Tag: miami dade

Buyers Beware: Owners are Selling Properties Targeted for Sea Level Rise Flooding Buyouts

The Miami Herald ran two articles (both behind paywalls/titles listed below) on Sunday that discussed how the Florida Keys and Miami-Dade County are managing properties targeted for buyouts due to storm surge and sea level rise flooding. The Florida Keys is making some slow process in purchasing distressed properties, while Miami-Dade County has dropped the ball completely. In both locales, some owners dazzled by rapidly appreciating real estate prices have resorted to selling properties to buyers after applying to buyout programs, which, unfortunately, puts the new buyers, wittingly or unwittingly, at risk of flooding complications.

Thousands of US coastal properties have been purchased through government buyouts over the last decade, and the trend is accelerating as the sea level rises. Often the buyouts occur after hurricane storm surges (which are growing more powerful and damaging as sea level rises) flood neighborhoods. Buyouts are also becoming more common in areas that experience so-called rainy day or nuisance flooding due to much higher than normal tides.

National and state governments are eager to remove properties that require frequent, expensive repair or replacement from repeated flooding from the insurance rolls. They also want to avoid the expense of maintaining critical infrastructure — such as roads, sewer and water systems, and storm drains — in flood-prone areas.

After Hurricane Irma sent a powerful and devastating storm surge into some of the Florida Keys in 2017, Monroe County acquired federal funding to buyout damaged and flood-prone properties. The county received 80 applications from real estate owners and has purchased nine properties. County officials hope to buy another dozen soon.

According to the Miami Herald article, one massive roadblock that has prevented more purchases is rapid appreciation in the housing market over the last couple of years. In some cases, owners who had agreed to the buyout and demolition of their frequently-flooded properties decided instead to sell them for prices higher than they would have received under the buyout program. To remedy the situation, the county has received permission to offer more money for properties from the state agency that’s coordinated the buyout funds.

Miami-Dade County initiated a similar buyout program, but in three years the county hasn’t purchased a single one of ten properties that were targeted by buyouts. The lack of performance has led to the state administrative agency taking back the funds that were to be used for the purchases. Some of the buyout eligible property owners are angry that the county failed to complete the purchases as promised. In one instance, a developer has purchased a flood-prone property with the intent of constructing an 11-unit building on the lot. The developer was unable to tell the county what steps it would take to flood-proof the property but the county approved the project anyway.

Buyouts are controversial but necessary in areas where properties cannot be protected from storm surge and sea level rise flooding. Buyout opponents believe no matter how many times a property floods, insurers and governments are responsible for helping them to repair the damage and maintain roads and water and sewer service. Proponents, however, recognize when the battle is lost and they appreciated the government assistance when they’re ready to move on.

The current situation where some homes targeted for buyouts are actually purchased and demolished while others are being sold to buyers with or without them being aware of the property’s flood status needs to be addressed. The fact is each state has its own seller disclosure laws, so too often buyers are left in the dark about the level of threat posed by storm surge and sea level rise flooding. Until this unfair situation is resolved, buyers need to gather information from more than just sellers to ensure they’re not purchasing a property that was targeted for a buyout unless they’re prepared to accept the risk that their investment will literally end up underwater.

Editor’s Note: Here are the paywall protected article titles “Miami-Dade failed to buy flooded homes; Now high-risk sites open to more development” and “Buyouts take flood-prone Keys properties off the market. There are more sellers waiting”.

New Miami-Dade County Law Makes it Easier for Buyers to Evaluate Condo Building Maintenance and Reserves

The tragic collapse of a the condo building in Surfside, Florida, that claimed 98 lives continues to force changes in the way real estate is bought and sold all across the country. This month, Freddie Mac and Fannie May, the quasi-government organizations that back many of the nations mortgages, began requiring condo associations to answer detailed questionnaires about a building’s maintenance, repairs, and reserves to determine overall safety and financial soundness as part of the process lenders use to evaluate mortgage applications.

On Tuesday, the Miami Dade County Commission took transparency a step further and unanimously passed a new law requiring condo and homeowner’s associations to file detailed financial and maintenance records for inclusion in an online library. Currently, Florida real estate law requires sellers to provide buyers with these documents only upon request AFTER a sales contract is executed. The buyer is then given three days from receipt of the information to cancel the contract if they don’t like what they see.

Some real estate agents told the Miami Herald they’re relieved that the new database is being created. They complained that condo associations and homeowners associations often made it difficult for sellers and buyers to access the relevant documents and too often they were delivered incomplete.

One potential shortcoming of the law is that the associations are only required to file the documents on an annual basis, which leaves the possibility that the information will be outdated by the time a buyer receives it. This could lead to a buyer not being aware of such critical information as a costly special assessment that is under review or approved since the last annual filing. Note to Buyers: Still request the latest condo docs and financials when conducting a review.

Overall, the move toward greater transparency regarding real estate is a huge plus for buyers and owners, especially when sea level rise is already causing maintenance and funding challenges for condo developments located on or near the coast. Regardless of a coastal state’s laws, buyers everywhere need to take a look at condo association and homeowner’s association documents and financials before they commit to close a deal.

Miami-Dade County Begins to Address Thousands of Septic Tanks Failing Due to Sea Level Rise

Sea level rise has many negative consequences on coastal communities. One of them is causing septic systems to fail.

How dow this happen? As sea level rises, saltwater migrates inland underground through porous rock, such as limestone. As it moves, the denser saltwater forces the freshwater water table to rise toward the surface. If the water rises high enough, it can saturate soils near the surface.

Septic systems take wastewater from a home and sends it to a concrete box buried underground. From there, the effluent is distributed underground through soils that remove impurities. If the soil is already saturated, however, it can’t absorb the wastewater and remove the impurities. As a result, the untreated wastewater can emerge and pollute the land and streams, rivers, estuaries, bays and other bodies of water.

Miami-Dade County in South Florida has thousands of septic systems that are failing due to rising seas. The problem is so bad experts say some of the the septic systems are sending untreated wastewater into Biscayne Bay, where it’s killing fish and other marine animals.

To fix the problem, county officials broke ground on a project to disconnect thousands of homes from their currently failing or at-risk septic systems and hook them into the municipal wastewater treatment system. The county has $230 million to invest in converting 13,000 of the counties 120,000 septic systems over the next five years. Their immediate goal is to address the 9,000 tanks that they believe are polluting Biscayne Bay.

Miami-Dade has funding to bring sewer lines up to property lines, then it’s up to property owners to cover the cost of new pipes to hook into the municipal wastewater system and to remove the failing septic tank. Estimates are real estate owners will have to spend $10,000 out-of-pocket to do this. The county has state funds available to help low-income residents with the expense.

Oddly enough, the county is still issuing permits for the installation of new septic tanks. County officials told the Miami Herald that it continues to issue permits because some Miami-Dade residents can’t afford to tie into the municipal wastewater system and because developers are building homes in places where municipal sewer lines haven’t been installed.

Aaron Stauber, an environmentalist and board member of Miami Waterkeeper, applauds the county for starting to address the septic system issue. He told the Miami Herald, however, that the county should only allow development in areas that already have sewer service or force the developers to install new sewer lines.

Coastal real estate owners who have properties served by septic systems clearly need to keep abreast of any changes to regulations that govern their septic tanks. Buyers in those areas need to know whether a property of interest is served by municipal wastewater systems or septic tanks. They also need to know if the septic tank is in good working order and if the local government has any intention of forcing homeowners to tie into the municipal system.

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