Palm Coast, FL – October 3, 2014 – You can’t make this stuff up. Keystone Homes, one of Palm Coast’s most reputable builders, recently completed a million dollar home in Ocean Hammock, one of the area’s most prestigious communities. The 5,306 square foot home offers views of the Atlantic Ocean. It sports five bedrooms, five and one half baths, a theater room, a game room and pool. Unfortunately, it was built on the wrong lot and nobody noticed until months after completion.
The saga
In January 2003, Andrew Massaro and his wife, of North Carolina paid $355,000 for 21 Ocean Ridge Blvd North, a vacant lot in the gated community of Ocean Hammock. Ocean Hammock is part of a larger oceanfront development often referred to as Hammock Dunes. The lot is located on the west side of the street, which parallels the Atlantic Ocean beach.
In June 2012, Mark and Brenda Voss, of Missouri, purchased the vacant lot next to and north of Massaro’s for $160,000. In early 2013, Voss contracted with Keystone Homes to design and build a large home on his lot with the intention of renting it, a use permitted under the documents of the deed restricted community.
Robbie Richmond, V.P. of Keystone Homes, and the contractor of record for the Voss home has been involved at some level with the construction of over 600 homes in Flagler County. The following events were described to me by Richmond and Voss.
Note: The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services regulates the State’s Surveyor and Mapper program through a Board of Professional Surveyors and Mappers (PSAM). State regulations prohibit the release of company or individual names until a complaint has been filed and the complaint has been ruled to be judicially sufficient. At this point, no complaints have been filed against either of the surveyors in this incident.
Throughout construction, Flagler County and utility companies were involved with the construction at several levels and in several ways.
During the construction period, Voss visited the site several times to observe progress. Naturally, several neighbors, as neighbors are wont to do, stopped by to observe or inspect progress. Nobody noticed that anything was amiss.
The number 23 is displayed on the front of the house and on the mailbox in front of the house.
Vacation Rental Pros was engaged by Voss to manage the home’s rental. Click here to see VRP’s webpage describing the home along with dozens of pictures. Notice that two renters have posted glowing reviews, one as early as May.
Fast forward to September 2014; the surveyor of a nearby lot discovered the Voss survey which was reported to May Management, the HOA property manager. May Management notified Keystone on or about September 24th.
All the paperwork appears to be in order indicating the house was constructed on Voss’s lot at 23 Ocean Ridge Blvd. N. Permits, three surveys, the deed, the legal description and the title policy confirm it. Yet the house is on Massaro’s lot.
Apparently, the first survey stakes were incorrectly placed on the Masssaro lot. Based on the false premise that the stakes designated the Voss lot at number 23, construction proceeded. The error remained unnoticed until September, months after the home was first occupied. The following arial is dated 1-15-2014.
How did it happen?
How could everyone miss this monumental error for 18 months? Were there any red flags? If so, how were they missed?
One contributing factor was likely the stark isolation of that stretch of Ocean Ridge Blvd. Number 23 was the 10th of 11 consecutive vacant lots on the west side of Ocean Ridge Blvd. The lots are cleared of trees with no identifiable landmarks left to provide visual clues. There are no reference points at the street. The 12th lot is irregularly shaped with wide frontage. Thr photo below is dated 1-19-2012.
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Parcel maps on the Flagler Property Appraiser website clearly show that the northwest corner of the Voss lot has a diagonal line, cutting off the 90 degree corner, making its configuration unique among the other Ocean Ridge lots. Number 21 does not have this diagonal. Yet the signed and sealed surveys from both surveyors show the diagonal. Had they not, it would have been a red flag to anyone viewing the survey.
The first survey apparently set the blunder in motion. The construction process is a series of consecutive steps performed by people from several licensed and regulated trades and professions. Each step relies on the competence of those performing previous steps. Each major step must pass an inspection before the next step can commence.
It’s not reasonable to assume that the validity of the first survey be confirmed before proceeding with each subsequent step of construction. The county approved (but did not verify) the survey. The validity was confirmed by the signed and sealed survey itself, a public record containing the surveyor’s name, stamp or seal and license number. Further, the foundation survey confirms the initial survey.
There was one point where a red flag should have been raised. While performing the final survey, Surveyor B should have picked up the error. Unfortunately that did not happen. It seems that Surveyor B, presumably in the interest of saving time and/or money, used Surveyor A’s foundation survey as a starting point, compromising the results of the final survey.
After learning of the error in September, Keystone immediately notified Voss and Massaro. Keystone has also met with Surveyor A. The status of Surveyor A’s Errors and Omissions insurance policy is in question. If, as seems to be the case, its Errors and Omissions insurance had lapsed, Surveyor A would have been required to disclose that fact on the survey. The survey carries no such disclosure.
Finding a solution
A million dollar house on the wrong lot in a private luxury community is a lawyer’s dream-come-true; like lifetime dancing lessons. Simply put, Voss built a luxury home on Massaro’s lot without Massaro’s permission. But you can’t pick up the three-story block home and pool and move it to the Voss lot next door. That bell cannot be un-rung. A litigated solution would be costly and time consuming. At the least, it would include Voss, Massaro, Keystone, both surveyors, the HOA, the county, the lender and the title insurance company.
Resolving blame and determining compensation could be straightforward, as simple as Voss and Massaro deciding to trade lots – problem solved. On the other end of the spectrum, Massaro could dig in his heals telling Voss, “Thank you for the nice furnished house. Please do not trespass.” There are many possible solutions between the two extremes. To date, the parties have indicated a desire to work out a reasonable solution. In the end, it will depend on what each party’s definition of reasonable is.
In a reasonable world with reasonable people, the true owner of the property would either agree to swap lots, with an additional reasonable premium paid for his trouble, or simply sell his "lot" to the "home" owner at current market price, plus a reasonable premium for his trouble.
I live here in the neighborhood and walk or bike past it nearly every day. We even considered buying the home as it's on the market now at fairly low price. I knew something was up that was diminishing its value to buyers. There is nothing exceptional about one lot vs the other, they are nearly identical in character. The only advantage to the lot the home is built on is that the lot north of it is not as deep and might require the home footprint be smaller, giving their pool area a little more privacy.
Virtually ALL homes on this stretch are 3-4 stories tall, so you're going to be overlooked on any lot. If I owned the lot the home was built on I'd say "trade lots with me and give me $50K for my trouble" and be done with it. But then I'm not an A hole. This owner has sat on this lot for 14 years and it has not appreciated. It's not some in-demand lot. There are plenty of empty lots on this street, after about 25 years. He would be smart to just sell the guy the lot for market price.
The surveyor is setting corners based off the legal description so if it didn't match the subdivision plat (this happens), then the title company would bear some of the blame.
Also if the original corners were physically set in error then the previous Surveyor would be at fault. There could also be errors in the marks delineating the roads and intersections, and these are usually used to figure out where a parcel sets.
Also, Adverse Possession could be in play here... if the true owner allows someone to occupy his land long enough he can lose the land.
This will probably be hashed out by many real estate professionals in every seminar for years to come... It's blunders from OTHERS of this sort that we all learn from...
Mike LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
If the Vosses visited the construction at all, they must have known that the house wasn't being built on their lot. Who doesn't know what land they own ? You would have to wonder why they didn't point it out if that was the case.
The only solutions I would accept is for the land on my plot to be restored to it's original state (you broke it, now fix it), or if I like the house that was built I might buy it instead of seeing it removed, but for a fraction of it's price of course.
There is no reason for the plot owner to suffer any ill consequence for the wrongdoings of others.
So even though they didn't have anything on the land they were paying taxes on a plot that had their address on it. I hope they figure it out!
save the mess they have now in front of them. Mistake? Definitely not. Thoughtlessness, yes!!! This is a money making blunder for the attorneys involved.
They built our home & are the most accurate & detailed builder we have ever had & I say that with certainty after having built 3 new homes over the years!
This whole situation is a mess but not something that cannot be settled if the owner of the home built & his neighbor will sit down with the people at Keystone. Without a doubt in my mind Keystone will do everything they can in this circumstance.
They build the most beautiful homes & have a record of excellence & a reputation of First Class Construction!
1cb9
I am a land surveyor. For many years I had a very small shop and had no E&O insurance as I know it is a target for settlement, even if you have done nothing wrong. Now I am in a bigger firm where we have a good E&O policy. I do feel better about having it, but we still practice from a standpoint that we never want to have to pay out. So we do our due diligence. We would rather lose money and get it right than be found at fault for something. E&O insurance is like catastrophic healthcare insurance. You can make your deductible very large to afford $500,000 worth of coverage.
Lots of comments in here have mentioned Google, mailbox numbers, and aerials, etc. This issue could have been avoided by dragging a $70 cloth tape down the road from a cross street or cul-de-sac, as a "dumb" check.
As to the comment about buying an existing home built on the wrong lot, I would say you were too cheap to pay for a survey or you would have known before closing. That old phrase, "Buyer beware" is no more important than when you are buying your home.
Swap and be done with it.
Voss and all the 'professionals' he hired will simply have to pay for the mess they alone created. The Massaro family has done absolutely nothing wrong
All the parties approved paperwork on wrong property as story says .. "Voss’s lender issued a Title Insurance policy for 23 Ocean Ridge Blvd North". How come NO ONE noticed wrong street address? Interesting to see how litigation works out, how it is resolved?
The builder should buckle up and build the the correct house on the correct LOT. I would file an injunction against anyone going into the house!
The worst of this story is that the surveyor will be blamed for the whole thing and nobody else will accept any responsibility for their role. Yes I agree, the owner and the contractor should share in the blame. And the surveyor probably doesn’t know how to defend himself. According to one of the comments, they allowed their insurance to lapse. So, they deserve what they get. Not pity. The actions and more aptly stated, the inactions of these surveyors reflect poorly on themselves, their respective companies and the surveying profession as a whole. Shameful!!
In the 1850s, a farmer platted a subdivision of hundred odd acre lots intending to pass them down to descendants. When the Yankees invaded Jacksonville, the monuments were disturbed. Creeks that were boundaries flooded and moved. The Great Fire burned the original plat so no official record was available. Recognizing that both sides had the ability to continue a lawsuit to the State Supreme Court, which would have taken five years and cost more that the land was worth, we drew a line down the middle and each lost 31.5 acres. Turtle Creek Subdivision is now on much of it.
I hope Mr. Voss isn't continuing to rent "Windows on the Sea" - the name given this house by VacationRentalPros.com - when the house is not on his property.
Regarding this abhorrent mistake on the part of apparently amateur surveyors -- shouldn't the local government be at fault? I fully respect and sometimes admire the work of our local county office employees. But in this case, how does the city not come in and make a double-check on the work of these surveyors???
Pleasantly ruffled,
Vincent
In my humble opinion, the surveyor's critical human error (yes, everyone makes mistakes) is the root cause of this financial disaster. The builder under Florida Laws ultimately takes responsibility on the entire project, and should ulitimately pay the price if the surveyor cannot. Those are the rules of the game. Does the surveyor have any business making this kind of mistake, probably not..this is the minimum core competancy of the job.
Unforunately the opportunistic nature of lawyers and other people who stand to gain from the error will likely rule the outcome. The owners of the lots involved do have a good way to make the situation right, but only by their own character and value of fairness.
The world may call the windfall lot owner a a fool if he gives in and accepts a trade, what a shame in situations such as this the golden rule is an after thought.
In my former life as a Corporate Credit Manager for a company selling wholesale construction supplies, I have had occasion to effect many lawsuits against questionable "professionals," from general contractors to subcontractors of all types.
Attempting to gain funds from Surveyor A (while a sensible idea) will probably be a 95% waste of time. Anyone careless enough to let his E&O lapse will not have anything worth going after anyway - that's why hiring the cheapest (in this case Surveyor) is quite often problematic.
When you add a home to an empty lot, your taxes will go up. The Massaro family should hold firm since now their taxes will go up.
This is an expense that they may have not planned for.
Who knows if the Massaro family wanted this type of build or type of home.
I feel for the Voss family but the court of laws and the suits after this disgrace should change quite a few practices in Flagler County, at least when it comes to home building.
Good luck builder, surveyor A&B, City, FPL, all included.
I hope their insurance is paid in full and lawyers are on stand by.
Seems like the Massaro's now have a million dollar home built on their lot (like winning the lottery!). They should accept that and exchange deeds. The Voss's can then begin to build a new home but with funds from all the professionals involved.