Moving in circles
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Singapore
Age: 49
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Living alone, in a 32-storey 'scary movie'
Quote:
Fort Myers, Florida (July 30): The Vangelakos' south-west Florida condominium has marble floors, a large pool overlooking a river and modern furnishings that speak of affluence and luxury. What they don't have in the 32-story building is a single neighbour.
The New Jersey family of five purchased their unit four years ago, when Fort Myers was in the midst of a housing boom. Any hints of an impending financial crisis were buried in lofty dreams of expansion and development. They made a US$10,000 downpayment and eagerly watched as builders transformed an empty lot into an opulent high rise, one that now symbolises the foreclosure crisis.
"The future was going to be south-west Florida," said Mr Victor Vangelakos, 45, a fire captain who had planned to eventually retire and live permanently in the condo.
Most of the other tenants in the 200-unit condo didn't close their contracts, and the few that did have transferred to an adjacent building owned by the same company because more people live there. But the Vangelakos' mortgage lender would not allow them to do the same. That leaves them as the sole residents of Oasis Tower One.
"It's a beautiful building," said the family's lawyer, Mr John Ewing, who is representing 27 others who made deposits on units. "The problem is, it's a very lonely building."
The Vangelakos, who have another home in Weehawken, New Jersey, spend only a week or few days a month in their Florida home. They have exclusive use of the pool, game room and gymn, but they miss having a few tenants around.
"Being from the city, it's very eerie," Mr Vangelakos said. "It's almost like a scary movie."
A large, circular fountain in front of the building is dry. The automatic glass doors that lead to the front lobby are locked. On the front desk is a guest sign-in sheet. The last entry: Feb 13, 2009.
The lights on the pool and palm trees were off. The family's garbage chute was sealed, a trash bin placed in front of their unit instead.
Then there were security concerns. One night, someone pounded on their door at 11pm. They called the front desk at the next-door building, which contacted police. A search turned up no one, though a pool entrance was open.
The parents and their children sleep with their cell phones by their beds. "I'm not a chicken, but this is a big building," Mrs Cathy Vangelakos said.
The Cape Coral-Fort Myers metropolitan area in Lee County has some of the worst economic stress – a combination of foreclosures, unemployment and bankruptcies – in the country, according to the Associated Press' monthly analysis of more than 3,100 American counties.
Mr Vangelakos said his family doesn't want to move to the tower next door because they would still be paying the mortgage and maintenance costs on the condo they own. They paid US$430,000 for the unit and took out a US$336,000 mortgage – essentially spending their life savings.
On Friday evening, the pool area was dark as usual, with most of the doors locked. Mrs Vangelakos and her 19-year-old daughter, Amanda, stepped into a lift to head up to their unit. "Going up," an automated voice chimed.
"Going up," Mrs Vangelakos said. "That's all we hear."
- ASSOCIATED PRESS
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First few thoughts that came immediately to mind: the Living Dead movies, Silent Hill 4: The Room, I Am Legend and Hideo Nakata's Dark Water. It sounds like fun, having an entire building to yourself but, hmm, yeah, it'll probably be a bit scary at night, especially if it's all dark.
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