Buying Property in Florida - Update

A family rents a house in Orange County. They settle in looking forward to the summer. This morning with a cup of morning coffee, looking out to the backyard, the cup drops to the floor. The backyard where the children played last night is now a fast growing sinkhole. The hole is 100 feet across and nearly 50 feet deep and growing. The family was removed from the home. They are now in a hotel and the belongings placed in storage. No injuries to anyone.

“My parents didn't want to move to Florida, but they turned sixty and that's the law.” – Jerry Seinfeld

With economy the way it is, this is buyers’ market.  Many “snow bird” flying south for the winter, consider Florida the place for vacations and vacation property. Some people may consider making a permanent move to the sunshine state. House prices are down, so for those who can, the time may be right. Some folks may consider vacant land and develop it later.  Before you buy, remember Florida was once under water!

The peninsula of Florida is a permeable flat terrain of karst limestone sitting atop a rock layer known as the Florida Platform. Florida top soils fluctuate all through the state in respect to proportions of sand, clay, and organic substance, and in depth above the underlying limestone bedrock, all of which controls the plant communities above. The underlying karst limestone is carbonate rock created from the deposition of countless marine invertebrates during periods when Florida was under water.  Extensive arrangements of underwater caves, sinkholes and springs are located right through the state and supplies most of the water used by residents. The limestone is topped with sandy soil deposited as millions of years ago ancient beaches formed as global sea levels increased and decreased. During the last glacial period, lower sea levels and a drier climate revealed a much wider peninsula, largely a grassland ecosystem distinguished by trees being inadequately small or widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The evolving portion of the platform was created as the Gulf Trough was filled and materials continued to move southward covering and replacing the carbonate-depositing environment with sands, silts, and clays creating the peninsula and making way for flora and fauna to become established. The largest deposits of potash in the country are found in Florida.

OK so you’re thinking to yourself all this is very interesting, but what does it have to do with buying real estate? Well it has to do with the sinkholes. A sinkholeis a natural hole in the Earth's surface caused by karst processes - the chemical dissolution of carbonate rocks. Sinkholes may vary in size from less than 3 feet to more than 2,000 feet both in diameter and depth. They vary in form from soil-lined bowls to bedrock-edged chasms, and they may develop gradually or all of a sudden.

Collapse sinkholes are the most common sinkhole in Florida. They happen suddenly where the overloaded top level is thick with soils and heavy clay. Collapse sinkholes are deep, steeply-sided holes in the earth. They are regularly activated by fluctuations in the water-table. As water levels fluctuate, the roof of the cavity is stressed and weakened. When the water-table drops too far, the cavity walls are maintained and the ceiling becomes too weak to hold the heavy burden. Ultimately, the ceiling collapses and a sinkhole is created. A conical debris mound left on the sinkhole floor is all that remains of the cavity ceiling.

If the water-table increases, the collapse sinkhole will fill with water, and overflow like a spring. An off-set sinkhole will have an upstream and downstream conduit as water flows into the sink and siphons underground. If the water-table drops below the sinkhole, it will remain dry and accumulate sediments and vegetation.

The bottom line - know what’s under the property you’re thinking of buying. Sinkhole structures are provoked and hasten by urban development. Development boosts water usage, modifies drainage pathways, overloads the ground surface, and redistributes soil. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the amount of human-induced sinkholes have increased twice over since 1930, insurance claims for damages as a result of sinkholes has increased 1200% from 1987 to 1991, with a price tag of nearly $100 million.

To prevent the devastation of property and the pollution of groundwater, it is vital to scrutinize potential sinkhole formation. Although a sinkhole can form without warning, specific signs can indicator impending development:

• Slumping or falling fence posts, trees, foundations
• Sudden formation of small ponds
• Wilting vegetation
• Discolored well lwater
• Structural cracks in walls, floors, outer foundation