And it All Came Tumbling Down

We had a devastating landslide in Laguna Beach today. Many homes were destroyed or are damaged. Some of the homes are dangling with nothing but air under them, just waiting for the weight to take them down. These homes are not in the same area as our home. But, as the crow flies, not too great a distance from us.

The good news is that only a couple of minor injuries happened and no fatalities. The bad news is that the hill is still sliding and that most people do not have landslide exclusions included in their homeowners insurance.

These are mostly older homes that cost $20,000 or less 50 years ago. Most have been remodeled and made bigger. I would guess that not one was worth under $1,500,000. The biggest house is owned by a client of my husband. He is on vacation, and his house is tumbling down very slowly. It is a massive home. Well into the multi millions on this one, I would imagine from what I know of property values in Laguna Beach.

One of the problems here in our town has been the Mcmansionazition of the homes. Many of us complain about it and the design review board (DRB) still lets it continue. One person on our DRB is none other than Eve Plumb, of Jan Brady fame. People buy smaller houses and tear them down to one wall and rebuild an enormous house in its place. A lot of them are concrete or concrete looking and look like restaraunts, more than homes. Ugly, in my opinion.

They leave one wall for tax purposes. If they tear down the whole house, then property taxes would be based on the cost of the construction and current value of the land. If they leave a wall, it is a remodel and taxes do increase, but only on the total amount of the value of the house. Basically on the construction costs and not the land value.

There was another landslide in 1978, a 100 feet from the one today. Back in 1978, they rebuilt the hill and shored it up for a mere two million dollars. Not one of those homes, that have been rebuilt, moved today. It is another finger of an ancient landslide area, from my understanding. No one knows for sure yet, as the hill is still moving and just within the last hour have the experts been allowed up to the area.

They are going home by home looking for people who may have been trapped. The believe that everybody who lives there has been accounted for, however, to be on the safe side, they are checking anyhow. And they will be red tagging homes no longer inhabitable.

The whole area looks like a major earthquake hit. One woman with a two and four year old, knew her house was sliding this morning and got her kids out ok. She didn't know where to go, as one house was sliding and the road down was buckled, she came down the face of the hill. She got to a house and when asked to come inside, she told the man, she just wanted off the hill.

We have had helicopters over us since six this morning. It has been a very loud day up here. I am not complaining though, just a fact. We are lucky we are not among the people who lost everything they own today. Although, my heart goes out to each and every person affected by this tragedy. It will be many years before their lives become "normal" again.

Finally, I wanted to add that this such a wonderful tight knit community and the outpouring of support has already begun.