|
Article Courtesy of The Miami
Herald
By MONICA HATCHER
Published June 19, 2008
Someone had kicked the door in on the foreclosure on
the 33rd floor at The Club at Brickell Bay. Last week, Lori Rice, the
building's property manager, pushed it open. Inside, she found the
tell-tale signs of a squatter: a mattress on the floor, a few toiletries
in the bathroom.
''Clearly, a man was staying in there,'' Rice said,
adding that she called the police.
When
police arrived on Monday they found the marble floors splashed with black
paint. The man had fled, leaving destruction in his wake -- along with a
change of clothes in the washing machine.
| Among the decidedly low-rent
problems plaguing South Florida's luxury condo market,
squatters are the latest headache to arise from the glut of
vacant foreclosures in some of Miami's toniest condominiums.
At a recent meeting at the Brickell on
the River North, a room full of property managers sat down to
commiserate over a slew of other troubles: Impostor landlords
leasing units they do not own, collecting deposits and rent
from unsuspecting tenants, and a rash of vandalism and
burglaries. Investor-owners, desperate to turn a dollar, are
even renting to tourists by the day, undercutting local hotels
at bargain rates.
''When
you come in with luggage, it's kind of obvious,'' said the
outspoken Rice, who admits her building has been hit harder
than the rest. ''They are advertising on
|
|
Property
Manager Lori Rice walks across the paint-splattered floor of a
penthouse condominium vandalized by a squatter at The Club at
Brickell Bay.
|
Expedia.''
During the 90-minute meeting, attended by cops and lawyers from the state,
stories were shared and solutions discussed.
''We foresee [crime] becoming a major problem, and
that's why we're addressing it immediately,'' said Officer Jeffrey Giordano,
who patrols the Brickell area and was at the meeting.
MONEY TROUBLES
The mini-condo crime wave comes at a bad time for the
buildings' community associations, many of which are grappling with
financial hardship from unpaid maintenance fees on foreclosures. Fiscal woes
make taking action difficult.
''Most associations are not inclined to incur the
legal expense to remove someone from a unit that has been abandoned or [that
is] in bank foreclosure because the legal expense is unlikely to be
recoverable,'' said Kenneth Direktor, a condo attorney with Hollywood-based
Becker & Poliakoff.
Rice, 30, took over management of The Club in
December, riding in like a sheriff to establish order in a building overrun
with outlaws. She said the problems resulted from mortgage fraud that
produced an explosion of absentee owners and sketchy tenants since the
building opened in late 2004. The Club has more than 260 units in
foreclosure.
After taking the job, she immediately deactivated
8,000 access cards for the building's 640 units, incurring the wrath of many
residents. After forcing everyone to reapply, she whittled the number to
1,400. Several squatters have been evicted over the past six months because
of strict new registration policies, Rice said.
''No one lives in my building for free,'' Rice said.
Realtor lock boxes, which contain keys, and neon
eviction stickers from the county announce to everyone units are vacant,
Direktor said.
`THANK GOD, HE'S GONE'
Unlike the homeless in need of shelter or refugees
displaced by natural disasters or war, it is not clear if this breed of
freeloaders is as down on their luck.
Paola Arboleda, manager of the Mark Yacht Club on
Brickell Bay, said two months ago residents noticed someone hopping among
various vacant units. A little snooping revealed the interloper was a
mortgage broker.
''We didn't know who he was paying or if he was
paying,'' Arboleda said. ''Thank God, he's gone,'' Arboleda said. Since
lenders have tightened underwriting standards and curbed fraud, the problem
is easier to control, she said.
But most squatters aren't in the units to just hang
their hats, Giordano said.
''They are probably involved in prostitution, burglary
and other criminal activity,'' Giordano said. He suspects many cases are the
work of an organized ring.
`I STARTED CRYING'
Ada Portillo recently fell victim to one new scheme.
The single mother needed a short-term rental while awaiting delivery of her
condo at Met I Miami. She posted an ad on Craigslist, got a quick reply, and
ended up in a lovely new place at Loft 2 in downtown Miami. She paid the
$3,150 for a three-month lease up-front. The BMW-driving con man even helped
her move in.
''He was very nice,'' Portillo said.
Two weeks later, the real owner surfaced and evicted
her. She was out the money. After a little detective work, Portillo found
the swindler had stolen the identity of a Mexican pizza maker in New Jersey.
Miami police support her story and are on the case.
''I started crying. I didn't know what to do,''
Portillo said. The incident soured her on the condo lifestyle. She plans on
walking away from her deposit at the Met I. Police said the scheme is
happening at single-family homes as well.
How squatters find their way into buildings is
anyone's guess. Most require entry using a key card and are manned by a
concierge. Some buildings don't automatically deactivate cards and fobs of
former residents either. ''If a building doesn't have more security than
just a front desk, it's going to be pretty easy to get around,'' Direktor
said.
'AGGRESSIVE'
Miami Police Cmdr. Lorenzo Whitehead is urging
property managers to establish Citizens' Crime Watch programs to combat the
problems. Instead of recruiting block captains, who take watch shifts in
neighborhoods, Lorenzo said floor captains would pace hallways and circle
the building.
''You have to be aggressive in addressing these
issues,'' Whitehead said. So far, though, the idea is being received with a
collective cocked eyebrow. Ann Marie Procacci, a member of the Point View
Association, which represents several, smaller condo buildings on Brickell
Bay Drive, feared condo commando-types could take the idea too far.
''The nosy-neighbor system is better than that,''
Procacci said.
SECURITY
Managers are installing cameras at front desks. Rice
snaps a mug shot of every visitor to the building.
At the meeting, they were urged to get tougher about
scheduling move-ins and getting tenants to register. Several have banned
lock boxes. Rice is taking them and ripping down eviction notices.
''I'm am trying to restore people's quality of life,''
she said.
"This is a nice community; I want people to feel
safe and secure and enjoy living here.''
|
