Article Courtesy of The Miami Herald

By DONNA GEHRKE-WHITE

Published June 3, 2007

Since Hurricane Wilma blew through in 2005, thousands of South Florida condominium owners have been caught in what seems like an endless financial whirlwind.

companies over settlements to foreclosing on nonpayers to suing contractors over shoddy work.

In Lauderhill, the 55-plus community of Environ Condominium, Phase II, has finally started rebuilding. Its insurer, Poe Financial Group's Southern Family, went bankrupt. The governing board was forced to take out a $4.5 million loan for new roofs, glass and balconies.

''It's been a disaster,'' says Sandy Leitman, co-president of the governing board.

The 408-unit, eight-building complex, built in the early 1970s, finally obtained a $4 million insurance settlement and started work.

But owners have to pay an average of $11,000 per unit, in quarterly installments over 15 years. That's an average of $300 per quarter in addition to their quarterly dues, which range from $929.45 for a one-bedroom to $1,546.85 for a three-bedroom. And owners already paid an average of $1,000 per unit to clean up after the storm.

The assessments aren't enough to pay for shutters or hurricane-resistant windows. An owner who wants shutters has to buy them himself, at a cost of about $3,000 for a one-bedroom unit in a high-rise.

Owners, many on fixed incomes, are barely scraping by. Some can't pay, and their boards are trying to figure out how to help their residents avoid losing their homes over unpaid assessments.

''We're like a family here,'' says board member Lin Rosen.

In Miami Beach, the 285-unit King Cole Condominium -- which had dozens of windows broken during Wilma -- considered installing impact-resistant windows.

Then owners found out the cost: about $35,000 per unit in the mostly glass-paned building, says general manager Darlene Viverette. Even shutters, at half the cost, were deemed too expensive.

PAYING EXTRA

Owners already have been paying extra -- an average $300 a month over five years -- for the condo's $4 million concrete restoration project.

That's a project most South Florida buildings need to do at some point, especially buildings near the sea, to keep salt and moisture from corroding concrete and the steel reinforced rods holding the building together.

For now, most condo boards say they're focusing on getting their buildings back to pre-Wilma condition. Many had no reserves for repairs, and complexes have had to scrounge for work crews, paying more and waiting longer than expected. While state law requires condo associations to maintain reserve accounts for future maintenance, owners can vote to waive reserves, and many do.

The boards have also had to contend with the higher costs of rebuilding under tougher building codes. ''This was something that no one anticipated -- that they would have to change everything and build things up to current code,'' says assistant ombudsman Raphan.

Some condo associations have proceeded with expensive restoration and repairs, but the cost is high. The 13-story Biltmore II in Coral Gables has assessed each of the 232 units an average of $26,000 for concrete restoration.

The board is also requiring its owners to install shutters at their own expense, which will run thousands dollars per unit.

''It's not inexpensive, but it's the right thing to do,'' says condo association manager Charles Larsen.

But those kinds of costs are way out of the reach of many of the owners of South Florida's older condominium buildings.

In the 33313 Zip code that includes Lauderdale Oaks, nearly 21 percent of households live below the poverty level, and the median income is $36,103.

Many of Lauderdale Oaks' year-round owners live on much less. Awais, who has heart problems, bought his one-bedroom condo for $25,000 eight years ago. Since Wilma, the monthly maintenance fee on his unit has jumped from $140 to $206.

''I don't receive enough to have a life, a dignified life,'' says Awais, who has worked most of his life for barely above minimum wage as a construction and retail worker.

Awais paid off a special assessment of about $2,200 for roof work by working as a lab worker for the state Department of Agriculture at up to $15 per hour, the most he had ever earned. Once his health improves, he hopes to get another job to pay for the next assessment.

REFINANCED CONDO

His neighbor, Blanca Terron, a 74-year-old widow who receives $918 a month from Social Security, refinanced her condo to pay her assessment.

Wes Ulett, a board member who is on disability, used credit cards and bank loans to pay his $2,200. He'll have to borrow more to pay upcoming assessments for fire alarm and elevator upgrades.

''I'm still paying on it,'' he says. "I'm fortunate than most of the others because I had access to credit.''

In the Hawaiian Gardens condo complex across the street from Lauderdale Oaks, Norma Pickersgill, a hotel receptionist, doesn't have the money to fix her rail-less balcony, let alone buy hurricane shutters. She lives with yellow tape where railings used to be.

But she counts herself lucky to be back home, after a year and a half living first in a FEMA trailer and then with relatives after her trailer was burglarized. She refinanced her two-bedroom unit to pay a $5,000 special assessment for the building's new roof and other work.

''I thank God so much to sleep in my own bed,'' she said.