Posted on 06/01/2005 8:55:57 AM PDT by Howlin
LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. - A landslide sent at least five expensive homes crashing down a hill Wednesday and may have damaged many others.
Fire department personnel had no estimate of the damage, and there was no immediate word on whether there were any injuries.
Television helicopter footage showed smashed homes on heavily built-up Flamingo Road. The earth was still moving beneath the homes. Some fell nearly intact, while others were ripped apart and left trails of debris.
The steep coastal area has had slide problems before and several homes were "red-tagged" as uninhabitable in February, during the second rainiest season on record in Southern California.
Laguna Beach is about 50 miles southeast of Los Angeles.
"Property tax bills list the land and buildings with separate values."
That's interesting.
Property tax here (in Upstate New York) list the building as part of the property, and therefore only charge one tax.
The replacement cost of the 'evacuated' earth has to be fairly large though.
Not to mention the cost of repairs on the plumbing,electrical and gas lines.
Isn't bedrock there, several hundred feet down?
I have worked in that area and on clear days You can see all the way to San Clemente island some 60 miles out way past catalina the view is awesome
Do they list two values on the property assessment portion, one for the land and another for the building(s) ?
Most of these homes arent covered for landslides.
I suppose the risk/reward ratio and number of people willing to pay the premiums was insufficient to make a wide and viable market for that coverage.
I know about the fill dirt not being the cause on the edge of the mountains but that is what they were using in some areas where I lived and foundations cracked with rain and only reason they didn't slide down the hill was there was no large hill.
Anyone that builds on the edge of the mountain or at the bottom of the bottom of the hills/mountains, I have no sympathy for -- they have built in places that should never have had houses.
I dont think landslide insurance is offered to most people.
Flood insurance is, and earthquake insurance is so expensive that most people dont buy that either.
Sure hope none of those people were flipping houses....as their investment truly flipped....down a hill.
Smart guy and would be a great reason why you will not have the problems. Our house in Yucaipa had something similar that the builder told us would help in case of a quake and the house would not be in danger of sliding down on the nextdoor neighbor. They had stairstepped the houses as you went up the hill. The ones on our side of the street didn't have any problems -- ones on the other side without the extra were having problems with patio doors no longer being level. Must say I was glad when we sold the house after the forest fires and don't have to worry about it anymore.
I could be mistaken, but I thought that Lloyds of London (and probably some other companies) would insure almost anything. It would not be offered to them but it would be available. The risk/reward ratio would simply not be sufficient to induce all parties to sign a contract for the insurance.
Flood insurance is, and earthquake insurance is so expensive that most people dont buy that either.
The key to keeping insurance premiums low is widespread participation and limited risk. These factors were not present in this niche market.
You are telling me that building on the edge of a mountain is not an accident waiting to happen? I don't care how well something is built, a mud/rock slide will take it out. These houses should never have been rebuilt on that site.
Some land in SoCal is not meant to have houses -- I can remember thinking several years ago when I was back there that there are more stupid people then before with where they had built house and when is the next major rock/mud slide going to occur. You don't build on the edge and no amount of building codes are going to make a difference.
I remember the road out near where Marineland used to be -- always in bad shape because of earth movement and yet dumb people built houses around there for the view. I have no sympathy if you have no common sense.
It can be done properly, but it's expensive. The problems usually don't show through until well after any warrantee period has expired.
Laguna Beach is as lovely a place to live as there is. Who can blame people for wanting to live there? but for heaven's sake, if they're wealthy enough to build palaces on the bluffs, why didn't they build on pylons going down to bedrock? Would have cost a fortune, of course, but saved a fortune as well.
Are these millionaires counting on insurance or FEMA to bail them out, essentially with everyone else's money?
Lawsuits will go on for years, imo, with fingers pointed at architects, city inspectors, soil inspectors, etc etc.
Parcel No. 644-162-45
Legal Description TR 2218 LOT 17 ALL -EX PO
Tax Rate Area 05-003
Roll Type Secured
Land $273,005
Mineral Rights $0
Improvements $211,729
Personal Property $0
Others $0
Total Values $484,734
That is the Prop 13 value, which is based on when the property was purchased...it doesnt list the year on the website.
The engineers on the radio said the water table was rising for a couple weeks, and that cause this.
Landslides in California is news?
This could be the first sign of the real estate bubble bursting. The values of the property are just too much for the homes to handle, and this creates a landslide. You can't place all that value on top of something with no real foundational basis and expect it to remain stable.
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