.............

They build apartment houses with many rooms under the earth, under your shrubs, etc............it took a long time to eradicate them. We finally had all of the old shrubs on the hill removed and the earth bulldozed............this was to get rid of the ones that my husband didn't capture in his have a heart traps......totally reshaped the land back there and put on a deck. .....followed by a three season sun room...........but who knows when they will return? Probably digging their new caverns right now.

We are practical people and want to know the truth; don't have our heads in the sand/ground like the groundhogs.

I am not trying to mislead you, only calm you. We bought our first home here in 2006, I think that year there was a sinkhole in or under a major pond near the hospital and it drained out in a very short time. In my memory there has been a sinkhole , of significant size to know about, either reported in the Sun or here on this forum about once a year. There have been sinkholes that I recall at Sunset Point, St.James, and twice in the middle of streets. There have been smaller holes, quickly filled and not much talked about. I don't know what the definition of rare would be, but once or twice a year among 40,000 homes? Once or twice a year in a roughly 100 square mile area?


People who sell houses aren't going to sit down and say, Hey, you might want to know that we have had eight homes burn to the ground here in the last seven years from direct lightening strikes because this IS the lightening capital of the country.. We have had a direct hit from a tornado that completely wiped out Mallory Country Club and several homes and killed several people in nearby Lady Lake. We have had 13 people die in the last four years from golf cart accidents. We haven't got the best medical facilties here for every condition. You can buy homes bigger and cheaper outside of The Villages. THEY ARE BOUND by law to disclose sinkhole activity on any property but they don't have to tell you that there are sinkholes here in The Villages.


Most of us are worried and scared to some degree too. I think that the sinkhole near Tampa last year that swallowed a man in his bed while he slept and his body was never recovered is still in our vivid memory.


But as for living here in The Villages, as someone else so succinctly posted. It is a choice. You can pass or you can play.

ditto here
 

DITTO HERE.

We've resumed doing our research prior to listing our home here.
Nothing is green yet anyway......so perhaps end of May, or by Memorial Day we will be ready to call in a realtor. Just had the landscapers do a total spring cleanup on the property. Finally NO SNOW.

Now all this about sinkholes.

I do not find any sinkholes on the east coast (Atlantic Ocean beachside) but still doing research on that area...........obviously, hurricanes.

There is always Viera by the Duda Family and also Suntree on the mainland. Both planned communities for all ages and some sections for the 55+ active crowd. We actually love children, even those not our own.....so it wouldn't be a problem.


However, the hurricanes haven't been that prevalent , except for the one that hit Barefoot Bay and Vero Beach several years ago..........but nothing like the damage Andrew did down in the Miami area twenty plus years ago...........mostly power out for a month or so. Our carpenter's mom lived in Barefoot Bay and had to fly north to stay with him.........couldn't survive in Florida without air conditioning/electricity. All of her food rotted. Mold formed all over while she was gone.

Wise to do the research or repent at leisure. Definitely lots to ponder.

The proximity to the ocean beaches is approximately 13 minutes to 17 minutes from Suntree or Viera going across the Pineda Causeway.......then down all the barrier island to whichever beachside community one wishes to visit.

I purchased a slew of these Destination Discovery "fun" maps of the area and the children, grandchildren, cousins and their little ones are excited..........lots of fishing as well for hubby........if not the mainland, also looking beachside where it is a buyer's market right now..........with plenty of activities for all ages, great restaurants, and just nice environment...........who can complain about seeing the sun rise over the ocean in the a.m. and then set over the Indian River Lagoon (intracoastal waterway) in the evening.........long walks on the beach for everyone, of all ages.
We are proud of our adult children and grandchildren. Plus all the little cousins and nieces and nephews who will visit us in our old age.

And therein lies the rub!

Thank you for attempting to allay my fears, Gracie. And, at this point, this isn't even about buying in the Villages. That is a no brainer! It is really a question of being able to obtain insurance to protect my investment.

the so called sink hole concern should rate no higher than TV being located in "the lightning capital of the world" or Californians waiting "for the big one".

And the population of FL and CA is what?

Sinkholes are something to be aware of but are not deal breakers for a location c'mon down.

[QUOTE=elizabeth52;868284]I really respect everyone on this forum. And it has been my dream to live here. But I do not understand why everyone keeps saying that sinkholes are rare in the Villages. Maybe these catastrophic types are rare, I agree, but are you saying that sinkhole activity has not affected many homes in the Villages, just like in other parts of Florida? Even the Villages sales rep admits to this lesser form of activity. To say that this is rare is misleading.[/QUOTE


I find it AMAZING that people ALSO said that the F3 tornado that went through The Villages and caused major damage to hundreds of houses in 2007 was ALSO a RARE event! Not true... we are in "tornado alley" in this region of Fla. Talk to any native to this area, that is how you'll find out the real truth. This also relates to sink holes. Just do your own research and educate yourself through doing searches via Google on the geology of sinkholes in Central Fl. Good luck!

I guess the heart of the issue comes down to being able to get secondary sinkhole insurance. I REALLY REALLY want to live in the Villages. I wonder if others take the risk of not having secondary sinkhole insurance? If available, I would get it, but if not available ?????

State Farm has sink hole insurance. They started writing HO policies again in Florida about 2 months ago. It is not just catastrophic risk and not a 10% deductible. You must have an inspection which cost $60 . Our agent said it was rare for anyone to be turned down.

The newspaper today said the chance of a catastrophic sinkhole collapses is 1 in 100 in any given year. Maybe that's a misprint because that would be 1% or 550 homes out of 55,000 currently built here in TV.

New construction? And did you use an agent within the Villages? The reason I ask is that I just called the State Farm agent listed in the Villages. That office is currently closed, so they transferred me to the general State Farm number. They said they are currently not offering it. I will check again on Monday, but to check with the Villages agent as they may have additional resources.

I would not trust State Farm. They certainly have a bad reputation for paying claims. Take your money and bye bye.

We have had all of our insurance thru State Farm for over 50 years. We have NEVER had a problem with a claim. Their reputation is gold with me.

I have state farm up here in NY and like them also