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re: Florida - Complete neighborhood built without roads and may never get them
Posted on 9/18/25 at 12:35 pm to Beauw
Posted on 9/18/25 at 12:35 pm to Beauw
How did they get COs to close on their loans? I feel like underwriters would be all over this. Did these people all pay cash? 100 of them?
This post was edited on 9/18/25 at 7:52 pm
2
Posted on 9/18/25 at 12:37 pm to csorre1
What’s the Google street view look like?
Posted on 9/18/25 at 2:38 pm to Shexter
Somebody with a dune buggy could make bank door dashing this neighborhood
Posted on 9/18/25 at 2:39 pm to Topwater Trout
I live in a town called Inverness. Could have been me. Really makes you think
Posted on 9/18/25 at 2:57 pm to csorre1
quote:
How did they get COAs to close on their loans? I feel like underwriters would be all over this. Did these people all pay cash? 100 of them?
That's a great question, seems like an appraisal would have mention of the fact the subdivision doesn't have roads or drainage.
Posted on 9/18/25 at 5:13 pm to Shexter
quote:
Van Der Valk Construction
Some haven’t even had their houses completed after paying for most of the cost.
quote:
Among these builders was Van Der Valk Construction, a family-owned and operated firm located in Citrus County. The company was building several homes in the county, including Inverness Village 4, when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on April 30. In the documents, Van Der Valk Construction declared more than $1 million in liabilities, but less than $100,000 of assets.
quote:
Talking to ABC Action News, retiree Frank Sherrill admitted to crying "a little bit" sometimes thinking about his situation, "because it's been hard." The home that Van Der Valk Construction started building for him in late 2022, and never finished, is a 1,430-square-foot property with three bedrooms and two bathrooms.
"I need flooring. I need all the baseboards put in. All the framing for the doors," he told the news company earlier this month.
Sherrill is among dozens of homebuyers in Citrus County whose homes have been left unfinished by Van Der Valk Construction, and who are now struggling to find enough funds to finish on their own. He paid nearly $200,000 for the home Van Der Valk Construction never finished; he still technically owes the remaining 10 percent of the contract, $18,500.
Another homeowner whose retirement home was left unfinished, Dyandria Darel, told ABC Action that she was "devastated." She was supposed to move from New York to her Florida retirement home, but the homebuilder's bankruptcy has thrown a spanner in the works.
"It's not only a retirement home, it was virtually my entire life savings," she told ABC. "I put the money down on this house in 2022. It's now 2025."
https://www.newsweek.com/florida-homeowners-living-nightmare-construction-company-goes-bankrupt-2077290
Also
quote:
Meanwhile, Anton Van Usen, who owned much of the land before selling many of the neighborhood’s lots one by one, maintains it is the county’s responsibility to pave and maintain the roads.
quote:
Inverness Village 4 (IV4U) has struggled for decades with unfinished roads and inadequate infrastructure, largely due to decisions and actions taken by Citrus County in the early 1970s, according to Anton Van Usen.
Van Usen unsuccessfully sued the county in 2011, asking the court to force the county to add the necessary infrastructure and pave the roads. His suit also asked the court to stop the proposed MSBU on the residents of IV4U to pay for their own repaving. Finally, he filed a promissory estoppel, a legal term where the plaintiff (Van Usen) tries to force the defendant (Citrus County) into fulfilling its promise (to pave the roads) even though Van Usen did not have a contract with the county promising the road paving.
This post was edited on 9/18/25 at 5:21 pm
Posted on 9/18/25 at 5:19 pm to BluegrassBelle
quote:
It sounds like the developer just straight up starting building without any of the appropriate permits. That's pretty wild.
People hate regulation, but this is what happens with no regulation.
The public - people, companies, etc can’t be trusted
Posted on 9/18/25 at 5:22 pm to Shexter
Meatball Rons Florida 
Posted on 9/18/25 at 6:05 pm to LSUFanHouston
quote:
People hate regulation, but this is what happens with no regulation.
The public - people, companies, etc can’t be trusted
I don't even know that it was a regulation issue. Dude just skipped all the way out on the permits and the process (so the regulation exists).
It's my understanding when it comes to construction, Florida has some tougher regulations than other states (likely due to the Hurricanes) when it comes to building.
The more that comes out it sounds like he was selling a lot of those plots for cash too.
Posted on 9/18/25 at 7:00 pm to fr33manator
quote:
Well, really, you start with the stuff that goes UNDER the stuff that goes under the streets
You're right. You're right..
Posted on 9/18/25 at 7:04 pm to dallastigers
The whole thing is messed up. Just blame the Dutch.
It was all platted in the 70s before original developer went bankrupt and later a second developer from Netherlands got involved before going bankrupt. One of these 2 did the north section that had its roads paved which were funded mostly by assessments on the homeowners by the county. It has not been clear how far either of these 2 developers went before bankruptcy to know exactly who built the north section.
3rd guy also originally from the Netherlands set up a mortgage to help the 2nd developer but later foreclosed on 2nd developer and started only selling the remaining lots. In 2016 he lost a lawsuit against the county trying to prove that the county was still responsible for roads based on a 40 year old vague agreement with original developer.
Builder also originally from the Netherlands started building without environmental studies/permits for wetland area, but it also seems like county still issued permits to build on the dirt roads. The builder as mentioned above has also recently filed for bankruptcy and several homes are incomplete.
The city ran water lines even though I don’t think the neighborhood is inside the city limits.
Throw all that crap into having a lot of retirees from out of state that don’t know the area or people they are dealing with. All parties including the purchasers have a part in this screwed up situation.
My other browser crashed with the link to the above.
A study found that the cost to build roads and drainage systems was going to be over $100,000 per house which would have created a $8,000 annual assessment. I think that was before more recent flooding, the lawsuit by the state agency, and the builder declaring bankruptcy.
It was all platted in the 70s before original developer went bankrupt and later a second developer from Netherlands got involved before going bankrupt. One of these 2 did the north section that had its roads paved which were funded mostly by assessments on the homeowners by the county. It has not been clear how far either of these 2 developers went before bankruptcy to know exactly who built the north section.
3rd guy also originally from the Netherlands set up a mortgage to help the 2nd developer but later foreclosed on 2nd developer and started only selling the remaining lots. In 2016 he lost a lawsuit against the county trying to prove that the county was still responsible for roads based on a 40 year old vague agreement with original developer.
Builder also originally from the Netherlands started building without environmental studies/permits for wetland area, but it also seems like county still issued permits to build on the dirt roads. The builder as mentioned above has also recently filed for bankruptcy and several homes are incomplete.
The city ran water lines even though I don’t think the neighborhood is inside the city limits.
Throw all that crap into having a lot of retirees from out of state that don’t know the area or people they are dealing with. All parties including the purchasers have a part in this screwed up situation.
quote:
Residents have implored Citrus County Commissioners to step in with paved roads. The county, particularly Commissioner Holly Davis, accuses Van Usen of being a “bad actor” for leading customers to believe the county will pave the roads when officials have no plans to do so without homeowners paying for them.
The county in April placed a moratorium on new building permits in Inverness Villages 4 to stop Van Usen from selling more lots until the roads and drainage issue is settled.
Van Usen, for his part, called Davis a “pathological liar” and said he’s done nothing wrong.
Inverness Villages 4 is a decadeslong headache for Citrus County.
Platted in the 1970s, the developer gave the county $143,600 as a bond toward construction of the roads. While that money was eventually used as a part of a special assessment to pave some streets in the neighborhood, the remaining dirt roads are considered “public,” though not publicly maintained.
Van Usen, president of DT Villages Eleven LLC, became owner of 370 of the development’s 600 lots in 2006 after foreclosing on a $5.1 million loan to the developer.
He sued the county over the 1970s agreement, saying the bond obligated the county to pave the roads. A judge in 2016 disagreed, and the tug-of-war between Van Usen and the county continues over who is responsible for the streets.
Residents last year started pressuring Citrus County Commissioners, and Davis in particular, to hold Van Usen accountable for continuing to sell lots for houses on sugar-sand roads.
The county responded with an April moratorium on new home permits in Inverness Villages 4 in an attempt to stop Van Usen from selling lots that could potentially be needed for drainage on a road project.
State environmental regulators have also threatened Van Usen and Van Der Valk Construction with fines for potential violations, including for disturbing gopher tortoises.
My other browser crashed with the link to the above.
A study found that the cost to build roads and drainage systems was going to be over $100,000 per house which would have created a $8,000 annual assessment. I think that was before more recent flooding, the lawsuit by the state agency, and the builder declaring bankruptcy.
This post was edited on 9/18/25 at 7:12 pm
Posted on 9/18/25 at 7:10 pm to Shexter
This is a failure by everyone.
Planning, zoning, building, everyone .
Planning, zoning, building, everyone .
Posted on 9/18/25 at 7:34 pm to Lexis Dad
Did Citrus County issue Certificates of Occupancy, are people living in these houses illegally, or are they all unoccupied?
This post was edited on 9/18/25 at 7:46 pm
Posted on 9/18/25 at 7:40 pm to Shexter
Snowbirds fall for the cheap price and warm weather
Posted on 9/18/25 at 7:51 pm to Shexter
Why would someone buy a house in a roadless neighborhood. Of course they are going to tell people "the roads are coming soon".. People lie.
Posted on 9/18/25 at 7:55 pm to TexasTiger89
quote:
You always start a development with streets right?
Usually the first thing to go down.
Posted on 9/18/25 at 8:13 pm to fastlane
quote:
Developer needs to go to prison
For what? He said “where we’re going.. we don’t need roads”
Maybe the idiots who bought a house in a neighborhood with no roads should just admit they’re stupid. What kind of an idiot do you have to be to do this? I’d be too embarrassed to attach my name to the story.
Posted on 9/18/25 at 8:17 pm to Randall Savauge
quote:
What’s the Google street view look like?
Google Street View doesn't even work on the streets in that neighborhood!
Nearest address I could find was:
307 N Independence Hwy
Inverness, FL 34453
You can Street View to that location. Look to the east, and you'll see the whole dirt road nieghborhood.
Posted on 9/18/25 at 8:21 pm to Shexter
When these people did their final walk through why did the take possession of the house if there were no roads?
Even if it was a weird contract I would have at least made them sue me so I could get in front of a judge and tell them “There are no roads.”
Even if it was a weird contract I would have at least made them sue me so I could get in front of a judge and tell them “There are no roads.”
This post was edited on 9/18/25 at 8:23 pm
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