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Article Courtesy of The Sun
Sentinel
By Robin Benedick
Published October 23, 2007
Barbara Scott
lived with her two grown daughters and a grandchild at Stonebridge Gardens
in Lauderhill, but they had to split up when Wilma demolished their
two-bedroom condo.
Scott, 57, rents a one-bedroom apartment in Fort Lauderdale, but she
worries about losing it since she is out of work and struggling to come up
with $1,000 a month for rent and condo costs. She is trying to find a job
as a certified nurse's aide.
"I can't pay my bills,'' said Scott, who bought the condo in 2001. It
was the first place she ever owned.
"I'm
just a mess and nobody seems to care,'' she said.
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Living
with his mother again in Plantation isn't a bad deal for Nathan
Wright, but he doesn't want to stay there forever.
"I'm pretty lucky,'' said Wright, 29, who can't wait to
move back into his two-bedroom condo at Southgate Gardens in
Tamarac.
Wright bought the condo the first home he's owned in April
2004 for $102,900. The place was big enough for him and his
10-year-old daughter, who spends some weekends with him.
A Comcast worker, Wright pays $700 for
his mortgage, $319 for condo maintenance and $170 for
storage every month. He said he already paid a $975
assessment for condo repairs.
"I've just been sticking it out but it's a little
ridiculous going on two years,'' Wright said. "If it
goes into the next year, I'm gong to have to choose to do
something. I don't want to keep waiting that long.''
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Bambi
Liss, left in pink shirt, and Marina David, in black right, look at
work in the Dogwood Gardens condos of Hawaiian Gardens complex in
Lauderdale Lakes. In the background is Steven M. Kelton, a contractor
working as a consultant for the condo board dealing with new
contractors. The board signed a contract with a contractor to do all
the work to the units damaged by Hurricane Wilma. In the back left is
board member Debra H. Stern. |
Bill Titus can stand near the front door of his second-floor condo
in Sunrise and see clear through the seven other units on his floor to the
other end of the building.
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"I
want to cry every time I come in here,'' said Titus, 70, a
retiree who has owned a condo at Origins of Welleby since
1981.
He said the new roof leaks in his unit and despite his
complaints, it hasn't been fixed. His mortgage is paid and he
is staying with a friend in Davie.
The condo is his retirement and Wilma has dashed hopes of
buying a second home elsewhere. It's going to cost him
thousands of dollars to put his place back together.
"This has been a nightmare,'' said Titus. "I
wouldn't wish it on anybody.'' |
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Amy
Sulzer, 43, a condo owner at the Origins of Welleby, is still waiting
for work to be completed on her home two years after Hurricane Wilma. |
At
48, Bambi Liss is one of the youngest owners at the sprawling
55-plus Hawaiian Gardens complex in Lauderdale Lakes.
As president of Dogwood Gardens, where 25 of 36 units are unlivable, Liss
sees firsthand the frustrations many of her older neighbors feel because
they, too, can't get into their homes.
"It's a lot harder on them,'' said Liss, who is in her second rental
since Wilma struck.
Last week,
the board hired a new builder to finish construction so owners can get
into their units early next year.
After Wilma, Liss, a marketing specialist at Whole Foods Market, and her
husband moved into a $1,300-a-month rental in Miami Lakes, but moved out
after four months. They found a rental in their complex and now pay about
$1,700 a month for their condo, rent and storage.
"The expenses are astronomical,'' Liss said, adding she expects to
spend another $30,000 to put her condo back together. She has lived at
Hawaiian Gardens since 2001 and would someday like to own a home.
"I
want my own space,'' she said.
For Latoya Spencer, getting married isn't giving her as much stress
as figuring out where she and her husband will live afterward.
Spencer rents an apartment on a month-to-month lease with her two
daughters, ages 11 and 7, while their damaged condo at Stonebridge Gardens
in Lauderhill is repaired. She pays about $2,000 a month in rent and condo
costs.
"I just want to be settled,'' said Spencer, 29, a sales manager for a
biotech company in Miami.
She bought her condo for $82,500 in October 2004 and had started a new job
the month before Wilma struck.
Since the storm, she has tried to sell her condo and even contacted
private investors to buy it. "Nobody wants it,'' she said.
Spencer said she met her fiancé a year ago.
"My girls emotionally, they want to be settled and they want to go
home and I don't know where we're going to be. Something needs to happen
and I'm just hoping for divine intervention.''
Amy Sulzer lost more than her condo in Wilma. She lost her livehood
for a few months.
Her home-based business suffered when the hurricane blew through her
Sunrise home.
"My whole office was destroyed, my papers and everything,'' said
Sulzer, 43. "I couldn't work for a while.''
She rented an apartment in Pompano Beach for six months, stayed in a small
room at her parent's home in Delray Beach and has a few weeks left at her
aunt's condo in Palm Beach County.
Then she'll move in with a neighbor of her parents until her condo at
Origins of Welleby is repaired.
Two
years after Wilma, many are still without their condos
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