"Burned Slam Up" Townhouse is Brought Back From the Ashes

OJ Simpson was being freed from prison on the last day of his trial. The world, including all the adults living in the rented townhouse, were glued to CNN for breaking news. Upstairs, a little girl was lighting matches and accidentally dropped one onto a mattress. When the little girl yelled for help, Mom dashed upstairs and doused the flames with a pan of water and presumably, went back to watch OJ.

The flames re-ignited.

Within precious seconds, the mattress, then the curtains, then the room, were engulfed in flames. The tenants were able to make it out of the townhouse without injury. The townhouse did not fare as well.

By the time the fire department arrived, the entire upstairs was roaring with the hungry fire as the flames licked out around the holes in the roof into the night air. Fire spread along the gables to by-pass the firewall and into the neighbors townhouse.

The owner/partnership was faced with many choices in connection with this tragedy. After the flames were terminated, and the firemen went back to the station, the partnership was faced with dealing with the insurance company, fire department, and a myriad of details to get the house back up to speed.

Amongst the many options were:

• Selling the house as-is and pocketing the insurance money
• Letting the insurance money and company take care of everything to restore the property and then either sell or rent
• Negotiate a fair settlement with the insurance company and then hire an independent general contractor to restore the property.

Each offer and proposal were carefully studied as the insurance company, partnership/owners, and Steve O were busily obtaining independent consulting and work estimates. Through this diligent process the Owners and Steve O compared the insurance settlement offer on a line item basis and were able to fairly get the insurance offer up almost $ 16,000.

The partnership/owners and Steve O determined that they would be better off dividing up the work and hiring subcontractors directly on a material plus labor basis.

The homeowners association pitched in some money that was earmarked for a new roof on this building anyway to help defray the cost of reconstruction.

Through careful and knowledgeable management, the partnership/owners and Steve O were able to bring the property back to excellent condition, on time, and slightly under budget. In fact, the house turned out so nice, it was sold in less than a month on the market. The new owner was happy to get such a nice upgraded townhouse for a fair price.