Community Chat

[Say Nay]

Oopsie!

This 5,300-square-foot house along Ocean Ridge Boulevard North in the Ocean Hammock area of Flagler County was built on the wrong lot.

HAMMOCK DUNES — Six months after building a large custom house with an ocean view, Missouri residents Mark and Brenda Voss learned of a big problem – it’s on the wrong lot.

Their three-story vacation rental house with an estimated construction value of $680,000 actually sits on the lot next to the one they own in the gated Ocean Hammock resort community.

“We are in total disbelief, just amazed this could happen,” said Mark Voss, who owns a property management and real estate company in central Missouri. “We may have moved (to Ocean Hammock) someday. But, with this headache and grief, we’re not so sure. The Midwest is looking pretty good right now.”

The Voss’s builder, Keystone Homes, which is based in Ormond Beach but builds primarily in Flagler County, has contacted the two lot owners and other parties and is trying to negotiate a settlement, said Robbie Richmond, company vice president.

“The buck stops with the builder. We know that. We are in the process of trying to schedule a conference call and find a fair resolution without the lawyers,” Richmond said. “I have built about 600 homes in Flagler County and this has never happened to me before. It does happen, but it’s rare.”

The Vosses, who own 18 other residential lots in the Hammock Dunes master-planned community, paid $160,000 for one with a street address of 23 Ocean Ridge Blvd. North in June 2012, according to Flagler County property records. They hired Keystone Homes to design and build a 5,000-square-foot house there to use as a vacation rental managed by Vacation Rental Pros in St. Augustine.

The house has five bedrooms and 5.5 bathrooms. It also includes a home theater, game room and screened-in pool.

But the house was mistakenly built on the lot next door, 21 Ocean Ridge Blvd. North.

Andrew Massaro and his wife, Brooke Triplett, of Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina, bought that lot in 2003 for $355,000. They could not be reached for comment.

The builder and Voss each say the error can be traced to the first survey in 2013. East Coast Land Surveying in Ormond Beach misplaced stakes, and the foundation survey and other documents and building activity were based on the error. During construction, dozens of subcontractors arrived each day to work at the wrong lot. And a final survey failed to note the error...

Read more here: http://www.news-journalonline.com/article/20141013/NEWS/141019750/1040?p=1&tc=pg

[tansy]

Oh no. Did the article mention if one lot was more desirable than the other?

[scotttie]

doh!

[jackthebear]

ruh roh

[RainyDayGal]

Looking at the map, the lots look pretty comparable (what I could see). I'd prefer it to be on the one it's built - there's more trees behind it.

[Marianne1]

I guess the owners never checked on the progress of the build?

Or some permit or inspection company did not catch the error?

Or the land owners never noticed a house on their land?

[madcity411]

OOPS!

[MaRina]

Better luck next time!!!

[croemer]

Whoa what would be a fair resolution? I mean what if you bought that lot...hadn't been there for awhile but wanted this as the future site of your home?

[Qwackertoo]

Hopefully the lot owners will swap lots and maybe an extra 100K from the builder for their trouble and not hold out for a crazy amount . . . over and above the difference in paid amounts . . .good luck to them all in settling it.

I can't imagine building an almost 700K house and not flying to the location and checking it even once during construction. But that is just me. I'd have been checking monthly or have someone checking for me . . . but probably me or husband or both of us.