They pay people off to get their way
A guy near Denver sold his beloved 1920s-era craftsman bungalow to a developer who promised he would renovate the house but instead demolished it.
The seller is upset because he said he was promised by the developer that the developer would save the house. The buyer had turned down one offer because that buyer was upfront about knocking the structure down.
I'm guessing that you don't have to be Theresa Cuputo to know that if a person comes in saying they are a "developer" that demolition is in the cards. It sort of reminds me of the lady who is suing the Jelly Belly jelly bean company because she didn't know there was sugar in the jelly beans.
Which brings up the subject of our neighborhood, especially in South Grove. People are selling their houses for top dollar to developers knowing the house will be knocked down. Are the houses historic? Should they be saved? Should the person turn down top dollar in order to sell to someone who will appreciate the house? And what is to stop the new buyer to eventually selling to a developer?
I have mixed feelings about this. While the old houses are great and historic (in our minds mostly), I do like the new structures. I don't like when they take over most of the property, killing trees in the process and I don't like when one structure is built on a single lot.
In the North Grove, a guy bought a bunch of ugly mid-century houses and turned them into townhouses. The problem is that they have zero lot lines, I think the touch, and if they don't touch, there is maybe a foot or two between them. And they come out to the sidewalk, which may be the new Miami 21 way to build. So the one street now is a row of houses which almost come right up to the sidewalk. He also was told by the City to pare the five originally planned down to three, but today, there are seven. He said he paid people off to do that. He actually told me that he paid people off.
The structures are ugly but not any uglier than the original houses. But they are very high and large and really don't fit in with the neighborhood. Also they cost millions of dollars each now, which took the place of affordable housing which was previously in their place. By affordable, I don't mean low income, but the houses there were not worth millions like the townhouses are.
By the way, about buying off the neighbors, in a recent post in Curbed Miami, it says: the Related Group "tried to illegally pay off other neighborhood groups to the tune of $8 million bucks. Related says, "Hey, everyone does that. It's normal business practice.' "
The seller is upset because he said he was promised by the developer that the developer would save the house. The buyer had turned down one offer because that buyer was upfront about knocking the structure down.
I'm guessing that you don't have to be Theresa Cuputo to know that if a person comes in saying they are a "developer" that demolition is in the cards. It sort of reminds me of the lady who is suing the Jelly Belly jelly bean company because she didn't know there was sugar in the jelly beans.
Which brings up the subject of our neighborhood, especially in South Grove. People are selling their houses for top dollar to developers knowing the house will be knocked down. Are the houses historic? Should they be saved? Should the person turn down top dollar in order to sell to someone who will appreciate the house? And what is to stop the new buyer to eventually selling to a developer?
I have mixed feelings about this. While the old houses are great and historic (in our minds mostly), I do like the new structures. I don't like when they take over most of the property, killing trees in the process and I don't like when one structure is built on a single lot.
In the North Grove, a guy bought a bunch of ugly mid-century houses and turned them into townhouses. The problem is that they have zero lot lines, I think the touch, and if they don't touch, there is maybe a foot or two between them. And they come out to the sidewalk, which may be the new Miami 21 way to build. So the one street now is a row of houses which almost come right up to the sidewalk. He also was told by the City to pare the five originally planned down to three, but today, there are seven. He said he paid people off to do that. He actually told me that he paid people off.
The structures are ugly but not any uglier than the original houses. But they are very high and large and really don't fit in with the neighborhood. Also they cost millions of dollars each now, which took the place of affordable housing which was previously in their place. By affordable, I don't mean low income, but the houses there were not worth millions like the townhouses are.
By the way, about buying off the neighbors, in a recent post in Curbed Miami, it says: the Related Group "tried to illegally pay off other neighborhood groups to the tune of $8 million bucks. Related says, "Hey, everyone does that. It's normal business practice.' "
posted by Tom Falco at 5:00 AM
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2 Comments:
For sometime I have been wondering about how important success has become in our culture and the means by which we are willing to use to achieve it. Eisenhower was probably one of the nicest presidents we ever had and there was a HUGE scandal because he said the U2 spy plane program did not exist which was technically true since it was a top secret program back then and no one was suppose to know about it however a nice man like him was dragged in the mud because the public could not accept a president to lie ever. I recently saw a documentary called (Dis)Honesty - The Truth About Lies and it explained dishonesty is basically contagious and expands like a fungus. If one person lies for self interest the next person finds it easier to lie as well and to achieve whatever. We need to reevaluate what success is and what type of success is good and what is bad or risk to live in a society filled with lies.
People already know the difference between right & wrong.
There is an Honesty Scale that runs from 0 - 10.
Most folks will easily accept some very low level of dishonesty.
Unfortunately, many will accept a lot more.
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